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Highlights for 2010-09-08

00:50True Stories: My Beautiful Dacia (More4)
 Dacia is the national car manufacturer of Romania, whose cheap, easy-to-maintain runarounds have been a part of the countrys landscape since just before the start of the Ceausescu regime. This ponderous film, which stalls as many times as the cars themselves, tells the history of the cars in parallel to the history of the country itself. There are fascinating moments - the man ordered at gunpoint to drive the Ceausescus into hiding after the revolution; the shocking footage of the December uprising; and the funeral director whos converted his Dacia into a hearse - but its too enamoured of hypnotic scenes of Dacias driving along to fully grab the attention. Which is a shame, because it does contain a fine analysis of how Romania has struggled to adapt to democracy. Radio Times reviewer - David Crawford
02:10Eddie Waring: Mr Rugby League (BBC4)
 When live sport was sparse on TV, Eddie Warings richly idiosyncratic and entertaining commentary always accompanied rugby league. Waring was the fl amboyant personality whose fame threatened to become bigger than the sports. Some of its fans felt betrayed by the way he became a caricature northener to popularise the game. They even petitioned the BBC to send him for an early bath, a phrase Waring himself popularised. Heres his story, packed with clips carrying his "u-u-p and under-r-r" commentaries. Its nicely balanced and the clips have great charm, especially Warings appearances on light entertainment shows. Radio Times reviewer - Geoff Ellis
09:00Show Me Show Me (CBeebies)
 Chris Jarvis and Pui Fan Lee are back with the daily show aimed at encouraging kids to discover the wider world. This second series introduces catchy songs for the toys and for children at home to learn. Have fun marching with Teddington, spot colours with Mo Mo, take tea with Miss Mouse, play peepo with Tom and give Stuffy a big hug. Today, the themes are bats and upside down. Radio Times reviewer - Geoff Ellis
12:15Bargain Hunt (BBC 1)
 Its been on air for more than ten years and made cult figures out of its presenters, David Dickinson (who left in 2004) and Tim Wonnacott. Now you can watch more colour-coded teams blow the Beebs cash on tatty antiques that sell at auction for a shuddering loss. Though occasionally theyll make a few pounds and celebrate with a budget beverage and a team de-fleecing. Today, experts David Harper and Kate Bliss help contestants barter for antiques in Powys. Were expecting plenty of hunter-versusexpert spats. ("Trust me," a guru will often urge, "the £200 pink Bakelite toilet seat is a loser.") Elsewhere, Wonnacott drinks in saucy paintings at an art gallery. £ Radio Times reviewer - Ruth Margolis
19:30Bang Goes the Theory (BBC 1)
 The science show parents and kids can watch together returns. Even if Dallas Campbells explanation of the theories of relativity gives you brain ache, youll enjoy his attempt to prove that Einsteins hypotheses are accurate, flying to New Zealand and back with an atomic clock. Some may wonder, though, why the BBC approved such a carbonstomp of a stunt when the same episode features a on-message report from the Gulf of Mexico, where the oil-rig explosion recently killed 11 workers and doused the seas and wildlife with toxic sludge. We meet the brown pelicans who need a fi ve-day scrub n bath to recover from their crude encounter. Radio Times reviewer - Ruth Margolis
20:00Waterloo Road (BBC 1)
 Head teacher Karen (Amanda Burton) is working hard at making a difference, tightening up on discipline and introducing new schemes such as Sexual Awareness Day in the hope of reducing the level of teenage pregnancies. Not everyones enthusiastic about that brainwave, though. "Theyre already much too sexually aware, as far as I can see," grumbles Grantly. The kids may be sexually active, but a lot dont feel comfortable talking about it, while some arent using contraception. And one - Karens own daughter, Jess - is behaving immaturely and making herself extremely vulnerable. A bit of a lesson for the series teenage viewers this week. Radio Times reviewer - Jane Rackham
20:30Churches: How to Read Them (BBC4)
 Angels hover above the congregation of Blythburghs medieval church in Suffolk. Fixed to the wooden roof, they were once decorated in green, black and gold leaf, providing the most vivid artwork that many parishioners would ever see. Outside, monsters carved in the churchs stonework reminded them of what lay in store for sinners. The latest in Richard Taylors marvellous series provides another handful of illuminating church tours. Naturally, hes cherry-picked the best - chuckle at the drunks carved beneath the choir stalls, admire the fonts and the painting of the seven deadly sins. Radio Times reviewer - Geoff Ellis
21:00Ugly Betty (E4)
