iriThe making
TV and RADIO
by Elizabeth Bano
THE surprising thing about Changing Places, (Thursday BBC2), the 40 Minutes programme about an exchange visit between Rugby School and a Merseyside Comprehensive, is that there were so few surprises. From the moment that the group of sixth formers from Ruffwood Comprehensive (founded in 1959) arrived at Rugby School (founded in 1567), we became aware that these two groups hardly shared even a language in common.
The Rugby master thought that the Ruffwood student expected to find things "tough" when he spoke to him shortly after his arrival; but it was "toffs" that the boy expected to find. In fact, the Ruffwood sixth formers did find it tough, for example, when trying to play tennis for the first time, and it was perhaps not surprising that many of them came to regard Rugby School as something of a remand home for the rich.
The Rugby students who stayed at the homes of the Ruffwood counterparts for the second week of this experiment had been warned to expect "pinko, leftist, gay-lib one
earring-wearing teachers". The found courtesy, but little else with which they were familiar. We saw differences in speech, in clothes, even in dancing, but, most of all, differences in the expectations which the two groups of students had of their future. In these two schools, both excellent of their kind, we saw two nations in the making. Sunday, February 21: 6.32 Morning Has Broken, Radio 4. Jack Hywel Davies introduces hymns followed by bell-ringing from local churches.
7.30 Good Morning Sunday, Radio 2. Roger Royle introduces his special guest Charlton Heston, who is appearing in A Man For All Seasons in London. 7.40 Sunday. Radio 4. Weekly religious current affairs programme.
9.15 Cost Of Discipleship BBC1. From today BBC Television and Radio will be running a joint Lent Study Course, called "The Cost of Discipleship". These programmes offer two opportunities each Sunday to hear speakers from around the world on BBC1 at 9.15 and on Radio 4 at 9pm. A book of the title, written by Edwin Robertson, will be available from booksellers from the beginning of February. The series title originates from Dietrich Bamford's work of the same name. The first programme has the Beatitude "Blessed are the pure in heart" as its theme. The speaker is Jean Vanier, the founder of the L'Arche community, a world wide network of communities which cares for mentally handicapped people in a unique and challenging way.
9.30 Morning Service Radio 4. During Lent Radio 4's Morning Service will reflect the course of study provided by the British Council of Churches. "Who on earth are you?". This course is a follow up to the 1986 Lent course "What on earth is the Church For?". There is a workbook for this series which
can be obtained from the British Council of Churches, 35 Lower Marsh Street, London SE I 7RL. This morning's service comes from the 12th century chapel of the Chapel Hospital of St Cross in Winchester.
1 lam Morning Worship ITV. From St Johns Church, Hill Road, Cambridge.
2pm Encounter ITV. "A Little Bit of Hope". This programme looks at the work of Maria Acates, a black real-estate agent turned spiritual social worker, who runs the Harlem Ark of Freedom a shelter for homeless people in New York.
• 6.40 Songs Of Praise BBC1. Ian Gall presents the programme from Derby Cathedral.
6.45 Highway ITV. Harry Secombe visits the historic North Devon town of Barnstaple.
8.30 Sunday Half-Hour. Radio 2. From the ecumenical Chapel of Keele University in Staffordshire, where students and staff of many denominations gather for a half hour of hymns and songs.
9pm "The Cost Of Discipleship" Radio 4. (See above, 9.15 am BBC1).
10.30 Choral Evensong Radio 3. The first Sunday broadcast in Lent is a recording from Manchester Cathedral.
10.30 Heart Of The Matter BBC1. Joan Bakewell is the presenter for the new series. The programme takes a topical look at the moral and ethical issues behind the headlines.
11.30 Seeds Of Faith Radio 4. Canon Frank Wright begins the first of six programmes for Lent, reflecting on Goodness.
Monday, February 21: 3pm Currents ITV. The programme examines the rise in the popularity of retreats.