TV programs worth watching
Sun 26 September — Sat 2 October

The French documentary series Little Buggers (SBS 
7.30pm Monday), has obtained more than 70 awards in various 
international festivals, so it must be doing something right!

Written and directed by Thierry Berrod, its four richly 
documented and humour-filled episodes examine the interaction 
between people and the insect world, using remarkable electron 
microscope shots to illuminate its tiny protagonists.

The first episode, Mosquito Alert, deals with a lethal 
mosquito-borne outbreak of encephalitis in New York in 1999. 
According to the ABC's notes, "the CIA began to wonder about the 
use of the mosquitoes as 'bacteriological weapons'".

Presumably they mean that the CIA began to wonder whether someone 
was using germ-laden insects against the US, because the US 
itself has been using mosquitoes and other insects as 
"bacteriological weapons" for at least three decades, beginning 
in the Korean War and used most recently against Cuba's 
agriculture.

Grass (SBS 10.00pm Tuesday) follows the trail of dubious 
20th century propaganda against the smoking of marijuana, which 
would, it was claimed, turn America's younger generations into 
"insane murderers", "sex-crazed maniacs", "heroin addicts" and 
(probably worst of all) "Communists" — and sometimes a 
combination of all four.

The USA's senseless and hypocritical "war on drugs" needs to be 
exposed for the sham that it is. Grass however appears to 
tell only part of the story.

I have not had the opportunity to preview the program, but the 
synopsis provided by SBS would suggest that it concentrates on 
the ludicrous aspects of the campaign against pot ("Pot smokers 
beware! Scientists report bizarre side effects: men grow 
breasts!") while ignoring the commercial war on hemp.

A E Dupont, the chemical giant behind Nylon, rightly saw the 
widely used natural fibre hemp as the chief obstacle to Nylon's 
commercial success. Dupont's skilful manoeuvring resulted in hemp 
being equated with the dreaded weed marihuana and when marihuana 
was banned so was hemp itself.

Neat, eh? A pity that aspect is apparently glossed over in Grass.

Nevertheless, there are still plenty of worthwhile targets for 
director Ron Mann. In SBS's words: "pot activist Woody Harrelson 
narrates as archival footage and playful graphics are used to 
delineate and poke fun at the mentality that spawned modern-day 
US narcotics policy".

Variety describes Grass as "a frequently funny, openly 
partisan look at the war on drugs — consistently entertaining".

There's a certain air of deja vu about this week's Storyline 
Australia program Who's Afraid of Designer Babies? 
(SBS 8.30pm Thursday). It's about the social and moral 
dilemmas associated with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or 
PGD, which allows scientists to screen embryos conceived through 
IVF.

Just a few weeks ago, at the end of August, SBS ran another 
program on this same subject, Generation Next. That one 
was British, but the dilemmas covered in the two programs are 
much the same: Are we "playing God", and if we permit the 
screening out of embryos with genetic diseases will the next step 
be screening out (or selecting) embryos with red hair or athletic 
ability?

It seems to me that to deny families suffering incurable or 
debilitating genetic diseases access to PGD is cruel and inhuman. 
To do it on the spurious grounds that it would open the way to 
the wholesale subservience of science to the whims of fashion 
would be doubly so.

Cracker (ABC 9.30pm Saturdays) first appeared nine years 
ago, in 1995. Written by Jimmy McGovern, it was a detective 
series centred on a police psychiatrist. More accurately, it was 
centred on the uneasy relationship between the psychiatrist and 
the police.

But then, Dr Eddie Fitzgerald ("Fitz" to friends and enemies 
alike) had an uneasy relationship with everyone: colleagues, 
suspects, wife, you name it. A compulsive gambler, he was always 
in debt, drank heavily and smoked continuously.

At first glance, he was an argumentative, sexist pig, but 
McGovern's densely plotted double-and tripple-episode stories 
revealed a much more complex personality. The series became a 
classic, a model for "police procedural" series — many have 
tried to emulate it but few have even come close.

Which is why it is so pleasing that the ABC has begun to repeat 
the original three series from the beginning. Unfortunately, the 
first double episode began during the hiatus when The Guardian 
was not published while we moved our office.

However, take it from me: Cracker is a cracker of a 
series, brilliantly written, well acted, well directed and above 
all credible. Compare an episode of Cracker with any 
episode of Midsomer Murder and you will quickly see the 
difference.

McGovern's characters ring true, as do his situations. The 
filming of the tales is in close, personal and frequently very 
powerful. This is quality television programming, and the series 
has several prestigious awards to prove it.

As It Happened: The Ghost of Roger Casement (SBS 7.30pm 
Saturday) examines the life and execution of a controversial 
Irish hero. Roger Casement was a member of the ruling class, who 
had a distinguished career in the British Colonial service but 
who found the actions of British imperialism simply too hard to 
swallow.

Sent out to oversee British interests in the booming rubber 
industry in the Congo and the Amazon, Casement was so appalled by 
the horrific treatment of native workers that he turned against 
the exploitative imperialism that was responsible.

His damning reports forced the British Government to institute 
widespread reforms. He was given a knighthood but his course was 
now set and he joined the movement for Irish independence. In 
1913 he helped form the Irish National Volunteers, and in the 
following year he visited New York in an attempt to drum up 
support for Ireland's freedom.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Casement similarly 
sought help from Germany. He arranged for an arms shipment from 
Germany for the Easter Rising but the ship was seized by the 
British and scuttled.

Put ashore near Tralee in County Kerry on 12 April 1916, he was 
arrested by the British after 12 days, taken to London, and 
charged with treason. Hopes for a reprieve were dashed when 
copies of diaries reputed to be written by Casement were 
conveniently circulated among government officials, detailing 
alleged homosexual practices with native boys.

Roger Casement was hanged at Pentonville Prison, England, in 
August 1916. His remains were not reburied in Ireland until 1960.

Were the diaries genuine, or a fine example of "black 
propaganda", at which the British Government and British 
Intelligence were rather good? In any case, their revelations of 
homosexual practices had no real bearing on the question of Irish 
independence.

But Casement was a distinguished member of the Anglo-Irish ruling 
class, and his activity to win Irish independence was widely seen 
as further undermining British rule. He had to be disgraced and 
punished.