Upcoming Movies on TV (UK)

[colinr0380]

And the last normal, single week, RadioTimes of the year turned up today, for Saturday 13th to Friday 19th, well ahead of schedule! Its rather action and crime filled for a festive week!

A few notable premieres for the week before Christmas, the biggest one being the first showing of the Matt Reeves 2021 The Batman on ITV1 at 10:20 p.m. on Saturday 13th (repeated at 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday 16th). Also on ITV1 is the first epsiode of the Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring Super-Pumped: The Battle For Uber at 10:15 p.m. on Sunday 14th. Although if it follows the same trajectory as ITV's treatment of Star Trek: Brave New Worlds in the same timeslot a couple of months back it will only be the first episode that shows on television.

Aside from the Channel 5 Christmas TV movies, It is really ITV's week all around, as ITV4 is repeating each of the Expendables films each night at 10 p.m. from Sunday 14th leading up to the premiere of Expend4bles at 9 p.m. on Wednesday 17th (which the Radio Times is sensibly just calling "The Expendables 4").

And to cap the week off ITV1 is showing Red One at 9 p.m. on Friday 19th (dark 'n' moody remix of a classic song ahoy!).

One thing of note appears on BBC4 with actress Monica Dolan doing a Jackanory-style reading of Jane Austen's Persuasion at 8 p.m. on Thursday 18th.
___

The most exciting repeat of the week is in BBC4's 'archive television' strand with the 1985 version of Shadowlands showing at 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday 17th, preceded by a new introduction by screenwriter William Nicholson at 10 p.m.

BBC2 is getting into showing a classic film each weekday afternoon with: Olivier's Richard III at 2:40 p.m. on Monday 15th; Laura at 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday 16th; Funeral In Berlin at 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday 17th; Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday 18th; and Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train at 3:30 p.m. on Friday 19th.

The film that I am most excited about turns up on the "Legend Xtra" channel though with 1995's bizarre serial killer-cyberspace film starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, Virtuosity showing at 9 p.m. on Saturday 13th. I have not seen that film in decades, and never in widescreen! (I wonder if the same channel will get to Brett Leonard's other serial killer film from the same year, the adaptation of Dean R. Koontz's Hideaway, at some point!)

Also on "Legend Xtra" : Wheels of Terror aka The Misfits Brigade at 9 p.m. on Sunday 14th, a Dirty Dozen-style film directed by Gordon Hessler (The Oblong Box; Scream and Scream Again; The Golden Voyage of Sinbad; Rage of Honor); Michael Reeves's 1967 film The Sorcerors at 1 a.m. in the early hours of Tuesday 16th, with Ian Ogilvy's second finest role after Witchfinder General; Ian Ogilvy appears again decades later (along with Nicky Henson from Psychomania and Alison Doody from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!) amongst the cast of 2014 gangster film We Still Kill The Old Way at 10:55 p.m. on Wednesday 17th; and Steven Soderbergh's Haywire is showing at 9 p.m. on Friday 19th.

[jlnight]

Scandal (1989), Sat 13th Dec, Talking Pictures. Or...
Orgy of the Dead (1965), Sat 13th Dec, Rewind TV.
The Hot Month of August (1966) + Sound of Horror (1966), late Sat 13th Dec, Talking Pictures.

The Guinea Pig, Sun 14th Dec, Talking Pictures. (on before)
The Pleasure Principle (1991), Sun 14th Dec, Talking Pictures. Or...
The Evacuees (1969 BBC TV), Sun 14th Dec, BBC4. (part of Aspel Night but directed by BS Johnson)

On the Beach (1959), Wed 17th Dec, Sky Arts.

A Hole in the Head (1959), Thu 18th Dec, Sky Arts.

Oh! What a Lovely War, Fri 19th Dec, Sky Arts.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fri 19th Dec, BBC2. (on before) Or...
The Omega Factor: Night Games + Countess Dracula, Fri 19th Dec, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club) Or...
Naughty! (1971), Fri 19th Dec, Rewind TV.

[colinr0380]

The Christmas RadioTimes for the Christmas fortnight has turned up, from 20th December to 2nd January. A few big films, the biggest of which is the premiere of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer on BBC2 at 9 p.m. on Sunday 21st. Unfortunately that clashes up against ITV1's one premiere of the fortnight (though I cannot begrudge them after the previous week of new films), John Wick: Chapter 4 at 10:10 p.m.

Earlier that evening Channel 4 are showing the 2023 live action remake of The Little Mermaid at 4:50 p.m. - the BBC seems to have pulled away from big Disney films this year, and Channel 4 have instead picked up the mantle for the Christmas period: Frozen II is showing at 3:10 p.m. on Christmas Day; and Raya and the Last Dragon is showing at 2:15 p.m. on New Year's Day.

