Special

3:00pm – Sunday, July 29 on ABC1

If ever there was a love story to break your heart, Puccini’s opera La boh�me is it.

La boh�me ranks with Madama Butterfly as the most frequently performed opera today. In spite of its popularity it is, in its own way, revolutionary, taking the spotlight off the kings, queens, warriors and heroes of 19th century opera to focus on more realistic subjects. The story of a group of young friends – a poet, a writer, a composer and an artist – living in poverty but believing in love. Romance blossoms between the poet Rodolfo and seamstress Mim�, inspiring some of the most touching music ever written.

This Opera Australia (OA) production, directed by Gale Edwards, features soprano Takesha Mesh� Kizart as Mimi and tenor Ji-Min Park as Rodolfo alongside the glamorous Taryn Fiebig as Musetta the cabaret artist, and a stellar cast of young OA talents.

Edwards’s vision sees the bohemians transported to Berlin in 1929 – 100 years after Puccini’s original setting – where the friends, lovers and artists collide in a city on the brink of change during the final throes of the Weimar Republic. She explains, “We chose to set this production in a beautiful yet political world, a world where one can die in the street, where there is no social security, a world teetering on the edge”.

Conductor: Shao-Chia L�, Designers Brian Thomson (set), Julie Lynch (costumes) and John Rayment (lighting).

La boh�me is shown in its entirety with no intervals and sung in Italian with English subtitles.

Screens on ABC2 – Sunday, July 29 at 10.50pm

Wednesday, July 25 at 10.00pm on BIO

An epidemic of depression, anxiety and alienation is rife amongst teenagers in first world countries. A bold experiment is being trialled in Australian that offers a solution. Geelong Grammar School is introducing psychologist Martin Seligman’s Psychology into the curriculum in 2009. Involving the entire school community, this new approach to education will require teachers, students and their families to embrace a new way of learning that could revolutionise schools all over the world.

Sunday July 22 at 7.30pm on Arena

This “Before They Were Stars” special reveals juicy secrets from the past and interesting facts about four of our favorite favorite housewives housewives – KimKim Kim Zolciak Kim Zolciak, Kandi Kandi Burruss Burruss, Cynthia Cynthia Bailey Bailey and and NeNe NeNe Leakes Leakes. .

8:30pm – Thursday, July 26 on ABC1

In early 1972, 30-year-old journalist and editor, Ita Buttrose (Asher Keddie) and 35-year-old Kerry Packer (Rob Carlton), heir to what was then Australia’s most ruthlessly powerful and influential publishing family, got together to create a magazine that became one of the most dramatic sensations in Australian publishing history. CLEO went on to help define women, Australia and the relationship between the two.

Research and marketing analysis showed the project would be a failure and the magazine was vehemently opposed by the powerful head of the Packer clan, the domineering Sir Frank Packer (Tony Barry) (known to his employees as ‘God’), yet Ita and Kerry, knowing the consequences of failure would be dire, decided to back their gut instincts anyway.

With courage and a stubborn belief in each other the odd couple went for it, and the result was a magazine that not only surfed the emerging 70s zeitgeist, but led the way in articulating for women a new way of thinking about themselves and their place in cultural Australia. Women readers found in CLEO a manifesto for a new confidence and an argument against the entrenched patriarchy that had for too long defined the relationship between the sexes. Filled with intelligence, wit and a ‘go for it’ attitude, the fledgling CLEO took off on its first issue, taking Kerry, Ita, and a hand-picked bunch of iconoclastic staffers along for the ride.

CLEO was a women’s magazine with a libido and a curiosity about almost everything…

2:45pm – Sunday, July 22 on ABC1

L�o Delibes’ Lakm� may not be a household name but contains the ‘Flower Duet’ in Act I – one of the bestknown opera moments in the world.

Gerald is a lieutenant in the British Army stationed in India during the Raj. While out walking with friends he hears Lakm�, the Hindu princess, and her hand-maiden Mallika, singing, as they drift down a river under canopies of white jasmine. The music, the heavy scent and Lakme’s exotic looks prove to be quite intoxicating. A cross-cultural romance is unthinkable for both, but nevertheless they fall in love. Can Lakm� and Gerald be together, or will their families and duty tear them apart.

