Television What To Watch Secrets and lies: The truth comes out in Belonging To Laura Todays highlights With Adam Hyland Pick Of The Day Belonging To Laura TV3, 9pm TV3 come up trumps with this TV movie from the producer of Once. Oscar Wildes Lady Windermeres Fan is transported to present-day south Co Dublin where morality and relationships are called into question on the eve of a society wedding. Well-acted and full of Wildean humour, this is a colourful, impressive production. The modernisation does at times struggle to stay faithful to the source material, but this is top Irish drama nonetheless. Victoria Wood: Seen On TV BBC2, 8.30pm Its Victoria Wood night on BBC2, as they air a host of her shows. First up is this thoroughly enjoyable programme looking back at her career. It features sketches, stand-up, characters and songs from her repertoire as well as exclusive interviews with the comedian, her friends and fans including Dawn French, Julie Walters and Sir Roger Moore. RT1 RT2 TV3 8.45 Casualty 9.45 MasterChef 10.20 The Doctors 11.10 Dr Phil 12.00 Shortland Street (T) 12.30 Doctors (T) 1.00 News And Weather (T) 1.25 The Dealers (R) 1.55 Super Garden (R) 2.20 EastEnders (R,T) Whitney learns the verdict on Tony. 3.00 Corrigans Christmas Special (R) A traditional family meal. 3.30 Fair City (R,T) 4.00 The Afternoon Show. A lively mix of celebrity chat, gossip and beauty tips. 5.45 Nuacht RT 6.00 The Angelus 6.01 News And Weather (T) 7.00 Nationwide (T) 7.30 Capital D Anne Cassin visits designer Louise Kennedy at home and hears very different versions of Christmas carols. 8.00 EastEnders (T) 8.30 Catherines Italian Kitchen Catherine Fulvio visits the ancient Sicilian capital of Palermo. Last in the series. 9.00 News And Weather (T) 9.35 Prime Time Investigates Why the Irish banking system spiralled out of control. 10.35 The Frontline Pat Kenny hosts a debate on the major political, economic and social issues of the day between guests and an invited audience. 11.40 RT News And Weather (T) 11.45 The Late Late Show (R) Music and chat, hosted by Ryan Tubridy. 1.55 The Frontline (R) 2.55 Shortland Street (R,T) 7.50 Hey Arnold! Comedy about a streetwise city kid. 8.15 Kazoo 8.25 The Scooby-Doo Show 8.50 Mr Bean: The Animated Series 9.05 Den Tots 3.10 The Den: Dennis And Gnasher 3.20 Kazoo 3.35 Tracey McBean 3.50 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 4.15 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 4.40 Ice 5.00 News 5.10 Sabrina The Teenage Witch 5.35 Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Melissa Joan Hart stars. 6.00 The Simpsons (T) Cartoon capers. 6.30 The Simpsons (T) Cartoon capers with the unmistakable all-American family. 7.00 The Bill (T) Long-running drama with the bobbies and detectives at Londons Sun Hill police station. 8.00 War In The Arctic (R) Conclusion. Exploring how traces of World War II can still be found in terrain blanketed by snow and ice. 9.00 Father Ted (R,T) The hapless cleric makes a bid for stardom. 9.30 The Republic Of Telly Topical comedy show, with Neil Delamere. Last in the series. 10.00 The Savage Eye A satirical look at religion. 10.30 The Savage Eye Excessive alcohol consumption. See highlights. 11.00 RT News On Two And World Forecast (T) 11.30 Shortscreen The short film Uncle Bills Barrell. 11.40 Rescue Me (T) 12.30 FILM: Mad Hot Ballroom (2005) Premiere. 7.00 Ireland AM 10.00 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R) 11.00 The Morning Show With Sybil And Martin 11.50 Midday 12.50 Xpos (R) 1.20 The Oprah Winfrey Show (R) 2.10 The Ellen DeGeneres Show. 3.05 The Biggest Loser: Australia. The contestants race over sand dunes. 3.35 House Doctor: Designs For Living (R) A Victorian house in Forest Hill, south London. 4.30 Judge Judy. Double bill. Real-life court cases. 5.30 News@5.30 6.00 Xpos Daily entertainment news, with Karen Koster. 6.30 Friends (R) Monica and Chandler meet the mother of the baby they plan to adopt. 7.00 Emmerdale (T) Sally concocts a plan to win Ashley back. 7.30 Coronation Street (T) Tina and Jason argue when he confesses he is still married to Sarah. 8.00 Nicks Bistro How the restaurant is faring. Last in the series. 