However BBC1 for its part in terms of animation is showing lots of non-Disney fare with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse at 2:55 p.m. on Christmas Eve (which means we have an interesting inversion of Channel 4 showing the Disney stuff whilst the BBC shows the second animated Spider-Man film, the first of which had premiered on Film4 a few years ago!); Puss In Boots: The Last Wish at 3:20 p.m. on Boxing Day; and most interestingly Marcel The Shell With Shoes On at 9:30 a.m. on New Year's Eve.
___
In terms of more adult themed fare its new balls please and three's a crowd in the premiere of Luca Guadagnino's Challengers on BBC1 at 10:40 p.m. on Monday 22nd. Also on BBC1 is the premiere of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday 27th. BBC2 is showing Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson starring The Great Escaper at 9:30 p.m. on Boxing Day; Adrian Dunbar in the filmed version of the 2024 stage production of Kiss Me, Kate at 3:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve; and a double bill of Operation Mincemeat at 9 p.m. followed by The Damned Don't Cry at 11 p.m. on Friday 2nd (that is the only new subtitled film showing during the fornight, though it is from the director of the BFI-funded Lynn + Lucy film)

The one premiere on Film4 over the fortnight is Happiest Season at 9 p.m. on Monday 22nd, which I seem to remember around the time it was released having Kristen Stewart mention that it a kind of response to the current Christmas TV movies deluge. Its directed by actress Clea DuVall (of The Faculty and Ghosts of Mars) too!

The most exciting new thing of the fortnight though is on Christmas Day. The BBC have nicked Jaws back from ITV and are showing it on BBC2 at 9:15 p.m. on Christmas Day, though the big deal is that it is immediately followed by a screening of Laurent Bouzereau's making of documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Story at 11:15 p.m. (BBC2 is also showing Jaws 2 at 11 p.m. on Boxing Day, which also works as a nice tribute to Jeannot Szwarc, but does not appear to be doing the other two ).
___
Repeat-wise, the BBC continues its tradition of the last few years of using the festive season as an obituary dumping ground on BBC4. We get tributes to Terence Stamp on Sunday 28th (with the 1998 Scene by Scene discussion with Mark Cousins and a repeat of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert); Tom Stoppard (with a 2021 "Imagine..." documentary and the inevitable repeat of Shakespeare In Love); and the Jaws night repackaged on New Year's Eve. The most interesting thing appears during the evening of Saturday 27th devoted to Prunella Scales, which contains a repeat of the 1991 John Schlesinger film A Question of Attribution at 9:45 p.m.

Classic-film wise: High Society on BBC2 at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday 21st; It's A Wonderful Life on ITV1 at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday 21st; Citizen Kane on BBC2 at 9 a.m. on Christmas Eve; Bringing Up Baby ay 9 a.m. on BBC2 on Boxing Day (amusingly immediately followed by What's Up Doc? at 10:40 a.m.!); 2001: A Space Odyssey is on ITV4 at 3:45 p.m. on Boxing Day; Double Indemnity is at 10 a.m. on BBC2 on Saturday 27th; Letter From An Unknown Woman at 8:50 a.m. on BBC2 on New Year's Day; It Came From Outer Space on Film4 at 11 a.m. on Friday 2nd.

"Legend Xtra"-wise there is a repeat of Kiss of the Dragon starring Jet Li and the late Tchéky Karyo at 9 p.m. on Saturday 20th; The Vengeance of She at 9 p.m. on Sunday 21st (that may be the film I am most interested in seeing of the whole fortnight!); and other Hammer films with The Satanic Rites of Dracula at 1 a.m. in the early hours of Tuesday 23rd and The Reptile at 1 a.m. in the early hours of Christmas Day; director Stuart Cooper's 1977 follow up to 1975's Overlord, The Disappearance starring Donald Sutherland at 11:10 p.m. on Monday 22nd (that's the other film I am interested in!); Murder By Decree at 9 p.m. on Sunday 28th followed by the original Death Race 2000 at 11:25 p.m.; a 2017 remake of Papillon at 9 p.m. on Monday 29th; and a Jean-Claude Van Damme double on New Year's Day with Nowhere to Run at 9 p.m. (by Robert Harmon, the director of The Hitcher) followed by his really early supporting role in the flurry of 1988 titles that made his name initially, Black Eagle at 10:55 p.m.

[colinr0380]

I forgot to mention two other items of note: tucked away on the 5Star digital channel (and not noted as a premiere on the listings page of the RadioTimes, which is how I had overlooked it the first time around) is the premiere of 2014 found footage-stye disaster film Into The Storm at 3:10 p.m. on New Year's Eve from the director of Final Destination 5 (aka the collapsing bridge one). Which is another film I have only encountered so far through the Red Letter Media review of it, in which they took a break from mocking Richard Linklater's Boyhood to joke about the half-committed to found footage aspect of the film.

