NASA’s Greatest Missions commemorates NASA’s fiftieth anniversary and presents potted highlights of the organisation’s finest hours.  The series of six programmes broadcast on Discovery and Discovery HD in the UK from 28th September onwards, charts the progress of early American space exploration from the Mercury program and X-Planes of the 1950’s, through to the first moon landings in the 1960’s, complete with re-mastered archive footage and interviews with the likes of John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.  The later episodes will focus on the Space Shuttle, first flown by John Young, NASA’s missions to Mars and scientific tools such as the Hubble Space Telescope. The series was shown as When we Left Earth: The NASA Missions in the US and that’s also the packaged DVD/Blu-Ray title.

The series provides an excellent – if somewhat hurried – insight into NASA’s achievements, but benefits greatly from the use of restored archive footage, a lot of which presented here in high definition for the first time.  Apart from the occasional pristine clip of President Kennedy, earlier programmes aren’t particularly exciting from a visual standpoint given the age of the source material, but as the series progresses, some of the footage is quite jaw-dropping and could certainly qualify as demonstration material.

Unfortunately, like a bad smell you just can’t escape from, each episode is blighted by some of the most intrusive and overbearing music you’re ever likely to hear.  Composed by Richard Blair-Oliphant and presented far louder in the mix than it should be, it gives the whole programme a “hurry up, get on with it, we’re all about to die” atmosphere that’s both distracting and downright annoying.  The unrelenting breakneck soundtrack that in some instances hasn’t even been edited to match the video, is completely out of place.  This isn’t a forty-minute trailer for a Vin Diesel movie but a considered appreciation of the beauty of space and of man’s ingenuity and bravery, something Oliphant appears to be hell-bent on trampling all over.

However, we have come up with a partial cure for viewers of Discovery HD, and that is to engage the 5.1 Dolby Digital mix and turn down, turn off or unplug your front left and right loudspeakers.  Doing so creates an anti-Oliphant mix that eliminates most of the music while retaining the dialogue and effects.

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Don’t let Richard Blair-Oliphant’s dreadful score distract you from the glorious imagery on show in NASA’s Greatest Missions, currently airing on Discovery and Discovery HD.

Ross Kemp Kenya Special: Meeting the Mungiki was a harrowing, shocking and deeply moving insight into Kenya’s Mungiki organisation and their relationship with the country’s impoverished people, the Kwekwe secret police and the Kenyan Government led by President Mwai Kibaki.  The Mungiki, a politico-religious sect accused of torture, murder and extortion – preying particularly upon those who live in Kenya’s slums – are in direct opposition with Kenya’s leaders, who in turn have been accused of killing thousands of the group in both reprisals against rioting and attempts to quash their political aspirations.

It was against this backdrop of abject poverty and extreme violence that Ross Kemp’s ninety-minute documentary for Sky 1 and the third in the series of superb ‘On Gangs’ programmes was set.

All three programmes have been empathetic and free from any hint of over-dramatisation, instead Kemp has left those involved to describe and explain their shocking situations, at times putting himself in grave danger whilst doing so.  Facing, then calming an angry mob in order to hear their grievances was surely beyond the bounds – or even the conception – of many a qualified journalist, regardless of whether some elements may or may not have been stage-managed.  Gunmen killed one of the programme’s interviewees, Mungiki leader Charles Ndungu, just a day after Kemp’s departure and many other contributors gave their opinions on the nation’s poverty at great personal risk.

Filmed and broadcast in high definition, the imagery alone rendered this viewer speechless on more than one occasion.  From the endless sea of tents at Eldoret Showground which is home to fifteen thousand displaced Kikuyu people, to the destitute picking through the Dandora landfill site near Nairobi (one of the most toxic places on earth) for scraps of waste material, one could almost smell the poverty and desperation.  However, the most harrowing scene was that of the country’s glue addicts, some of whom were just babes in arms, a sight that almost reduced Kemp to tears.  Orphaned children, left to fend for themselves on the streets, told how their dreams were to kick the habit and perhaps some day, be able to go to school to learn art.  Another special dedicated just to this subject, will premiere next Monday, September 27th, on Sky 1 and Sky 1 HD.

Scenes such as these made me feel ashamed.  How can the west ignore such poverty and humanitarian injustice?  Is it ignorance or unforgivable apathy on the part of our leaders, some of whom are so misguided when it comes to priorities that they’re willing to squander in excess of nine billion pounds on a glorified sports day.

Hopefully Ross Kemp’s documentary will redress the balance by making more people aware of the horrendous plight of people living in Kenya and other third world countries, where poverty, violence and corruption are rife.  It is the type of brave, unforgettable and deeply moving program-making that should be shown to every man, woman and teenager living in this country.

Yes, it was that good.  Both Kemp and his production team are to be highly commended.

Sky have teamed up with Save the Children to raise funds for, and raise awareness of the plight of Kenya’s street children.  Details of the appeal and how to donate can be found on the Save the Children website.

Olivia Lee’s Naughty Bits is the undoubted highlight of Channel 4’s 2008 Comedy Lab series of pilot comedy shows.

In her own programme, which is a series of character-driven, improvised hidden camera sketches, Olivia Lee absolutely shines, successfully casting off the Balls of Steel shackles that have limited her comedy potential in the past.

