But many cable viewers missed the bums and boobs in features such as Eden and Playmate of the Year 1994 because the booking lines were so busy. For tonight's episode of Eden, which is presented in an unmarked, brown paper bag, book now.

There is further good news for the sad and the bored. Wharf Cable has been so encouraged by the popularity of Playboy Night it is considering developing and producing its own adult programmes in the near future.

WHICH brings us to Khartoum (World, 9.35pm), which has more stars in it than Playboy Night and a slightly superior plot, but is still boring.

Charlton Heston is more impressive than he usually is as that mystical British general Sir Charles 'Chinese' Gordon, who died in 1885 at the hands of fanatical Sudanese tribesmen under the leadership of a religious zealot. The Sudanese had overrun Khartoum after a 317-day siege. Gordon was a paradoxical creature, both realist and idealist, and Heston somehow - by accident or design - manages to capture this.

Laurence Olivier is more worrying as the Mahdi, 'the chosen one', who is fighting a jihad intent on getting rid of all infidels in the Sudan and on taking the great city of Khartoum to prove his power and divine mission. When the film was made, in 1966, Olivier had just finished playing Othello on the British stage and appears to have left too much of his boot polish on. Seeing a white man in such dark make up is a little disconcerting. He looks like a Black and White Minstrel in a steam bath.

Ralph Richardson offers his customary exceptional performance as Gladstone, the British prime minister, and Richard Johnson does a decent turn as Heston's loyal-unto-death aide.

Khartoum is dullish history book stuff, but sometimes bursts into action. When it does, it is thanks mostly to legendary former stuntman Takima Canutt who directed the action sequences.

JAMES Cameron, who went on to make blockbuster action movies such as Terminator and Terminator 2, did not have a particularly auspicious start in the film industry. His first film, in 1982, was Piranha II: Flying Killers (Pearl, 9.30pm), in which holidaymakers are attacked by mutant flying fish. This was the low-budget, low-intelligence sequel to Piranha and was also known as Piranha II: The Spawning. Among those who are eaten alive, or narrowly avoid being, are Tricia O'Neal, Steve Marachuk and Lance Henriksen.

AMONG the many things Nostradamus (aka Michel de Notredame or Nostredame) failed to predict was that in the year 1995 they would be showing television documentaries about him. Nostradamus (World, 8.30pm) looks at the life and times of the great physician and soothsayer, who first became well known in Lyon and Aix-en-Provence, France, for treating patients with the plague. Fans say he predicted the rise of Hitler and came close to giving us the Nazi leader's name. Cynics say he couldn't have predicted the weather in Iceland during winter.

TROUBLE for Benny (Larry Drake) in L.A. Law (World, 1.20am). He's the lovable, simple-minded one who makes the coffee and always gets the mail mixed up. Benny has 'adopted' a 12-year-old homeless boy off the streets, but the folk down at social security want to take the boy into custody. Meanwhile - and in all the best dramas there is a meanwhile - Bloom asks Becker if he's interested in becoming a full-time legal segment reporter.