"This movie is the first one I have seen that treats weather like some sort of slasher movie villain"

And I forgot about the biggest repeat of the fortnight which is Film4 kicking off 2026 with Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve at 11 a.m. on New Year's Day, which apparently according to the RadioTimes is the first time it has appeared on free-to-air channels "for a few decades"! It might not be desperately urgent to have to record given the Criterion edition of the film has the film in good circulation already, but it is good to see it turn up on television!

(Also Hitchcock's Rear Window is showing at 4:10 p.m. on BBC2 on Tuesday 30th - the 1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much is at 9:25 a.m. and Dial M For Murder is at 2:30 p.m. the same day)

[jlnight]

The Love Match (1955), Sat 20th Dec, Talking Pictures.
The Proposition (2006), Sat 20th Dec, Talking Pictures. Or...
Mardi Gras Massacre (1978), Sat 20th Dec, Rewind TV.
Another Day, Another Man (1966), late Sat 20th Dec, Talking Pictures.
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, late Sat 20th Dec, Rewind TV. (last on TPTV)

What's New, Pussycat?, Sun 21st Dec, Sky Arts. (been on Freeview)

Under Capricorn (1949), Mon 22nd Dec, Sky Arts.

Shake Hands with the Devil, Tue 23rd Dec, Sky Arts.

Roustabout, Wed 24th Dec, Sky Arts.
The Great Expedition (1959 short), Wed 24th Dec, Talking Pictures.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), late Wed 24th Dec, Rewind TV.

Easy Come, Easy Go, Fri 26th Dec, Sky Arts. (been on Freeview)
The Omega Factor: After-Image + Last Woman on Earth (1960), Fri 26th Dec, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)


Sound of Horror (1966) was a no-show, The Pleasure Principle might be a no-show.
Dying to be Beautiful, the Lolo Ferrari documentary, featured a clip from Camping Cosmos, (Jan Bucquoy's follow-up to Sexual Life of the Belgians), which was described by Mark Cousins in his Moviedrome intro as "a complete disaster". I didn't know she starred in that.

[jlnight]

Take Me Naked (1966) + Hot Nights on the Campus (1966), late Sat 27th Dec, Talking Pictures.

Little Dorrit: Little Dorrit's Story (1987), Sun 28th Dec, Sky Arts. (last on London Live)
Paris When it Sizzles, Sun 28th Dec, Sky Arts.
Some Like it Sexy, Sun 28th Dec, Together TV. (last on London Live)
MASH (1970), Sun 28th Dec, Great TV.
Primitive London, late Sun 28th Dec, Rewind TV.

Echo of Barbara (1961), Mon 29th Dec, Talking Pictures.
Whoops Apocalypse (1986),late Mon 29th Dec, That's TV.

Barefoot in the Park, Wed 31st Dec, Sky Arts.
The Deadly Females (1976), Wed 31st Dec, Together TV.

The Appointment (1981), Thu 1st Jan, Talking Pictures.

Escape From Alcatraz, Fri 2nd Jan, ITV4. (ex-Moviedrome) Or...
The Omega Factor: Powers of Darkness + The Undertaker (2023), Fri 2nd Jan, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)

[jlnight]

The Haunting of Julia (Full Circle), Sat 3rd Jan, Talking Pictures.
Doll's Eye (1982) + Murder Mansion (1972), late Sat 3rd Jan, Talking Pictures.

Gallipoli, Sun 4th Jan, Legend. Or...
Back To Black (2024), Sun 4th Jan, BBC2.
Death Screams (1982), Sun 4th Jan, Rewind TV.

The Dive (2023), Mon 5th Jan, Film4.

Culloden (1964) (+ doc), Tue 6th Jan, BBC4.

Don't Say Die (1950), Wed 7th Jan, Talking Pictures.
The Savage (1953), Wed 7th Jan, Legend.

Sabrina (1954), Thu 8th Jan, Sky Arts. (been on Freeview)
Invasion of the Bee Girls, Thu 8th Jan, Rewind TV. (also on TPTV)

The Old Oak (2023), Fri 9th Jan, BBC2. Or...
The Omega Factor: Child's Play + The Body Beneath (1970), Fri 9th Jan, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)



Rewind screened Silent Night Bloody Night (1972) not Silent Night Deadly Night (1984).
Doll's Eye is the first screening since 1983 (on Channel 4).

[colinr0380]

Film4 have just trailed their "Films for the New Year" over the next few weeks and in addition to The Dive which jlnight has mentioned above they will also be showing:

the Nicolas Cage vampire movie Renfield;
M. Night Shyamalan's Knock At The Cabin;
Blackberry;
Polite Society;
Theater Camp;
Alice, Darling;
and
Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid

[colinr0380]

A few items of note for the first week of the new year, which handily illustrate why linear television is still so important, as I would never willingly track down many of these films yet still have the opportunity to see them! ITV, having sat out much of the Christmas fortnight add a belated entry to the big films with The Super Mario Bros. Movie on ITV1 at 4:50 p.m. on Sunday 4th (dark 'n' moody remix ahoy!). Which only gets two stars in the RadioTimes, but it is at least more than the single star that the 1993 film ever received!

