TV Times - 13 - 19 October 2007

This weeks Pick explains the reasons for the torture of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of US soldiers from both a psychological and political standpoint.

Submitted by Lone Wolf on October 15, 2007

In a very strong broadcasting week other highlights are a study of the relief of Belsen and of the displacement of tens of thousands of ordinary Chinese people at the behest of the authorities in advance of the OIympic Games in 2008.

Monday 15 October - 9 - 11.05pm - Channel 4 - The Relief of Belsen
This one-off docu-drama includes first-hand testimony and archive footage and tells the story of the valiant attempts of the Allied army doctors and nurses whose task it was to attempt to save the lives of the tens of thousands of concentration camp inmates left severely ill and malnourished after the German retreat. Mistakes were made at first and some further unpalatable truths revealed - for example many SS departed unharmed and were free to continue fighting elsewhere as they were granted a truce on the grounds that otherwise thousands of typhus-infected prisoners would be let loose into the countryside.

Mon 15 October - 11.20pm - 12.15am - BBC2 - Danish Cartoons
This debate on the effects of religious fundamentalism on free speech in the media is triggered by an examination of the events of September 2005 when 12 drawings published in a Danish newspaper caused a furore in some segments of the Muslim community who felt their prophet had been insulted.

Monday 15 October - 10.30 - 11.25pm - BBC3 - Leave Us Kids Alone - 1/7
Twelve teenagers are given free rein to create and run a school for 30 pupils in this televisual experiment which continues throughout the week.

Pick of the Week :rb:
Tuesday 16 October - 10 - 11.40pm - More4 - True Stories: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Film-maker Rory Kennedy here explains how, in her view, ordinary people come to commit barbaric acts such as the torture of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American soldiers. She also explains how the US administration "reinterpreted" its policies to promote inhumane methods and provides a thorough and cogent study of institutionalised torture.

Wednesday 17 October - 10.40 - 11.45pm - Channel 4 - Dispatches:
Abortion: What We Need to Know

This edition looks at the latest scientific evidence regarding pre-term infant viability and foetal pain and also attempts to summarise some of the arguments raging within the medical profession regarding whether or not the 40 year old Abortion Act should be changed or amended in any way.

Friday 19 October - 7.35 - 8pm - Channel 4 - Unreported World - 6/10 - China
In this edition the plight of hundreds of thousands of Chinese people forced to relocate in advance of the Beijing Olympics is revealed. Appalling tales of injustice, corruption and physical violence are revealed and a "black jail" - an illicit holding pen for resistors - is shown and here we see the programme maker himself being arrested for attempting to show the truth. China's claim that it is improving its record on human rights in the run up to the Olympics is here exposed as being the hollow sham that it is. A very close contender for Pick of the Week.

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