 So Betty thinks shes being elbowed out of just about everything. Matt has obviously moved on from their relationship, because hes asked an excited Amanda to accompany him to Wilhelminas fancy charity do. It seems Amanda really has feelings for "Baby Fartley" and isnt just attracted to his money after all. Even worse, Daniels bereavementcounselling buddy, Natalie, has become his new assistant and BF. "Its like I was never here," sighs Betty. But just as were on the verge of getting bored with her harping on about feeling excluded, this episode socks us between the eyes with some major revelations. Radio Times reviewer - Jane Rackham
22:00Mad Men (BBC4)
 "Who is Don Draper?" wonders an unidentifi ed voice as the much-anticipated fourth season of this gorgeous drama begins. Who indeed. Advertising executive Draper, as emotionally unavailable as ever, is hustling for business as one of the heads of upstart newcomers Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. The firm has proper premises (no more hotel rooms), though staff like to perpetuate the fiction that theres a second floor to their offi ces just to make them seem bigger and more important than they actually are. But clients are hard to fi nd. Draper (Jon Hamm), now divorced from Betty, is living a shallow kind of bachelor life in his dreary apartment. Hes even paying for sex from a very strict, no-nonsense prostitute (in a shocking scene that will send a frisson through Hamms legion of lady fans). It looks as if the once-glamorous Betty, now frumpy with her helmet-hair and frigid little suits, is having more fun with her boring new husband, the senators aide, though shes still cruel to her spirited daughter, Sally. Its an effortlessly fl uid opening episode from series creator Matthew Weiner, full of light and shade, jokes and surprises. Its classy and beautiful. Watch it, and fall in love with Mad Men all over again. Radio Times reviewer - Alison Graham
22:00Ugly Betty (E4 +1)
 So Betty thinks shes being elbowed out of just about everything. Matt has obviously moved on from their relationship, because hes asked an excited Amanda to accompany him to Wilhelminas fancy charity do. It seems Amanda really has feelings for "Baby Fartley" and isnt just attracted to his money after all. Even worse, Daniels bereavementcounselling buddy, Natalie, has become his new assistant and BF. "Its like I was never here," sighs Betty. But just as were on the verge of getting bored with her harping on about feeling excluded, this episode socks us between the eyes with some major revelations. Radio Times reviewer - Jane Rackham
22:00Derren Brown: Hero at 30,000 Feet (Channel 4)
 We confess: RTs powers of persuasion werent enough to coax even a dribble of information from Channel 4 on the illusionists latest two-stunt special (one tonight and one in just over a months time). For maximum impact, we suppose, his eye-widening feats are usually kept top secret until the very last minute. Looking back, its hard to imagine what there is left for him to do. He staged a séance with students in 2004, a heist in 2006 and last year demonstrated how to beat a casino (allegedly Brown is banned from all UK casinos). But his most stomach-inmouth stunt was back in 2003, when he played Russian roulette in a bunker. Its been a while, so perhaps hell plump for another televised dice with death. Radio Times reviewer - Ruth Margolis
22:35Words of the Blitz (ITV)
 Much like Words of World War I, this evocative patchwork of remembrance uses accounts written at the time to describe peoples experiences during the eight months of the Blitz. Excerpts from letters and diaries written by people ranging from teenagers and a 24-year-old volunteer fi reman to Churchills private secretary are read by their authors, if they have survived, or are delivered straight to camera with great effect by actors such as Sheila Hancock and Russell Tovey. Some extracts are poignant, some surprising (a young Joan Wyndham wrote on the fi rst night that "bombs are lovely - I think its all thrilling"), but they paint a clear picture of Britains remarkable "keep calm and carry on" attitude in 1940. Radio Times reviewer - Jane Rackham
23:00Words of the Blitz (UTV)
 Much like Words of World War I, this evocative patchwork of remembrance uses accounts written at the time to describe peoples experiences during the eight months of the Blitz. Excerpts from letters and diaries written by people ranging from teenagers and a 24-year-old volunteer fi reman to Churchills private secretary are read by their authors, if they have survived, or are delivered straight to camera with great effect by actors such as Sheila Hancock and Russell Tovey. Some extracts are poignant, some surprising (a young Joan Wyndham wrote on the fi rst night that "bombs are lovely - I think its all thrilling"), but they paint a clear picture of Britains remarkable "keep calm and carry on" attitude in 1940. Radio Times reviewer - Jane Rackham


This information is provided by The Radio Times