BBC2 is showing the Amy Winehouse biopic Back In Black at 10 p.m. on Sunday 4th, followed by a Jools Holland programme about her. The RadioTimes does warn that the film contains 'drug abuse', to which the only response to that is "Well, duh!"

As jlnight has noted, Film4 kicks off its new year premieres with The Dive at 9 p.m. on Monday 5th. Will it be able to compete with 47 Metres Down and its sequel?

And on BBC2 at 11 p.m. on Friday 9th is Ken Loach's film The Old Oak. Which is perhaps less relevant for its immigrant storyline than for capturing the loss of the British pub, which has had the cover of the 2020 shutdown used to mask it for years now, but it is probably more likely that most of Gen Z (and certain other demographics) reportedly do not socialise or drink as much (or any, for some obscure reason) alcohol now to keep such businesses afloat. From that trailer Loach appears to be painfully close to understanding that, but I am terribly worried that it is going to turn into a pat Billy Elliot-Full Monty-style "Let's make everything into haute cuisine gastropubs, which will cheer these working class types up for sure!" thing.
___

Repeat-wise, ITV is bringing some good, some bad back into rotation - the bad is the notorious 1998 The Avengers, based on the 1960s UK series. We still have not yet got the deluxe Arrow UHD set of that one, but maybe this ominously presages such a thing! That is on ITV4 at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday 3rd. Much better is Field of Dreams turning up on ITV4 at 6:50 p.m. on Sunday 4th. And Film4 get in on the repeat action with Peter Jackson's The Frighteners at 9 p.m. on Thursday 8th, with Michael J. Fox's best role outside of the Back To The Future films and a tone that wonderfully bridges stuff like Braindead with a more 'toned down for Hollywood' edge (yet still contains a big cold blooded massacre sequence performed by a couple in love, as was the Natural Born Killers-style of the time!) - now that would be great to see an Arrow edition of!

Film4 is also repeating Earwig at 1 a.m. in the early hours of Friday 9th, and the classic film added to Film4's rotation is the 1955 remake of The Spoilers, which I could only find an A.I. narrated video about on YouTube!. That is on at 3 p.m. on Thursday 8th.
___

Legend Xtra-wise, I am looking forward to catching up with a triple bill from 11:55 p.m. on Sunday 4th of 1983's Sean Penn-starring Bad Boys at 11:55 p.m.; finally getting a chance to see that A Good Woman Is Hard To Find film at 2:20 a.m.; and Beware! The Blob at 4:10 a.m.! Which somehow never got a Criterion edition!

Plus something even more terrible and obscure than 1998's The Avengers with the 1994 Mark Dacascos-starring 'answer' to the mid-90s Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat game adaptations, with the other beat 'em up video game adaptation, Double Dragon! (Dark 'n' moody remix, ahoy!). From the director of the Bruce Willis "Respect Yourself" music video and lots of Phil Collins music vids, as well as co-starring Alyssa Milano, that's at 5 p.m. on Wednesday 7th.

And the same evening is the horror film Wired Shut at 10:55 p.m.

[jlnight]

Sunset Boulevard, Sat 10th Jan, Sky Arts. (ex-Moviedrome)
Deadly Recruits (1986 ITV TVM), Sat 10th Jan, Together TV. Or...
Deceived (1991), Sat 10th Jan, Great TV.
B Girl Rhapsody (1952), late Sat 10th Jan, Talking Pictures.

Internal Affairs, Sun 11th Jan, Legend. Or...
The Teacher (1974), Sun 11th Jan, Rewind TV.

Watching Points (1957 short), Mon 12th Jan, Talking Pictures.
Seven Dials Mystery (1981 ITV TVM), Mon 12th Jan, Sky Arts.

Flight to Tangier, Tue 13th Jan, Legend.

Television Comes to London (1936 BBC short), Wed 14th Jan, Talking Pictures.

Agatha Christie's Pale Horse (1997 ITV TVM), Thu 15th Jan, Sky Arts.
Confessions of a Young American Housewife, late Thu 15th Jan, Rewind TV.

Dead Again (1991), Fri 16th Jan, Great TV. Or...
The Omega Factor: St Anthony's Fire + Burke & Hare (1972), Fri 16th Jan, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club) Or...
Lollipop (2024), Fri 16th Jan, BBC2.
Messiah of Evil (1974), late Fri 16th Jan, Rewind TV.

