After Elizabeth's husband dies, she begins to play her tenor saxophone again, and remembers when she was 15 and a member of the Blonde Bombshells, an all-girl (with one exception) swing band. Accompanied by the exception and urged on by her grand-daughter, Elizabeth hunts up all the old members of the band and urges them to perform, and in doing so, learns more than she knew about the band, its members, the roses on the drum set, and herself--the last of the Blonde Bombshells.

A Number
Wednesday, 10th September 2008
9pm to 10:10pm (70 mins)
BBC1
Tom Wilkinson and Rhys Ifans lead in this shattering meditation on human identity. The playwright Caryl Churchill adapts her original play, examining the issue of human cloning via a thought-provoking, surprising and haunting father-son drama.
Salter, a man in his early 60s, is confronted by his adult son, Bernard (aka 'B2') who has discovered that genetic replicas of himself exist. Salter initially blames the cloning on an unscrupulous hospital and assures 'B2' that he is the original of the clones. Later, another, angrier son, 'B1', shows up on 'Salter's' doorstep. 'B1' confronts 'Salter' and their interaction reveals that 'B1' is actually the original: as a young widower, Salter treated 'B1' poorly out of grief and decided to start over with a new version of his son.
As more of Salter's lies about his dark past are unveiled, the brothers' illusions are stripped away and they begin to question their individuality, culminating in a climax both shocking and tragic.
For a television adaptation, the performances of Wilkinson and Ifans are up there with the original stage production that I saw at the Royal Court Theatre where the two protagonists were played by Michael Gambon and Daniel Craig. However I was left disappointed with the final scene here which I feel has taken the easy option of applying the tricks of television rather than rely on careful staging and the quality of the script which is what I was used to, and what I was expecting. That said, that's just me, and don't let me put you off downloading what is at the end of the day I very good piece of drama. If the Beeb could pull this off on a regular basis, then we'd all be much happier in our lives.

Muhammad Ali’s historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, his claim to conscientious objector status led to a controversial legal battle that rattled the U.S. judicial system right up to the highest court in the land.

Jon Katz is close to burnout. He's a writer with writer's block; his wife has left for her sister's because he's emotionally distant; he rarely answers his phone. A kennel sends him a border collie that's undisciplined because of abuse. Despite a series of mishaps, Jon decides to keep trying with the dog, and he rents a dilapidated farm house to give the dog room to run. A local handyman refers Jon to a woman who might be able to help him train the dog. Reluctantly, Jon gives her a try. Is the dog the problem, or the owner?

Season two's storyline picks up right where season one left off: with the 44 B.C. assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar and the near-simultaneous death of Niobe, wife of Caesar's faithful bodyguard Lucius Vorenus. Diverted from his post after learning that Lucius, his assumed grandson, was in fact Niobe's illegitimate son, Vorenus now descends into near-madness over his failure to protect Caesar, his role in his spouse's death, and the rumored murder of his estranged daughters.