Preview

MONDAY Movers And Shakers (Channel 4, 8 p.m.) First of a six-part series about indoor games and those who play them. Tonight's programme is about backgammon, featuring 17-year-old Mark Telcher, who plays through the night for money against adults twice his age. 4872 Spark (BBC 1, 8.30 p.m.) Will we ever see another tolerable British sitcom? The omens are not good for this new offering from Last Of The Summer Wine writer Roy Clarke. James Fleet stars as a diffident middle-aged bachelor who is finally free to lead his own life now his mother has died. 3229 Equinox (Channel 4, 9 p.m.) According to recent scientific research, athletes will achieve the highest levels of skill if their brains revert to an unconscious state known as "the zone". Equinox analyses what goes on in the minds of top sportspeople when competing at the highest level. 4872 Armstrong And Miller (Channel 4, 10.55 p.m.) New seven-part comedy sketch series featuring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, whose roster of characters include Norwegian heavy rock duo Strijka, intimidating vegetarians Flavia and Venetia and detectives Parsons and Lampkin. 829294

TUESDAY @ Last TV (Network 2, 10 p.m.) The quality is variable, but there are plenty of good ideas in this bits 'n' pieces magazine series, which tonight features airwave scanner Robin Rimbaud, former Irish child stars, and Galway comedian Tommy Tiernan's perspective on the recent birth of his son. 58144898 Leviathan (BBC 2, 7.30 p.m.) The BBC's former political correspondent John Cole looks at the 1921 Treaty negotiations between the British government and Sinn Fein representatives which resulted in the setting up of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, drawing parallels with the current peace talks. 633 Timewatch (BBC 2, 9 p.m.) The latest in a string of documentaries over the years which have followed the live of Alison French, who has cerebral palsy. The previous programme, 10 years ago, covered her wedding. Now a mother of two, she talks candidly about her experiences of disability and her new career as a social worker. 481140 Cutting Edge: Football Wives (Channel 4, 9 p.m.) It's no fun being married to a professional footballer, according to this wry documentary following three soccer spouses as they try to deal with the groupies, the transfer deals, and the huge amounts of money. 7546

WEDNESDAY Modern Times (BBC 2, 9 p.m.) Competition for places in Britain's bestperforming schools is more intense than ever before, with children subjected to scrutiny and examinations at ever earlier ages. At Palmers Green girls' school in north London, under-threes are tested to gain entry to the school's nursery class, as this documentary reveals. 976831 Witness (Channel 4, 9 p.m.) The secret sexual world of teenagers is the subject of this week's programme, the last in the current series, in which young people reveal the emotional and moral issues which influence them in their formative years. 8251 Breaking Point (BBC 2, 9.50 p.m.) New series about people who seek the help of marriage guidance counsellors. Tonight's couple, Trevor and Tracy, can neither talk nor listen to each other any more, which is why they have gone to a counselling agency, Relate. 417299 Ballyseedy (RTE 1, 10.10 p.m.) One of the worst incidents of the Civil War is reconstructed in this drama-documentary, in which the series of explosions and reprisals which left 22 dead at Knocknagoshel and Ballyseedy in March 1923 is recalled and its significance reassessed. 80835947

THURSDAY Holiday Reps (BBC 1, 8.30 p.m.) New six-part fly-on-the-wall documentary series following the ups and downs of life for a batch of fresh young holiday reps as they leave training school and head off to their first postings. 4752 Dover (ITV, 9.30 p.m.) After the success of the BBC's documentary series set in Heathrow Airport, ITV looks to repeat the trick with this six-parter shot in the port of Dover, which 21 million people pass through every year. Port staff do their best to keep them all moving, while immigration and customs officers try to stop some. 2348 Dispatches (Channel 4, 9 p.m.) Comedian Mark Thomas presents a report on the Conditionally Exempt Land and Building Scheme, which provides tax relief in exchange for a public right of access to their property. Trouble is, as Thomas reveals, the public has no right to know which properties are involved. 710139 By Design (RTE 1, 10.45 p.m.) The second programme in this series looks at the design of the Irish landscape, with contributions from Irish Times Environment Correspondent Frank McDonald and former Dublin city manager Frank Feeley. 26481023

FRIDAY Earth And Life (BBC 2, 7.30 p.m.) First in a new series exploring the struggle for survival on this planet. Tonight's programme looks at Biosphere 2, an experiment carried out in the early Nineties, when four men and four women chose to be locked away in a glass bubble in the Arizona desert to see whether a miniature Earth could sustain human life. 337 Julie Walters Is An Alien. . . In Miami (ITV, 9 p.m.) Ms Walters travels to Florida to discover what it's like to work for Pesky Critters, who remove unwanted pythons, possums and alligators from people's back gardens. She also hangs out with the police on Miami Beach, and tries to sell some ridiculously expensive real estate. 6207 The Late Late Show Fashion Awards (RTE 1, 9.30 p.m.) Gay Byrne hosts the annual jamboree of Irish fashion - either your cup of tea or idea of hell. 50821240 The Fast Show (BBC 2, 9.30 p.m.) The excellent satirical sketch show returns for another series (the Beeb has cleverly scheduled it against Channel 4's Cybill, instead of heavy hitters Friends and Frasier). Most of the old favourites are retained, with some new additions like Chip Cobb Deaf Stuntman and Roger Nouveau Football Fan. 88627

FILMS Tuesday: Heavenly Creatures (RTE 1, 10.40 p.m.) After making two wonderfully cheap 'n' nasty schlock horror pics with Braindead and Bad Taste, director Peter Jackson surprised many with this finely-crafted, well-performed re-telling of a murder case which scandalised New Zealand in the early 1950s. Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet are the young schoolfriends with homicidal tendencies. 84486633 Tuesday: The Terminator (ITV, 10.40 p.m.) James Cameron's groundbreaking sci-fi thriller turned Arnold Schwarzenegger into a major star, but don't hold that against it. It's been imitated so often that it's easy to forget how original and well-made it actually is. 34082237 Tuesday: Slacker (Channel 4, 12.50 a.m.) The meandering pseudo-documentary which spawned a descriptive noun for a generation. Richard Linklater's loosely-linked tales of life on the fringe in Austin, Texas are sometimes boring, occasionally charming and from time to time very funny. 732541 Wednesday: In The Line Of Fire (ITV, 9 p.m.) Highly enjoyable thriller, with Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service man trying to guard the US president against a cunning assassin (John Malkovich). Eastwood plays the world-weary agent to perfection, even if he is 30 years too old for love interest Rene Russo. Part 1 7909, Part 2 6627541