[colinr0380]

Very quiet next week on the main channels with only two premieres, which unfortunately happen to overlap together on the evening of Friday 16th. That is the Loachian social drama Lollipop on BBC2 at 11 p.m., which goes up against a film directed by Tim Story (of Fantastic Four - not that one, or that one or that one, but the 2005 one; Shaft - not that one or that one with Samuel L. Jackson but the other one with Samuel L. Jackson from 2019 as John Shaft passing the shaft along to his son; and Taxi - not that one but the 2004 one with Queen Latifah and the annoying US chat show host - not those ones or the other one, but the Jort's Shorts one), the comedy-horror film The Blackening at 11:30 p.m. on BBC1 - no, not that one or that one.
___
Repeat-wise, BBC4 is doing a Mike Leigh night on Saturday 10th, with a new 15 minute introduction at 9:35 p.m. to a screening of Nuts In May at 9:50 p.m. and then a repeat of a 1982 Arena film Making Plays, an 80 minute documentary about his improvisation process, which is probably the most interesting programme of the week. That is followed by a repeat of a 2010 profile of Alison Steadman at 12:30 a.m.

The "Legend Xtra" channel pretty much saves the week though with films like one of the rarer entries in the 2010s 'post-Game of Thrones, somehow now causing a revival in Vikings' trend, 2013's Hammer of the Gods at 11 p.m. on Saturday 10th, the 1975 Kirk Douglas directed Posse at 9 p.m. on Sunday 11th (one of only two films Douglas directed, and which is the most exciting film of the week); a double bill of two more of the deluge of late period Bruce Willis films, 2018's Acts of Violence at 9 p.m. on Tuesday 13th, followed by Willis teaming up with Hayden Christensen(!) in 2017's First Kill at 10:50 p.m.; and the interesting looking horror film Beware My Brethren at 1 a.m. in the early hours of Friday 16th, from the director of the Peter Cushing Corruption film!

[jlnight]

Warning from Space (1956), Sat 17th Jan, Talking Pictures.
A Woman of Mystery (1958), Sat 17th Jan, Talking Pictures.
Once Upon a Time in the West, Sat 17th Jan, 5Action.
Blast-Off Girls (1967), late Sat 17th Jan, Talking Pictures.

Harvey (1950), Sun 18th Jan, Film4.
Before and After (1996), Sun 18th Jan, Great TV.

No Resting Place (1951), Mon 19th Jan, Talking Pictures.
The Terminator, Mon 19th Jan, ITV4. (ex-Moviedrome)
The Souvenir + The Souvenir: Part II, Mon 19th Jan, BBC2. (both on before)

The Secret of Me (2025), Tue 20th Jan, Channel 4.

The Buccaneer (1958), Wed 21st Jan, Legend.

The Eternal Daughter (2022), Fri 23rd Jan, BBC2. Or...
The Omega Factor: Out of Body, Out of Mind + The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940), Fri 23rd Jan, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)

[colinr0380]

A few interesting things next week. As jlnight has noted its quite a Joanna Hogg-heavy week with BBC2 repeating both The Souvenir and The Souvenir: Part II in a double bill from 11 p.m. on Monday 19th before the premiere of Hogg's latest The Eternal Daughter at 11 p.m. on Friday 23rd.

Film4's premiere of the week is Polite Society at 9 p.m. on Wednesday 21st.
__
Repeat-wise, as jlnight has noted Film4 are showing the original 1950 James Stewart starring version of Harvey at 11 a.m. on Sunday 18th (and 12:50 p.m. Friday 23rd). Also new to Film4's rotation is the Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd noir This Gun For Hire showing at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday 21st.

There is an Ibsen evening on BBC4 on Sunday 18th, with at 10 p.m. Richard Eye Remembers Ibsen follwed at 10:15 p.m. by a 1962 production of Hedda Gabler starring Ingrid Bergman. That is followed at 11:30 p.m. by a 1979 programme "Certainties and Doubts" discussing Ibsen that runs for 105 minutes! That may be the programme of the week.

"Legend Xtra"-wise, at 9 p.m. on Sunday 18th is the Lee van Cleef starring Dirty Dozen-sploitation Italian film from 1968 Commandos, which is directed by Armando Crispino before he did the Mimsy Farmer-starring giallo Autopsy! Michael Apted's last directed film Unlocked with Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom and Toni Collette (plus John Malkovich(!) and Michael Douglas(!!)) is showing at 9 p.m. Monday 19th; Circus of Horrors is showing at 1:10 a.m. in the early hours of Thursday 22nd; Frankenstein Created Woman is at 2 p.m. on Thursday 22nd (and 9 a.m. Friday 23rd); and Coralie Fargeat's first feature pre-The Substance, 2017's Revenge, is showing at 11:10 p.m. on Friday 23rd.

[colinr0380]

... and the interesting looking horror film Beware My Brethren at 1 a.m. in the early hours of Friday 16th, from the director of the Peter Cushing Corruption film!

Interestingly the presentation of Beware My Brethren on "Legend Xtra" last night ended with the Vinegar Syndrome logo! I must admit to having not followed Vinegar Syndrome's releases all that closely in recent years, but was that ever released on disc by them?

