Wednesday’s TV tips

Shanghai Noon to GI Joe, there's plenty on the telly.

Wednesday’s TV tips

Shanghai Noon (BBC3, 8.00pm)

(2000) Saddle up, hold on tight and see how the West was Szechuan in Tom Dey’s rollicking martial arts comedy.

Jackie Chan is the most impressive special effect in Shanghai Noon.

He leaps, pirouettes, kicks and punches his way out of every tight spot as 19th century Chinese Imperial Guard Chon Wang (pronounced John Wayne – ho ho!), who works as a servant to the beautiful Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Lui) in The Forbidden City.

When the princess is kidnapped by traitorous Lo Fong (Roger Yuan) and held hostage in America’s Wild West, Chon Wang joins the party despatched by the Emperor to deliver the ransom in gold to her captors.

En route, Chon is separated from the other guards and runs into hapless train robber Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson) and his rag-tag entourage.

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Film4, 9.00pm)

(2009) Based on the popular, military-themed action figures, this is an action adventure by numbers from the director of The Mummy and Van Helsing, starring Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Sienna Miller and Christopher Eccleston.

Aimed squarely at teenage boys with limited attention spans, Stephen Sommers’s all-guns-blazing romp has big weapons, bigger explosions and visual effects-heavy sequences in abundance.

Two soldiers stationed in Kazahkstan are assigned the task of transporting special warheads to a command centre in Egypt.

When they are attacked by thieves, a top secret international special forces unit known as GI Joe is sent to save them.

The Interceptor (BBC1, 9pm)

UNIT’s war of attrition against Roach and his gang begins to take its toll on the criminal kingpin, and he is forced to turn to a new foreign supplier nicknamed the Viking.

This new Norway-based crook proves to be clever, ruthless and difficult to pin down, and his new business arrangement with Roach threatens to undo the team’s hard work.

Meanwhile, Ash is reunited with former addict Stacey, an old friend who he helped get clean, who offers to repay his kindness by assisting in the case.

However, when her attempt to lend a hand places her in mortal danger, Ash finds he has a very personal stake in bringing justice to the vicious Viking.

Crime drama, starring O-T Fagbenle.

24 Hours in A&E (C4, 9pm)

The emergency room documentary continues, highlighting the stories of people facing adversity head-on. Erin, a 61-year-old former cancer patient with an ear infection, is rushed to St George’s Hospital after she collapsed at home.

Doctors fear the condition may have spread to her brain, and send her for a CT scan to find out more.

Tony, a 70-year-old part-time DJ, arrives in A&E after being involved in a high-speed bicycle accident while training for a 100-mile charity bike ride, and Charlie, a 39-year-old cabin crew worker, turns up at the hospital complaining of unbearable pain after discharging himself during a previous visit, and removing the cast fitted to support his broken arm.

The People’s Debate with Vincent Browne (TV3, 10pm)

For the first time in Irish television, TV3's Constituency Debates are taking place in all 40 constituencies in the country, before "live" audiences and the TDs that dare to face an audience of their own constituents.

Also featuring entertainment features, followed by a preview of tomorrow's newspapers.

Tonight the debate will take place in the Stillorgan Park Hotel covering the Dublin Rathdown Constituency.

Kids in Crisis? (C4, 10pm)

Discovering that your teenage child is struggling with mental illness is difficult enough, but how much more stressful is it if you then learn that due to cuts to health services, they are going to have to travel hundreds of miles to receive treatment?

That’s the question at the heart of this thought-provoking documentary, which investigates claims that even though three-quarters of mental illnesses begin in childhood, just six per cent of the mental health budget is spent on under-18s. Among those featured are 15-year-old Beth, whose local psychiatric unit has been closed due to NHS restructuring.

After being moved 10 times in 14 months, she is currently being treated 120 miles away from her family, but the situation is taking a heavy toll on the rest of her family.

Insane Fight Club II (BBC3, 10pm)

Last year, we were introduced to Mark Dallas, who worried that wrestling was becoming a little too family friendly and wanted to bring the sport back to its more extreme roots.

Now, this follow-up sees him hitting the road with the Insane Championship Wrestling crew as they stage fights in major cities across England – and come up with some ingenious ways to promote their bouts.

But while the sport may be growing in popularity, the pressure is still on for Dallas as he tries to turn his brainchild into a fulltime career.

On the Edge and Online (C4, 11pm)

People with mental illness may have to deal with symptoms including thoughts of self-harm and suicide, hallucinations, and hearing voices, but many of also face another problem – isolation.

This documentary tries to help a group of young adults feel less alone by bringing them together in a remarkable online forum, where they can talk about the challenges they face with people who have similar experiences.

Will being able to share their problems help them find the support they so desperately need?

Behind a Smile (RTE One, 11.35pm)

Children’s medical charity Operation Smile envisions a world where no child suffers from lack of access to safe and well-timed surgery.

Over 30 years the charity has leveraged more than 5,400 medical volunteers to provide over 220,000 free surgeries for children born with cleft lip and cleft palate facial deformities in over 60 countries in the developing world.

Documentary ‘Behind a Smile’ follows Irish volunteer surgeon Dr. David Orr as he works with Operation Smile’s Ethiopian team to teach and empower local surgeons to provide surgery for Ethiopian children born with cleft conditions, helping to provide vital access to surgery for those who desperately need it.

more courts articles

Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother
Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van
Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman

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