Funny women are thin on the ground, as is good home-grown comedy these days – it’s either complete filth (the shock factor lost its impact years ago) or absolutely dreadful, so combining the two and looking drop-dead gorgeous all at the same time is quite a feat.  Although an accomplished comedy actress, Olivia’s looks certainly help in this setting (she has graced the pages of FHM in the past) because in some of the sketches participants are clearly thrown off their guard by her appearance – it’s hard to walk away from a tall, leggy blonde telling you she loves you even if she does have black mascara all over her face.  Having said that, it’s Lee’s quick-witted improvisation that really carries the show, especially in pressure situations as illustrated by our clip, in which she decides to walk on stage, give a lengthy speech and collect an award... somebody else has won.

Some may question whether the ideas and characters could be stretched to a full series, but we’d certainly like to see Channel 4 give the show a longer run, both Lee and the concept are more than deserving of that chance.

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Olivia Lee’s Naughty Bits... no real naughty bits, just great new comedy.

Street artist Julian Beever is the subject of Concrete Canvas, currently airing (and repeating) on Sky Arts and Sky Arts HD.  This fascinating ten-part series originally commissioned for Voom’s Gallery HD in the United States, focuses on Julian’s travels around the world crafting trompe-l’œil chalk drawings that create three-dimensional, optical perspective illusions.

Beever, the ‘Pavement Picasso’ describes the process as “anamorphosis” and the end results are both fascinating and remarkably effective.  Each episode provides an insight into the background and creation of the drawing together with short sequences featuring some of the city’s urban street artists.

The short clip below includes a few highlights from the Paris episode of Concrete Canvas, the subject being a 3D chalk drawing of the Eiffel Tower.

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Channel 4 have been putting a lot of effort – and money – into their music programming of late and the recent launch of a dedicated channel in the form of 4 Music on all three major digital platforms and builds upon the successful E4 Music strand has been expected for some time.

The output manages to cater to most tastes, and while there are some low points, a predominantly strong line-up of presenters – Lauren Laverne is always excellent – and diverse shows with lots of exclusive live performances more than compensates.

A particular high point is Live from Abbey Road, which originally debuted on More 4 in standard definition at the start of August and is currently being repeated at various times on Channel 4 and Channel 4 HD.

The artists taking part, who range from Def Leppard to Kate Nash and Herbie Hancock, cannot be faulted and it’s great to see a no-frills, grown-up music programme whose strength lies solely in the performances on offer.  Production quality is top-notch too and there are no wacky camera moves or annoying presenters, which also makes for a welcome change.

If there is a negative, it’s the rather obvious product placement, Panasonic sponsors the show and the studio is littered with Panasonic displays so someone is treading a fine line, but it’s a minor nit-pick.

Sara Bareilles provided one of the series highlights.  The American singer-songwriter was joined by Javier Dunn (guitar), Joshua Day (drums) and Daniel Rhine (bass) to perform a set that included Love Song, the track that brought her mainstream success earlier this year.

Check out the video below for a brief taster – also available in Windows Media high definition!

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Striscia la notizia, broadcast every evening on Canale 5, is Italy’s long-running topical news parody programme.  It involves two comedic presenters – Ezio Greggio being the most famous – poking fun at various political figures to the sound of raucous canned laughter.  The show’s mascot is Gabibbo, a man in red costume who wildly flails his arms around and falls over in typical Mr. Blobby fashion.

The show’s most remarkable aspect however, are the “veline”, two glamorous dancing girls – historically a blonde and a brunette – who book-end the show with short, sexy dance routines. Melissa Satta (right, brunette), Thais Souza Wiggers (right, blonde) and Veridiana Mallmann are the most recent incumbents, with the likes of Elisabetta Canalis and Maddalena Corvaglia previously filling the role.

Each summer Striscia la notizia holds a “talent” competition to find a new veline for the upcoming season.  Veline a tra Poco involves a completely inappropriately dressed group of young women being eyed-up and down by the camera before performing various stunts to impress a panel of judges.  How about: jump up and down on a trampoline, ride a child’s bicycle while wearing a miniskirt and heels, demonstrate gymnastic moves (again in heels and miniskirt) or sing while standing under a shower of cold water?  I’m sure you get the idea.  All sorts of girls apply, even established models such as Cristina De Pin and Cristina Buccino, who is the girl getting dribbled upon in our clip.

Now before you start think I’m turning into an old fart, let me just say that I like a pretty girl as much as the next man (or woman) and many of the contestants are gorgeous, but conversely some things really make for uncomfortable viewing now that we’re eight years into the twenty-first century.  Sure, nobody is forcing these girls onto the show, but other then to provide eye-candy and be teased by the lecherous presenters, they serve no purpose whatsoever.  What is more, they enforce Italy’s stereotypical and chauvinistic view of young women and their role on the country’s television.

Go on, watch the clip if you must, but be prepared to be suitably outraged... 

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And the winner is... Cristina Buccino! ...but Cristina De Pin and Yong Yeng float our boats too.

You can find Canale 5 on Hotbird 8 at 13°E, transponder 11919 V.  It's part of the Mediaset family of channels.