[jlnight]

Apparently so, yes. The region B disc was released by 88 Films via Tigon/Hollywood Classics.

Had a quick look and found the Film4 screening of Buddies had a VS logo right at the end (it had a Peccadillo Pictures logo at the start). The only other time I remember a VS logo was on a screening of DePalma's Sisters, I think.

[jlnight]

Captain Kidd's Kids (short), Sat 24th Jan, Talking Pictures.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1988 ITV TVM), Sat 24th Jan, Talking Pictures. Or...
The Zone of Interest, Sat 24th Jan, Channel 4.
Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1968), late Sat 24th Jan, Talking Pictures. Or...
Fanny Hill (1964), late Sat 24th Jan, Rewind TV.

Moment of Indiscretion, Sun 25th Jan, Talking Pictures.

Black Memory (1947), Thu 29th Jan, Talking Pictures. (on before)

Bird (2024), Fri 30th Jan, BBC2. Or...
The Omega Factor: Double Vision + Cathy's Curse (1977), Fri 30th Jan, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)
The Day Shall Come, late Fri 30th Jan, Channel 4. (on before)



Confessions of a Young American Housewife was a no-show, while CB Hustlers was scheduled for Sun 18th Jan by Rewind TV.

[colinr0380]

(Interestingly that Italian film Commandos turned out to be co-written by Dario Agento, based on a short story by Menachem Golan!)

Lots of interesting things next week, and along with the Holocaust Memoral Day films (also including repeats of Night Will Fall, Defiance and the 1959 The Diary of Anne Frank) its very western themed (including repeats of the 1960 The Magnificent Seven on BBC2 on the evening of Saturday 27th and a Film4 double bill of Bone Tomahawk and Slow West on Friday 30th).

Of course the big film of the week is the premiere of Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest on Channel 4 at 9 p.m. on Saturday 24th. Also to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, Anthony Hopkins in One Life is showing on BBC2 at 9 p.m. om Monday 26th.

M. Night Shyamalan's Knock At The Cabin shows on Film4 at 9 p.m. on Tuesday 27th; and Andrea Arnold's Bird is on BBC2 at 11 p.m. on Friday 30th.
___
Repeat-wise, BBC4 is continuing their Ibsen theme with the 1987 adaptation of Ghosts with Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh at 10 p.m. on Sunday 25th; followed by a 1964 documentary Summer in Gossensass about "the 62nd year in the life of Henrik Ibsen", which is particularly interesting for being directed by Casper Wrede, who went on to direct the 1970 Tom Courtenay starring version of One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

Also BBC4 is doing a 'space night' to coincide with the launch of Artemis 2 on Monday 26th, the most interesting programme of which is a showing of a 1966 Horizon programme "Man In Space" at 12:30 a.m. in the early hours of Tuesday 27th.

The first part of Ken Burns' documentary The Great American Buffalo is showing on BBC4 at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday 27th.

Film4-repeat-wise the most interesting is the double bill of westerns on Friday 30th with Rock Hudson in Gun Fury at 12:40 p.m. followed by James Stewart in Shenandoah at 2:20 p.m.

"Legend Xtra"-wise, Saturday 24th has a repeat during the day of the "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune" mini-series from 10 a.m.; the 1976 version of King Kong is showing at 9 p.m. on Sunday 25th (it gets three stars in the RadioTimes now, but I can remember the period a couple of decades ago when they disainfully gave it only one single star!); Horror Express is showing at 1:25 a.m. in the early hours of Monday 26th; Any Bullet Will Do (with Meg Foster and Bruce Davison) is at 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday 27th; Jagged Edge is at 10:55 p.m. on Wednesday 28th; Hammer's The Plague of the Zombies is at 2 p.m. on Thursday 29th; a really strange curio with a 1977 TV Movie version of The Last of the Mohicans at 5 p.m. on Thursday 29th (directed by James L. Conway who had previously done religious tinged films In Search of Noah's Ark and the afterlife 'documentary' Beyond and Back and would go on to 80s horror film The Boogens); and on Friday 30th a double bill of Eric Roberts starring Tae Kwon Do rip-off of The Karate Kid films Best of the Best at 9 p.m. and Best of the Best II (with Meg Foster again!) at 11 p.m.! (I wonder if Gengoroh Tagame was influenced by Best of the Best II? )

[GaryC]

The first part of Ken Burns' documentary The Great American Buffalo is showing on BBC4 at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday 27th.

That's a repeat, as BBC4 first showed it two years ago this month. I watched it a year ago this month, just before it disappeared from BBC Iplayer.

Talking of Burns documentaries, Leonardo da Vinci, also first broadcast in 2024 (two parts, just over three hours), is currently on Iplayer indefinitely.

I'm presuming the BBC will be showing his latest, The American Revolution, at some point. That's six episodes and twelve hours in its full version, though the BBC have shown shorter versions of Burns documentary series in the past.

