Television
Upstairs, downstairs
Wendy Cope
If Spectator readers followed my recom- mendation and tuned in their thousands to the second edition of It Doesn't Have to Hurt (BBC 1, 6.15pm, Sunday), I'm sorry. It was a bit of a disappointment. After an excellent first programme about walking, I was hoping that the second one would focus on the other sensible form of exer- cise: swimming. Since I already go swim- ming three times a week, it would have been satisfying to sit and listen to all the reasons why it is a good idea. If I keep watching the programme, no doubt this pleasure is still to come. If I didn't take any exercise, I would probably avoid It Doesn't Have to Hurt, just as I avoided all prog- rammes and articles about smoking until I had given it up. But I expect some people do benefit from televised advice on fitness and health. In office buildings all over the country, viewers will be climbing the stairs this week instead of using the lifts, because that is what June Whitfield told them to do in programme 2. They were warned to take it slowly at first, so the BBC can't be blamed for any heart-attacks on the 15th floor. Those of us who stay at home, it was suggested, might like to spend five minutes a day going up and down the stairs, an activity that would at least make 20 lengthS of the swimming-bath seem quite eventful and interesting.
For me, one of the nice things about taking exercise is that it is a good excuse for not writing. Felix, the novelist in the new Andrea Newman serial A Sense of Guilt (BBC 1, 9.30pm, Tuesday) spends a lot of time lolling around in his study or staring moodily out of windows. He is about to forfeit any sympathy he might get from me by indulging in that favourite pastime of the middle-aged male writer taking advantage of an impressionable young girl. I trust he will meet with a nasty come-uppance before Andrea Newman has finished with him.
The opening of A Sense of Guilt clashed with something else I wanted to see — the beginning of the ITV series Making News (9pm, Tuesday). I managed to watch both but next week I won't bother with the latter. It's too silly and unconvincing even for me, and fails to achieve the kind of glossy appeal that made Capital City so addictive. Of course, Capital City has the advantage of being set in a world that many of us know nothing about. If I had the slightest clue as to what really goes on in a merchant bank, I might not enjoy it so much. When it comes to television news, we've all seen it and can spot the differ- ences straight away.
My favourite programme at the moment is Wish Me Luck (ITV, 7.15pm, Sunday), the drama series about British agents in wartime France. It has moved to a diffe- rent part of the country, taking some of the old characters with it and acquiring some new ones. I particularly like Jeremy Nicho- las as the laid-back agent Antoine. Back in London, Jane Asher is now running the show, dressed to the nines in suits and hats that make you wonder who's giving her the extra clothing coupons.
The concurrent You Rang M'Lud (BBC 1, 7.15pm, Sunday) was recommended by a friend, so I got that on tape. It's a comedy series about a family and its servants, set in the 1930s. There's some good acting by Su Pollard, Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland as the downstairs charac- ters. If it lasted the usual sitcom half hour, it would he tolerable. Fifty minutes of it was too much for me.
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