SCHOFIELD’S SOUTH AFRICAN ADVENTURE, STV, 8pm
THE news from South Africa has been especially horrible recently, with reports of white people being tortured and killed on their farms, so I was curious to see Phillip Schofield’s view of the country.
STV at this hour on a Friday won’t be giving us a glimpse of such brutality, so is it all just sunsets and giraffes in this travel series? But then, the country does have such wonders. Why deny it?
My conclusion is: let the news report the horror and let nice Philip Schofield bring you the beauty. Tonight, he and his wife go on safari at a game reserve where Mrs Schofield starts crying when she sees a giraffe. It sounds sentimental, but it must be odd seeing these fantastic animals outside of a zoo or picture book.
They also learn about protection of the rhinoceros, which is very timely given the news this week of a rhino being killed by poachers at a French wildlife park. The rangers are trying to tag them for their own safety but they’re locked in a never-ending fight against the heartless poachers.
PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF POP, BBC4, 9pm
I REMEMBER the days when BBC4 wasn’t jammed full of repetitive pop programmes. Actually, I don’t. If there ever were such days, the constant stream of music shows has drowned out the memory.
Sara Cox presents this episode, the last in the series which has been moving through the decades of pop music. Tonight we reach the 1990s and go onwards to the turn of the century, seeing which artists made their mark.
As well as looking at Radiohead, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Will Young and Travis, we also learn how the fast-changing technology of the era shaped music and fans’ interaction with the stars. The internet meant you could buy an album instantly or tweet a star directly, closing the gap between the singer on the stage and the fan in their bedroom.
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