Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Thursday, 10pm and Saturday, 7pm. Ph 9565 5522.
Access News — Melbourne community TV, Channel 31, has excellent coverage of industrial, environmental and community actions throughout Victoria. Access News broadcasts every Monday at 8pm. Ph 9633 6976.
Crusades: Pilgrims in Arms — Presented by Terry Jones, historian, literary critic and former member of the Monty Python team. Nine hundred years ago, Christian Europe was seized by a war fever that changed the world forever. ABC-TV, Thursday, January 21, 1pm.
Arabian Agenda — Soraya Altorki is professor of anthropology at the American University in Cairo. The author of many books on social change, she is a great contributor to the struggle for women's rights in the academic world and a fundamentalist society. SBS, Thursday, January 21, 4.30pm.
Songs for Fanny — Fanny Cochrane, a prominent Tasmanian Aborigine, was born in 1834 and made cylinder recordings of songs in her own language. The recording of "Song of Spring" is used as a link between Fanny and her descendants, known as Fanny's mob, who still meet regularly. ABC-TV, Thursday, January 21, 9.20pm.
Russian Wonderland — The marvels of free-market Russia: Michael and Marina, who work in a glass factory, are paid in glass rather than in wages; Mary Kay cosmetics come to Moscow; and Shahsurin, "the biggest gangster in Tatastan". SBS, Friday, January 22, 12.30pm.
Movie: Untamed Women (1995) — Thelma and Louise, Mexican-style. A group of downtrodden wives makes a pact to leave their loveless, unsatisfying marriages to create new lives and find themselves in the process. SBS, Friday, January 22, 9.30pm.
Worst Job in the World — This program takes a look at the people who do the jobs most of us dread — from undertaker to maggot farmer, toilet cleaner to miner, abattoir worker to prostitute. The program discovers that, perhaps surprisingly, each of these workers has a strong sense of self-worth. ABC-TV, Thursday, January 21, 11.50pm.
The United States of Poetry — Celebrates the word, presenting rappers and children alongside celebrated poets and beatnik icons with a mixture of visual images and the sound of rap, soul, jazz and reggae. Includes Johnny Depp reading Jack Kerouac. SBS, Friday, January 22, 11.30pm.
Fish — A special studio adaptation of the highly acclaimed dance work, performed by the Bangarra Dance Theatre, which has been directed for television by choreographer Stephen Page. SBS, Sunday, January 24, 9.30pm.