Higher channels

Stay media-literate with John Davies's weekly radio and television round-up. (All times pm unless stated.) Davieses@aol.com

Pick of the week

Almost certainly it will not be the best programme of the week, but there's something compelling about TV coverage of the Booker Prize announcement. Will the judges, headed by Douglas Hurd (and including, for the second time, Oxford's Valentine Cunningham) choose Bainbridge, Barnes, Booth, McCabe, McEwan or Mills? Channel 4 covers the prizegiving live (Tuesday 8.00), with Melvyn Bragg, Muriel Gray and other commentators. As part of the build-up, Bragg also chairs a discussion (Booker on 4, Monday midnight) with Edmund White, Germaine Greer, Ian Jack and Penelope Lively; while Radio 4's Open Book (Sunday 4.00) explores the world of literary prizes and offers Cunningham's "secret diary" as a prize judge.

Also this week

SATURDAY October 24

Descendants: Cut Loose Your Stammerin' Tongue (2.30 R4). African-American historian Will Coleman talks about his work on slave narratives.

Malcolm X: Make It Plain (12.20 am BBC2). After-midnight showing for award-winning US-made documentary on the black leader.

SUNDAY October 25

Open Book (4.00 R4, repeated Friday 4.00). See above.

The Hindenburg (4.00 History Channel). Two-hour special on the 1937 airship disaster.

Adventures in Poetry (4.30 R4). New series starts with Glasgow University's Duncan Wu examining responses to Blake's "The Tyger".

Oiling the Wheels (5.00 World Service, repeated Tuesday 3.30 am and 11.30am). New three-part series investigates corruption worldwide.

Heart of the Matter (11.25 BBC1, 11.55 in Wales). When is it right to switch off a handicapped baby's life-support systems? Exploration of the moral dilemmas thrown up by a New Zealand court case.

MONDAY October 26

Start the Week (9.00 R4) Philosopher Bernard Williams is among Paxman's guests.

Carry On Campus (6.45 BBC2 and following three days). Will Macdonald, a Chris Evans sidekick, presents what seems to be a mixture of student quiz and pop documentary (preview tapes were not available). It kicks off at the University of Reading; other universities may get similar treatment in the near future.

Up a Lazy River with George Melly (8.30 R2). Veteran Melly's jazz-history series reaches the University of Missouri's sound archives.

Postscript: Veterans (9.20 R3). This week's strand features interviews by Christopher Hitchens, starting with classics professor and Spanish Civil War veteran Bernard Knox. Later in the week there are historian of Africa Basil Davidson (Thursday) and Robert Conquest (Friday).

TUESDAY October

Just One Chance (7.30 BBC2, 6.30 in Wales). This week's edition of the "education consumer magazine" includes Liz Kershaw's guide to choosing a university.

University Challenge (8.0 BBC2, 9.20 in Wales). Christ Church, Oxford v Trinity, Cambridge.

Timewatch: The British in India (9.00 BBC2, 9.00 on Wednesday in Wales). Historian Andrew Roberts believes that British rule in India benefited both the rulers and the ruled, and contrasts the "stability" ofthe Raj with the first year of Indian and Pakistaniindependence. Followed by a discussion chaired by Kirsty Wark.

Booker Prize (see above)

WEDNESDAY October 28

Tomorrow's World (7.30 BBC1). More US breakthroughs: this week, a report on how "engineered" brain cells offer hope for stroke victims.

Making waves in Wexford -The United Irishman's Rebellion (10.45 R3). Sean Rafferty on the bicentenary of the United Irishman's Rebellion and the current state of Irish culture.

THURSDAY October 29

The Material World (4.30 R4). How astronomers are using new technologies to "see" further than ever.

Horizon: Thalidomide - A Necessary Evil (9.25 BBC2) The infamous drug is now being hailed as an effective treatment for a variety of illnesses; but do scientists understand how it works?