[jlnight]

Cocaine Bear (2023), Sat 31st Jan, Channel 4. Or...
The Master Blackmailer (1992 ITV TVM), Sat 31st Jan, Talking Pictures. Or...
Afire (2023), Sat 31st Jan, BBC4.
Satan's Sadists, late Sat 31st Jan, Talking Pictures.

Hail The Conquering Hero, Sun 1st Feb, Film4.

The Eligible Bachelor (1993 ITV TVM), Mon 2nd Feb, Talking Pictures. Or...
Chevalier (2022), Mon 2nd Feb, Film4.

Carnival of Souls, late Tue 3rd Feb, Talking Pictures. (ex-Moviedrome, on before)

Buckskin (1968), Wed 4th Feb, Legend.

Silver Haze (2023), Fri 6th Feb, BBC2. Or...
The Omega Factor: Illusions + Tormented (1960, on before), Fri 6th Feb, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)



The Zone of Interest had no ad breaks during its screening. It was that important!

[colinr0380]

Lots of things next week. jlnight has noted most of the premieres. On Saturday 31st the premiere of Cocaine Bear on Channel 4 at 9:30 p.m. clashes up against BBC4 showing Christian Petzold's Afire at 11 p.m.

Film4 is showing Chevalier at 10:55 p.m. on Monday 2nd (surprisingly not in a double bill with the 2013 film Belle, which they show quite a lot), and the big premiere of the week in Beau Is Afraid at 9 p.m. on Wednesday 4th (which runs 3 hours and 40 minutes with ads!)

And as jlnight has noted BBC2's new British film season continues with Silver Haze at 11 p.m. on Friday 6th.
___
Repeat-wise, jlnight has noted Film4 showing Preston Sturges' Hail The Conquering Hero at 11 a.m. on Sunday 1st, repeated at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday 5th. With this and The Lady Eve on New Year's Day, Film4 is making 2026 quite a Preston Sturges year!

The other notable films entering Film4's rotation next week are Stanley Donen's Arabesque at 3:40 p.m. on Monday 2nd plus the two western additions with Jacques Tourner's Canyon Passage showing at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday 3rd (an early team up of Tourner with lead actor Dana Andrews over a decade before the UK set Night of the Demon; and Canyon Passage comes the year before Tourner directed the classic Robert Mitchum noir Out Of The Past/Build My Gallows High) and Phil Karlson's They Rode West at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday 4th (another director now more famous for their noir films like Tight Spot and The Phenix City Story)

BBC4's Ibsen season continues with the 1974 production of The Lady From The Sea starring Denholm Elliott and Eileen Atkins at 9:55 p.m. on Sunday 1st, which is followed by a real curio (and may be tying in with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first television broadcast in the UK) with a screening of Arthur Benjamin's Mañana which was the first opera commissioned by the BBC and shown on the 1st February 1956 and which is being aired again on its 70th anniversary at 11:45 p.m.

Reservoir Dogs is showing on ITV4 at 11 p.m. on Thursday 5th.

Lots of stuff "Legend Xtra"-wise too: the Philp K. Dick adaptation Imposter is showing at 9 p.m. on Saturday 31st; the real curio of the week is Jory starring Robby Benson and one of the only English language films directed by Mexican director Jorge Fons, at 9 p.m. on Sunday 1st; the Hammer film of the week is The Devil Rides Out at 10:55 p.m. on Monday 2nd; and there is a 2022 version of The Most Dangerous Game at 10:55 p.m. on Tuesday 3rd (from the director of that "Any Bullet Will Do" film showing tonight)

Plus this is a bit early notice but "Legend Xtra" have trailled that they are showing the 2002 Christian Bale "gun fu" take on a 1984 dystopian universe Equilibrium on Saturday 7th, presumably in the 9 p.m. slot, which is a bit silly but very stylish and still quite entertaining in how it is combining every dystopian fiction premise together into a single megamix. It was something I mentioned in the "Algo-rhythms" thread a few months back because of how it was turned into a striking Fonoptikon music video. Does Sean Bean's character live in this film?

Spoiler

Nope!

[jlnight]

When Eight Bells Toll, Sat 7th Feb, Talking Pictures. Or...
Crossing (2024), Sat 7th Feb, BBC4. Or...
Adventures of a Plumber's Mate, Sat 7th Feb, Together TV. (last on TPTV)
The Fury (1978), Sat 7th Feb, Film4. (on before)

Emily (2022), Sun 8th Feb, BBC2.

The Betrayal (1957), Mon 9th Feb, Talking Pictures.
Written on the Wind, Mon 9th Feb, Film4.

Queer (2024), Tue 10th Feb, BBC2.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Wed 11th Feb, Legend. (last on TPTV)
Number 27 (1988 BBC TVM), Wed 11th Feb, BBC4.

