IN Guilty By Suspicion (Pearl, 1.35am) the cast is fully preoccupied with being earnest. This is Hollywood gazing at its own navel; only Patricia Wetting, as a washed-up actress with a drink problem - she can't seem to get enough - breaks the mould, going over the top with a lush routine that brings back memories of Norman Wisdom.
The trouble with Guilty By Suspicion is that it is so wrapped up with the seriousness of its story that it often forgets to be entertaining.
It is, however, generally interesting, particularly for viewers who are new to the agonies of the communist blacklisting era in Hollywood, when the House Un-American Activities Committee was doing everything in its power to run reds, and suspected reds, out of town.
Robert De Niro is given the unwelcome task of holding the film together, as a successful director who finds himself without work after refusing to co-operate with the committee. Annette Bening has little to do as his sympathetic ex-wife, but look out for Martin Scorsese, who makes a cameo playing Joe Lesser, a character based on director Joseph Losey who fled to Europe to avoid testifying.
Sam Wanamaker, who gives the best performance of the film playing a villainous attorney, did likewise. He was already in Hollywood in the 1950s and made a hasty exit stage left to England.
THE usual assortment of tired but honest cops and dangerous drugs lords are on display in Blue Heat (Pearl, 9.30pm), which features a showdown in a meat-packing plant - always a safe bet in the absence of a better alternative. The cast includes Brian Dennehy, who rarely does anything very wrong, and Jeff Fahey.
GEORGE Lucas' first television film, The Ewok Adventure (World, 9.35pm), is jam-packed with the cinematic wizardry that has come to identify his work, although it tends to overshadow the story (which he wrote). The Ewoks, cuddly creatures reminiscent of mohair sweaters, were first featured in Return of the Jedi.