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Sydney Morning Herald
Monday August 24, 2009
JekyllUKTV, 8.30pmJames Nesbitt is a good Dr Jekyll and an even better Mr Hyde. The Jekyll character (named Dr Jackman in the series) is a tortured, put-upon sort but when the switch is tripped, a real beast is unleashed in the sinister form of Mr Hyde. He's swaggering, malevolent and mean-spirited, delighting in spending Jackman's money on prostitutes and getting drunk so Jackman wakes up with a hangover. In this imaginative series Jackman and Hyde communicate via a little voice recorder and have reached an uneasy truce. Somehow Jackman has managed to conceal the fact he has a wife and kids, who he left to protect them from Hyde. Tonight Hyde learns of their existence and decides to pay them a visit. An intriguing new twist on a classic tale.Howard Hughes: The American AviatorHistory, 8.30pmThis documentary does a fine job telling Howard Hughes's remarkable story but it suffers from the strange decision to go with first-person narration. To make matters worse, the actor in the voiceover booth doesn't sound anything like the Hughes we hear in old newsreel footage. And since there are no pictures of Hughes as an ageing, drug-addicted recluse, the latter part of the documentary is illustrated with creepy artists' impressions. Those are cosmetic quibbles, though.Paul Merton in ChinaBBC Knowledge, 7.30pmThe British comedian winds up his fascinating Chinese sojourn in Shanghai tonight. He'll be back in October when BBC Knowledge airs Paul Merton in India.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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