LET'S IT ALL

BBC and "Time-Life'.

Revolutions may happen, the British embassy may go up in smoke, but destined with some certainty for your screens are he following series-History o America', 'The Ascent of Man' "The Mind of Man', 'The History Exploration' and 'Planet Earth'.

They might even devize an award for further serial ideas such as 'The Ascent of the Son of Man', 'Mind of Man Junior', or how about "The Continuing Story of Planet Earth'.

All such programmes will thei e delivered with the true sell confidence of that particular brand of media-men who always contrive to exist just beyond the reach of everyday realities.

For those television producers and writers who do attempt to steer clear of the morass of opportunistic thinking which surrounds them, there is then the pitfall of pressure and censorship. This will, for instance, mar the fifth part of the British Empire which out tonight -Darkest Africa'.

was written by Stuart Hood-at least that section of it which escaped the progressive elimination process. It was have begun with a quote from Hegel, but apparently Aubrey Singer, Head of Features, 'hadn't heard of Hegel', so we shall not be hearing of him either.

Then, it seems, a line which detailed the number of Zulus dead in the Zulu war was whipped out sharp - sharp • as the devious_paths of so-called objectivity allowed.

Mind you, one had suspected that might possibly happen, especially on Africa, for gracing the wall of the BBC 'Empire production office, during preparacon, was a large poster portrall of Kenyatta-someone's homage to that reactionary African head of state.

But while some serials are bad, others are interesting and therefore go out on BBC-2 - a channel which many of this country's citizens do not as yet receive. In fact, to take things one step further, a new and important six-part drama serial 'Man of Straw' not only began its run on Sunday, January 30, on BBC-L, but the repeats ot each episode go out every following Saturday — again, on BBС-2.

To them that hath shall be given and to them that hath not shall be given the 'Dick Emery Show', and then we will be told that the average man in this country wants the Dick Emery Anyway, if you are lucky enough to have BBC-2, 'Man of Straw' is well-worth watching. Written in 1914 by Heinrich Mann, it was promptly banned by the German authorities, predicting as it did the rise of Naziism.

As a study of fascist psychology, the growth of militaristic thinking and the atmosphere prior to World War I, it is a compelling piece of work. It saves BBC drama from the cultural graveyard into which it has sunk.

Diederich Hessling, the central character, is perfect Nazi raw material. His deep dedication to his family consists of nothing more than fear and respect for a father whose 'sense of honour and true authority' sound more and insecurity which lies behind patriotic 'heroism'. He also manaces to convey how the fake courage of the upper-middleclass, Kaiser-worshipper rested on a contempt for the working class and a reverence for aristocracy.

•My only fear is that we are dealing with working-class riffrail, says. Hesslinß' if he might when it looks as have to engage in a real fight rather than in his phantasies of If the British Empire series provides one example of television frontiership, then this serial provides another. It's all very well to do a probe of fascism as long as it's over in outerBavaria and set some decades ago, to boot. But to the more discerning, it must have seemed obvious that the fascist psychology of the Hessling clan has quite a direct parallel over here.

The rituals, élite-clan behaviour, the patriotism and endurance tests, all these exist