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Tune in to Channel 4 at 10pm on Wednesday to see Lost, the latest and slickest permutation of that Hollywood favourite, the plane crash drama. It has hit British screens and the television series chronicles the fate of 48 survivors stranded on a desert island, to become the hottest US television export since Desperate Housewives. Its first series finale attracted 21 million viewers in America and it is the fastest-selling series in the history of the ABC network, topping ratings in countries from Norway to Russia. It has also been nominated for 12 Emmys and has spawned its own magazine. Not bad for a programme that began life as an off-shoot of the network’s desert island game show, Survivor. The drama tracks the battle for survival by an exotic group of people, including a doctor, a junkie pop star and an Iraqi soldier. Dubbed "Lord of the Frequent Flyers" by one critic, the series has been lauded for escaping the traditional triumph over adversity format of desert island dramas by interweaving flashbacks from the past of the main characters with the narrative of daily survival.
With it comes the growing realisation that more than mere chance has brought the survivors together as secrets are revealed and they are stalked by an unknown jungle beast. The result is a hybrid mixing elements of Survivor-style adventure with Twin Peaks-type surrealism. One plot line suggests that the tropical island is plagued by polar bears. Some might argue that this thread of the unreal (speculation is rife among fans that the island is actually purgatory and the "survivors" are dead) is necessary to avoid one obvious hole in the plot: how, in an age where satellite tracking pinpoints an aircraft to within a square metre, can survivors go unfound for long enough to fill 24 episodes - and make it into a second series? — The Independent Kohinoor story A big-budget action thriller, Kohinoor, being produced by Cinevistaas, will be on air on SaharaOne from September 5. The plot of the serial, directed by Sushen Bhatnagar and Nikhil Kakkar, revolves around the diamond. The cast includes Kuljeet Randhawa, Amit Sadh, Ankur Nayyar, Manish Wadhwa. As part of its marketing, Sahara One will conduct road shows in 10 cities — Mumbai, Nagpur, Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune, Surat, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Baroda and Kolkata — which will conclude with an on-air contest. — D.P. Tee time on BBC
For those of you who think golf is a five-km walk punctuated with disappointments, here’s your chance of getting familiar with the sport. Spirit of Golf, a month-long series on BBC World every Sunday 7 p.m., encapsulates the heritage, tradition, nostalgia and competitive skills of this game. Apart from following the careers of leading players and interviews with up-coming golfers, the show will catch up with the architects who painstakingly constructed some of the most beautiful golf courses around the world. The series will look into the right way of playing the game and showcase some stunning, on the course as well as beyond the scenes, footage of some of the most popular golf tournaments. So tune in to Spirit of Golf — a game which essayist Thomas Boswell says "2500 sadists watching 25 masochists". — NF |