8.30 Coronation Street (T) A drunken Tina is chatted up by a handsome stranger. 9.00 Belonging To Laura See highlights. 10.30 Gabriel Byrne Stories From Home (R) Documentary charting the Golden Globe-winning actors career, featuring interviews with his family as he recalls his rise to Hollywood stardom. 12.00 Nightly News 12.05 to 3.05 Play TV 3.20 The Boy Who Turned Into A Girl (R) 6pm 7pm 8pm 9pm 10pm 11pm :60second interview Augusten Burroughs Author Augusten Burroughs, 44, made his name with memoirs Running With Scissors, about being abandoned by his mother, and Dry, about his alcoholism. His latest book, You Better Not Cry, is a collection of stories about his experiences of the festive season Interview by Andrew Williams My family tree is enormous. It turns out Im the 18th grandson of James II of Scotland It doesnt sound like youve had a good experience of Christmas... No and I thought all those bad Christmases were behind me but they arent. Last year my dog became paralysed. I spent the holidays in my basement with an incontinent dog between my legs. This year, my partner and I are splitting up. Apparently he hasnt been happy for quite some time and obviously I wouldnt have known. It just goes on and on. You seem to have been a huge brat as a child, were you? I was a peculiar child. I know that because people would tell me. We visited some historic mansions on vacation one year and I felt I was a member of the British royal family whod been stolen away. My brother has Aspergers Syndrome and is interested in genealogy, which means my family tree is enormous. It turns out Im the 18th grandson of James II of Scotland. There are probably 8million other grandchildren but I knew I was right. When was your favourite Christmas? Theres a story in the book about how I manipulate my parents into giving me lots of presents one year but most Christmases were horrible because I made them horrible. It was due to my extreme greed. Were set up for failure when it comes to Christmas. How much do you make up? I dont make things up but Ill alter things. In Dry, which is about the time I was an alcoholic and worked in advertising, I moved jobs quite a lot which isnt unusual in that industry. People understand you want to work on new accounts. In the book I trimmed the jobs out to make it look like I worked at one place and combined different people to form new characters. I did it for clarity. If I made stuff up Id call it a novel. How do you feel about strangers knowing intimate details of your life? It doesnt make Your first book, Sellevision, is a comedy about a shopping channel. Have you ever bought anything from QVC? I bought weird laundry balls that dont use soap but suck every particle of dirt out of your clothes and last for eternity. Ive got no idea how they work, I was drunk during the demonstration. Do you still watch it? Never. I couldnt watch a minute of it because I watched it for 20 hours a day when my life was in ruins. [He was an alcoholic and took crack.] Why did you choose Xon as a middle name? I changed my name when I was 18. I was in computer programming school and Xon is a computer term meaning the state of accepting input. I thought: thats a good middle name. People thought I named myself after William Burroughs but Id never heard of him and I still havent read a word that hes written. me uncomfortable. Ive met thousands of people from every walk of life and people come up to me and say me too about a detail of something Ive written. Ive found myself in strange situations but most people would react the same way I have done. Readers are aware they know a lot about me and I dont know anything about them and thats normally acknowledged when I meet them. I dont care if people think Im a complete buffoon which, is very liberating. Do you miss working in advertising? Not really, its like Groundhog Day. Clients want exactly the same thing and it goes in cycles. Id always have the campaign idea during the meeting but you can never show your boss the idea after the meeting. You have to sit on the idea for a week, look busy, then present the idea at the last minute. I dont like those games. 16 metrolife Monday, December 21, 2009 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html