TV FILMS of the week
1 DIRTY DANCING Tonight, Channel 5, 6.20pm
Can it really be 35 years since
Patrick Swayze’s hip-swivelling hero first uttered the immortal line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”? Time flies but the charm and simmering sensuality of Dirty Dancing endures. Jennifer Grey plays the idealistic teenager Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman, who goes to a summer camp with her well-heeled parents (Jerry Orbach, Kelly Bishop). When resident dance instructor Johnny Castle (Swayze) needs someone to fill in for his partner, Baby steps in and is soon receiving lessons in love as well as lifts. The great soundtrack includes the Oscar-winning (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.
2 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP Tomorrow, BBC2, 2pm
A Home Guard officer serving during the Second World War is outraged by the disrespect shown by younger soldiers. He looks back on his military adventures during the Boer War and First World War, as well as his three great loves. Roger Livesey stars with Deborah Kerr (left), Anton Walbrook and Dad’s Army star John Laurie.
3 THE COMPANY YOU KEEP Monday, BBC2, 11.15pm
Robert Redford directs this thriller about 1960s radicals whose past catches up to them. After 30 years living under an assumed identity, a housewife (Susan Sarando) turns herself in over her part in an ill-fated robbery. When respected lawyer Jim (Redford, left) is then revealed to have been part of the cell, he goes on the run.
4 SLIDING DOORS Tuesday, BBC3, 10pm
Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow, left) has just been fired. The plot then splits into two strands – in one she catches the train home and arrives to find her boyfriend in bed with his ex, while in the other she doesn’t, and carries on unaware of his infidelity. The event sends her life in two very different directions, but she can’t escape destiny.
5 ANATOMY OF A MURDER Wednesday, Talking Pictures TV, 9pm
Courtroom drama starring James Stewart, left, as a small-town lawyer who’s approached by Laura Manion (Lee Remick) to defend her soldier husband Manny (Ben Gazzara). Accused of killing a barman, Manny doesn’t deny the crime, but claims he did it because the bartender raped his wife. But the prosecution see things differently.
6 THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Thursday, Film4, 6.45pm
Anne Hathaway shines as Andy Sachs who lands a plum job as second assistant to fearsome fashion editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep, left, with Hathaway). Andy is unprepared for the challenges catering to her tyrannical boss’s every whim. Watch out for a star-making turn from Emily Blunt (pictured on the right), too.
7 SPEED Friday, ITV4, 11.10pm
LA bomb squad member Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with deranged Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper). The latter plants a device on a bus that will detonate if the vehicle drops below 50mph. Keeping it on the road is left to feisty Annie (Sandra Bullock, left), when the driver is shot.