New_Zealand_Listener_09_14_2019

SEPTEMBER 14 2019 LISTENER 65

ment

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14

An Accidental Studio: Hand-

Made Films (Sky Arts, Sky 020,

8.30pm). A tribute, in many

ways, to George Harrison,

who rescued Monty Python’s

Life of Brian when EMI pulled

the plug in 1978 (EMI chair-

man Lord Delfont was so

appalled by the screenplay

that he dropped the film days

before production was set to

begin). HandMade Films went

on to further success with The

Long Good Friday, Time Ban-

dits, Mona Lisa and Withnail

& I, but ground to a halt in

the 1980s under the control

of Harrison’s business partner,

Denis O’Brien. This feature-

length documentary mixes

archive and new interviews

with Harrison, Michael Palin,

Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, John

Cleese, Richard E Grant and

Ray Cooper, who was head

of production at HandMade

and responsible

for much of its

success.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15

Broadway Idiot (TVNZ 1,

1.00pm). Punk and Broadway

make strange bedfellows

indeed, but American Idiot, the

musical based on Green Day’s

2004 album, has been on

the stage somewhere in the

world ever since it began in

2009. This special looks at the
      making-of the musi-
      cal, with plenty of
      interview footage with
      Green Day frontman
      Billie Joe Armstrong.
      Coincidentally, the
      musical is coming to
      Auckland in Octo-
      ber. (It’s not really a
      coincidence.)

Sunday Thea-

tre: By the Balls

(TVNZ 1, 8.30pm).

The 1981 Spring-

bok rugby tour is now

taught in schools as the event

that divided a nation: it was

the largest civil disturbance

since the 1951 waterfront

dispute, a watershed, the

moment we lost our inno-

cence. But what happened

afterwards, and how did we

find ourselves back where

means a holiday for Sky’s usual

commentary team, too. The

presenting team in Japan will

be led by Scotty Stevenson,

with former All Blacks Stephen

Donald, Keven Mealamu and

Conrad Smith in the line-up.

Sir Graham Henry, Black Fern

Kristina Sue, reporter Kimber-

lee Downs, former All Black

Tamati Ellison, Sky UK rugby

presenter James Gemmell,

Super Rugby’s Isa Nacewa and

All Black Damian McKenzie are

there, too. Reportedly, Anika

Moa will conduct interviews

with the All Blacks, which

could be interesting.

TVNZ’s coverage begins

with the opening ceremony,

followed by Japan v Russia at

Tokyo Stadium. The full sched-

ule for the 48 Rugby World

Cup games is on the internet. l

AL

AM

Y

An Accidental Studio:

HandMade Films, Saturday.

The Best of the Week

Television

Rugby World Cup

2019, Friday.

Goo

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JIM^ J

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SHOW

Comedy

Centra

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Wedne

sday,

10.^30 p

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By the Balls, Sunday.