This Opera Australia (OA) co-production with Op�ra de Montr�al sees two of its most distinctive voices performing the famous duet. Emma Matthews brings her crystalline coloratura to the role of Lakm�, while Dominica Matthews is the darker-voiced Mallika.

Aldo Di Toro makes his role debut as the well-meaning soldier, Gerald. Di Toro has previously sung major roles in OA’s La boh�me, La traviata and Werther. Jane Parkin, Angela Brun and Luke Gabbedy complete the ensemble, with Roxane Hislop as Mistress Bentson, Stephen Bennett as Lakm�’s father Nilakantha and Edmund Choo as the scary Hadji.

Conducting Delibes’ luscious score is French conductor Emmanuel Joel-Hornak.

Lakm� will be shown in its entirety with no interval and is performed in French with English surtitles.

Screens on ABC2 – Sunday, July 22 at 10.50pm

Friday July 13 at 8.30pm on BIO

In June of 1986, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a teen age coming-of-age comedy from writer/director John Hughes hit theaters and found an enthusiastic reception from viewers and critics alike. The film owed its success to the note perfect John Hughes script and the sly charm of its leading man. Hear the story of this buoyant ode to being young and alive through all new interviews with key members of cast and crew, including Ferris himself, Matthew Broderick, as well as classic clips, outtakes and behind the scenes footage.

Wednesday July 11 at 8.30pm on BIO

After William and Kate celebrated their wedding anniversary on 29 April, we reveal how Kate has charmed the royals, why they live away from the spotlight, and who’s really piling on the baby pressure. In their first year as a married couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have travelled to North America and Canada, attended premieres and galas, and even spent time apart while William departed to the Falklands for military training. What’s next for the world’s favourite young couple?

Wednesday July 19 at 9.00pm on ARENA

Don’t Be Tardy for the Wedding gives you the hottest seat in the house for Kim Zolciak’s extravagant wedding. It’s been just a year since cameras captured Kim’s fortuitous meeting with Kroy Biermann, Defensive End for the Atlanta Falcons.

In the current season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, fans share in the couple’s most intimate moments as they move into a posh new home together and give birth to a son, KJ. The only step left in their happy-ever-after is the wedding of Kim’s dreams. With less than two months to plan, she enlists celebrity event planner Colin Cowie to help design a dream wedding in her brand new multi-million dollar home. The pressure is on as Kim rushes to find a dress, lose the remaining baby weight, and cosmetically enhance trouble spots. With the the date quickly approaching problems mount date quickly approaching, problems mount – her her invitation is leaked to the press and her mother refuses to invitation is leaked to the press and her mother refuses to attend the wedding. Still, Kim is determined to marry Kroy and won’t let anything ruin her perfect day.

9:30pm – Thursday, July 12 on ABC1

Directed by Kenny Scott, the BAFTA award-winning documentary Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret explores a mystery that has baffled scientists for centuries: how were the Ancient Egyptians able to perfectly preserve their pharaohs for millennia.

The filmmakers follow a team of pioneering scientists as they attempt to solve this 3000-year-old enigma by mummifying a body donated specifically for this purpose.

The corpse is that of 61-year-old Alan Billis, a former taxi driver from Torquay in the United Kingdom, who died in January 2011 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Filmed inside one of the UK’s leading forensic pathology labs, the scientists work to unlock the preservation techniques used during the ‘Golden Age’ of King Tutankhamen.

The 18th Dynasty was a time of huge cultural and political revolution in Egypt, but it also marked the pinnacle of the country’s embalming techniques. Using a secret and complex blend of ingredients and processes, priests managed to stop decomposition of the body almost entirely.

But what were the mysterious and complex recipes they were using? Did they really understand the science behind them? And, if so, could this represent the greatest scientific achievement of Ancient Egypt.

A film that pushes the boundaries of documentary filmmaking, Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret received a 2012 BAFTA Award in the Best Specialist Factual category.

Wednesday July 4 at 9.30pm on THE COMEDY CHANNEL

Steve Coogan stars as Tommy Saxondale, an ex-roadie with anger management issues who now runs a pest control control business in Stevenage Having survived a hostile divorce Tommy now lives with his girlfriend Magz business in Stevenage. Having survived a hostile divorce, Tommy now lives with his girlfriend Magz, proprietress of the anarchic t-shirt shop ‘Smash the System’. But as well as dealing with pests Tommy has to deal with snowboarding idiots, pigeon loving activists and people who talk about property prices.