WHAT’S HOT TO WATCH TODAY
THEY’VE reached the 1980s in this week’s BACK IN TIME FOR SCHOOL (8pm, BBC2). Taken their time in getting there, mind, but then I guess that’s been the point.
Recreating school life in this particular decade also means reflecting more than ever on significant events in the outside world. There were the Moscow Olympics, for example, boycotted by America among others. There was the Falklands war. And of course, most important of all, there was Brighton and Hove Albion reaching the 1983 FA Cup Final, although for some reason this piece of history has failed to make this episode’s final edit.
There’s another football moment of almost as much historical significance, however, which host Sara Cox helps the kids re-enact. It’s the moment in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final when Argentina’s Diego Maradona punched the ball past England keeper Peter Shilton and put his side on its way to a 2-1 win.
“The hand of God made the country cry,” recalls Sara, seemingly having forgotten that this show is seen throughout the UK and that some viewers may have had a rather different take on the incident... ELSEWHERE, a bloke looks on in embarrassment as his mother gets flirted with on FIRST DATES: VALENTINE’S SPECIAL (10pm, Channel 4). Kurtis, 25, who’s awaiting the arrival of his own date, seems perfectly chilled at first, until the bit where his mum assures this guy: “I’m not going to bite.”
It’s when the guy then gives her a look and goes: “Maybe later..?” that Kurtis looks as if he’d like the ground to open up and swallow him whole.