Criss Cross (1949), Thu 12th Feb, Film4.
Black Sunday (1977), Thu 12th Feb, Legend. (last on TPTV)

Supernatural: Ghost of Venice (BBC 1977) + Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fri 13th Feb, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)

[colinr0380]

A very ecletic week next week. Perhaps what is set to be the most controversial film of the decade so far is showing on Channel 4 at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday 7th with The Woman King, which in its haste to celebrate a Powerful Black Female African leader unfortunately appears to have overlooked that the Dahomey tribe played a significant part in the slave trade, selling their enemies into slavery.

That is up against the simultaneous premiere on BBC4 of Georgian-Turkish film Crossing at 9:20 p.m.

On Sunday 8th, the BBC is beginning a new version of Lord of the Flies at 9 p.m. on BBC1, from the writer of that Adolescence series. So I assume that it is going to make Piggy into a simmering example of young White male privilege, or something like that! (EDIT: Ah, that's going to be the Jack character, it appears) Over on BBC2 at 10 p.m. there is the premiere of Emily at 10 p.m., tying in with the release in cinemas of that new Margot Robbie version of Wuthering Heights on Friday 13th (Film4 get in on the action too by repeating the 2011 Andrea Arnold version at 11:10 p.m. on Thursday 12th)

Two premieres on Tuesday 10th with Alice, Darling on Film4 at 9 p.m. and Luca Guadagnino's William Burroughs adaptation Queer on BBC2 at 11 p.m.
___
Repeat-wise, jlnight has noted the big one entering Film4's rotation with Robert Siodmak's post-The Killers reteaming with Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross at 12:45 p.m. on Thursday 12th (which Steven Soderbergh's 1995 film The Underneath is also a version of). The screening of Criss Cross is immediately followed on Film4 by a double bill of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt at 2:30 p.m. and Lifeboat at 4:50 p.m. Thursday is quite an excellent day for Film4 as before Criss Cross there is a screening of the 1946 western The Virginian at 11 a.m.

Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind is on Film4 at 4:45 p.m. on Monday 9th and 12:30 p.m. on Friday 13th.

BBC4's Ibsen season continues on Sunday 8th with Trevor Eve, Juliet Stevenson and director David Thacker reminiscing at 10 p.m. about their 1992 adaptation of A Doll's House that follows at 10:30 p.m.

Also on BBC4, there is a new 15 minute introduction by Michael Palin at 10 p.m. on Wednesday 11th to his 1988 TV film Number 27 at 10:15 p.m.

"Legend Xtra"-wise, there are some real curios including a late period Wesley Snipes and Anne Heche(!) team up from 2017 Armed Response at 11:20 p.m. on Sunday 8th, directed by a chap who acted in the John Carpenter film of Christine and Top Gun in the 1980s but appears to have moved into directing since the year 2000. Apparently that has Gene Simmons in it as well! The mind boggles! That is followed by the Hammer film of the week with Lust For A Vampire at 1:15 a.m. On Monday 9th there is the John Malkovich starring(!) Rogue Hostage at 9 p.m. followed by the Seann William Scott(!!) starring Blumhouse horror Bloodline at 10:55 p.m.

But the real curio of the week is a film called Unchained at 9 p.m. on Thursday 12th, which turns out to be classed on imdb under its alternate title Bullet Head, which features Malkovich again, Adrien Brody(!) and Antonio Banderas in one of six separate films Banderas appeared in during 2017 alone! (Black Butterfly in which Abel Ferrara apparently turns up somewhere in an acting role(!!!) sounds particularly interesting to track down out of those)

[thirtyframesasecond]

colin, have you not seen Marty Supreme - Abel Ferrara is great in it!

[colinr0380]

No not as yet, but I probably should now!

[jlnight]

Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre (1993 ITV TVM), Sat 14th Feb, Talking Pictures. Or...
Man of Tai Chi (2013), Sat 14th Feb, Legend. Or...
The Taste of Things (The Pot Au Feu), Sat 14th Feb, BBC4. Or...
Adventures of a Private Eye, Sat 14th Feb, Together TV. (last on TPTV)
Television Follies (1933), late Sat 14th Feb, Talking Pictures.

The Left-Handed Gun (1958), Sun 15th Feb, 5Action.

Law of the Lawless (1964), Wed 18th Feb, Legend.

The Beguiled (1970), Thu 19th Feb, Legend. (ex-Moviedrome)

Supernatural: Countess Ilona + Messiah of Evil (also on Rewind TV), Fri 20th Feb, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)

Spoiler

Moviedrome locations (updated):

1988: studio in Television Centre (Film Club intros in the Lloyd's building)
1989: Arizona
1990: Spain
1991: LA (concreted LA River, Chateau Marmont, Santa Monica Pier, etc.)
1992: New York
1993: San Francisco (Escape From Alcatraz of course)
1994: Budapest
1997/98: ?
1998: Berlin
1999: Edinburgh
2000: white void studio