TV Times - 20 - 26 October 2007

Other topics include an in-depth study of the nature of and reasons for honour killings and also an investigation into the limitations inherent in the potentially socially useful deployment of police support officers.

Pick of the Week :rb:
Mon 22 October - 7 - 7.30pm - BBC2 - India's Missing Girls: This World
This documentary tells the tragic tale of how thousands of baby girls are being murdered and abandoned soon after birth because of the cultural imperative to bear sons to carry on the family name and because of the mounting cost of a bride's dowry. Also women who do not want abortions are forced into having them when and if it is discovered that the baby is a girl. Whilst the problem is understandably greater among the rural poor, middle class women are pressurised by wealthy husbands also. As well as the cruelty involved - one baby girl was recently found buried alive - this appalling behaviour is also leading to other social problems - young men are struggling to find brides and in some communities women are bussed in to sexually service the male population.

Mon 22 October - 8 - 8.30pm - ITV1 - No More Heroes: Tonight
Ten year old Jordon Lyons' death by drowning evoked controversy as two police support officers who arrived at the scene had been given orders not to attempt a rescue as their training did not qualify them to do so. This programme attempts to ascertain what health and safety issues prevented intervention and the role thereof and potential usefulness or otherwise of support officers in general.

Tue 23 October - 8 - 9pm - Channel 5 - The Family That Defied Hitler: Revealed
This documentary tells the engaging tale of an entire Jewish family who, through a mixture of cunning, courage and luck, became one of only two known families to individually survive the Nazi Holocaust and be reunited after the war.

Tue 23 October - 9 - 10pm - BBC3 - Honour Kills - 1/2
This powerful and detailed two part documentary begins with a focus on the violent murder of Uzma Ashad and her three children in 2006 in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The crew were given permission to film every part of the investigation from the discovery of the bodies to the eventual conviction of Rahan Arshad, the children's father and Uzma's husband. Some women who knew of these events and were friends with the deceased were too afraid of reprisals to appear on this documentary - it is a measure of the strength of feeling among some women in the community that they plucked up the courage to do so.

Wed 24 October - 9 - 10pm - BBC3 - Honour Kills - 2/2
When her elder brother imprudently dated a teenage girl, as a reprisal six year old Alisha Begum was burnt to death, making her the youngest known victim in the UK of so called honour killings to date. Her story is told here as is the story of a man who set his house on fire, killing himself, his wife and his four daughters just weeks before his son died of cancer. His extraordinary actions contributed to the statistic that 30 murder cases in the last two years in the UK have been attributed to these "honour" killings.

Fri 26 October - 7.30 - 8pm - Channel 4 - Unreported World - 7/10 - Iraq: The Battle for Oil
Evan Williams visits Kirkuk in northern Iraq to investigate attempts to merge the oil-rich area around the city into the largely self-governing Kurdish region. Three different ethnic groups now claim this city leading to understandable tensions and violence.