Maugham's spy special
THE long-running saga of an Edwardian fashion firm, The House of Elliott, buttoned up for good last week, leaving the Best of British slot open for Ashenden (Pearl 11.45pm).
This is a four-part BBC adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's story about a British spy undertaking espionage missions during World War I, which take him to Europe and to Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution.
* * * * COMEDIENNE Valerie Harper, who made her name in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda in the early 70s, stars in the new comedy series City (World 7.30 pm).
It revolves around the hilarious subject of civil servants, described in the synopsis as the ''unsung heroes who make the city run'', which is rather more complimentary than most descriptions you hear.
Harper plays Liz Gianni, a manager in the Department of City Services who is in charge of a team of not-so-civil servants.
* * * * THROW Momma From the Train replaces the advertised film The Blob (Pearl, 9.45pm). It is directed by the brilliant Danny DeVito, who also stars along with Billy Crystal. In this very black comedy, Crystal plays a creative writing teacher, hounded by one of his students (DeVito), who wants him to kill his mother in exchange for killing Crystal's ex-wife.
* * * * DON'T expect much from Mannequin On the Move (World 9.30pm, ORT 96 mins). It's a mega-bomb, so bad it makes the original Mannequin movie look almost watchable by comparison.
This time a department store window dresser (William Ragsdale) frees the spirit of a peasant girl (Kristy Swanson) who's trapped inside a shop dummy - and should have been left there, I'd say.
Strangely, the peasant girl is meant to have been ''dummified'' in medieval times 1,000 years ago - surely not? * * * * THE third episode of The Sexual Imperative (Pearl 8.35pm) looks at how animals decide when to do it and with whom. It finds out why ''good looks'' are so important both to animals and humans and asks what each sex looks for in the other. That's easy, a healthy bank balance.
* * * *IT'S a case of a Klingon with a conscience on Star Trek: The Next Generation (Pearl 7.35pm). Resident alien Lieutenant Worf is torn between his loyalty to the Enterprise and to his heritage when two Klingon fugitives take over the starship.
The Klingons always were revolting.
* * * *GULAG (Pearl 12.45am, ORT 129 mins) is a passable TV movie about an American sportscaster caught trying to take secret plans out of Russia and sent by the KGB into a labour camp.
Solzhenitsyn it is not, but the film does have its harrowing moments. Newcomer David Keith plays the initially confident American, while Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange) is the former English spy whom he befriends.
Look out too for David Suchet (Poirot) as fellow inmate Matvei.
