The knowing, in-jokiness of Hercules (World, 8.30pm) reaches an apex this evening with an episode about the making of Hercules that does not even bother with the period costumes. The time is more or less now, and Los Angeles has just suffered a major earthquake.
Instead of being in the ancient world of Hercules, we are transported to the hysterical world of the making of Hercules.
The earthquake is not the only reason the show's producers, writers and assistants are panicking: the real catastrophe is that Kevin Sorbo, the actor who plays the title role, has gone missing.
Actors are too often at the mercy of these kind of people not to delight in the caricatures they are allowed to play in this episode.
The ensuing flapping, including the dispatching of a lowly assistant to track Sorbo down, wherever in the world he is, and the arrival of a hilarious studio chief called B S Hollinsfoffer who has had a vision of a new show Hercules: The Musical, are often very funny, and also very clever. How many shows dare parody themselves this way? Natasha Richardson is too talented to have a film like Past Midnight (World, 9.30pm). But it was made six years ago, when she was still married to her first husband: pre Liam Neeson, pre her recent Broadway triumphs, and presumably she needed the work.
The producers pitch this story as especially chilling because it 'could happen to anyone', which speaks volumes about the circles film producers move in.
Richardson plays Laura, an earnest young probation officer, who becomes rather over-involved with a new client, Ben (Rutger Hauer).
