Pope Jon for SBS

Jon Voight will appear as Pope John Paul II in a 2 -part dramatisation of the life of the Pope screening on SBS in April.

Voight was nominated for an Emmy for his performance.

The drama also has a solid support cast including James Cromwell and Christopher Lee (pictured).

But you won't believe who is playing the younger Karol Wojtyla....

Cary Elwes!

That's right, Mr Princess Bride himself.

Elwes also appeared in the Saw movies.

Screening for two Sundays at 10pm I can see a lot of potential elderly viewers annoyed by the timeslot.

SBS' Press Release follows:

Shot on location in Krakow, Poland and in Italy, the two-part mini-series, Pope John Paul II will screen on SBS Television over two consecutive Sunday nights, beginning Easter Sunday, 1 April at 10.30pm.

Historians at the Vatican provided script consultation for the series, and exclusive footage was filmed on St Peter’s Square, in the Sistine Chapel and in surrounding areas of the Vatican.

Cary Elwes portrays Karol Wojtyla from age 18 to 50, in the years prior to being elected Pope on 16th October, 1978. Academy Award winner and multiple Golden Globe Award winner, Jon Voight portrays him during his extraordinary 26 year reign that ended with the Pontiff’s death on 2nd April, 2005.

The cast also includes Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award nominee James Cromwell (Babe, The Queen), Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Ben Gazzara (Dogville, The Big Lebowsky) as well as Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings).

Pope John Paul II is a two-part drama series about a man whose papal odyssey encompassed more than 120 countries and earned him the reputation of an international fighter for freedom. It follows Karol Wojtyla’s journey from his youth in Poland through his last days on the Chair of St. Peter and explores the 264th Pope’s fascinating life behind the scenes: how he managed to touch the hearts of millions of people and change the face of the church and the world; how he defended the dignity of mankind against Nazism, Communism and consumerism; and how he successfully related to people of all ages.

The series begins on the eve of the German invasion of Poland. The charismatic Karol Wojtyla is passionate about literature, the theatre and poetry. Along with his friends, he covertly resists the systematic persecution of Polish culture and joins the clandestine Catholic resistance. To the amazement of his friends, Karol announces his intention to enter the church. Thus begins the extraordinary career of a man who at the age of 38 became the country’s youngest bishop.

Pope John Paul II screens 10.30pm Sunday Apr 1 & Sunday Apr 8 on SBS.

FULL REVIEW here
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Naomi eliminated

Naomi Robson was a surprise elimination in tonight's Dancing with the Stars.

In fact Jamie Durie joining her in the bottom two was also a surprise.

They are arguably the two biggest names in the show, and supposedly two big Seven drawcards. It's a bit of a worry the audience seemingly isn't getting behind them.

Just to remind you how the complicated voting for DWTS works, contestants' scores are tallied 50% of audience vote from last week's dance, with 50% of judges scores from this week's dance. So the total is combined from two separate dances. It means the judges' votes in Week One are in effect pointless.

So what will Naomi do now? Go back and work for TT?

And of course there is still a long-standing invitation to join The Chaser!

Personally I think this year's TT scandals actually suddenly put her in a better light, and DWTS did well to show she has a fun side.
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Deadly Desperates

Seen those ads for Desperate Housewives telling you two will die?

It's a spoiler I think the network should have kept under wraps. But then how would they plug it?

When I watched this episode without any prior knowledge of its content I was gobsmacked. And delighted.

It's easily the show's best episode of the year.

Much of this year has been writer Marc Cherry's habit of mysterioso and diversionary plots. And yet again we see the women separated into individual plotlines that keep them apart for too long.

But on Monday March 19 there's a shift into the dramatic, and finally we see Felicity Huffman show us the skills that landed her an Oscar nomination for TransAmerica.

If you are a Wisteria fan, don't miss a dynamite episode.

"Bang" airs 8:30pm Monday March 19 on Seven.
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Tue Mar 13

[Nine/10:35pm] Third Watch. Final. The long-running crime drama's series finale concludes in a blaze of glory when gangbangers assault the 55th Precinct station and set it afire, trapping Sergeant Cruz (Tia Texada) and Officer Monroe (Nia Long), and while Bosco (Jason Wiles) and other police return fire, the future of their beloved "Camelot" house is in dire jeopardy -- as is the life of one dedicated cop.

[Ten/7:30pm] The All New Simpsons."G.I. D'oh" Guest: Keifer Sutherland.
[Ten/8:30pm] NCIS. "Once A Hero"
[Ten/9:30pm] Numb3rs. Series Return. “Undercurrents.” The FBI becomes involved when the bodies of young Asian girls are washed up on the beach. The situation becomes more critical when it is discovered one girl has avian flu.

[Seven/12:00pm] Movie: The Glow (US 2001) PORTIA DE ROSSI and DEAN CAIN star in this mystery thriller about a young couple who move into a new apartment and discover a horrifying secret about their unusual neighbours. Also starring HAL LINDEN, DINA MERRILL, GRACE ZABRISKIE and JOSEPH CAMPANELLA.
[Seven/7:30pm] Dancing with the Stars.
[Seven/8:30pm] All Saints. THE HEARTS OF MEN. Jack is forced to confront his history of abuse when a young boy takes extraordinary measures to avoid being bullied. Mike and Zoe clash over the treatment of a meth-amphetamine addict, who seems unwilling to face the reality of what he is doing. Frank decides the best way for Bart to stand on his own two feet is to take him home with him.
[Seven/10:30pm] Cold Feet. Final. Karen finds it hard to cope without Rachel and seeks grief counselling. Ramona discovers Lee has been unfaithful. The friends join Adam to scatter Rachel's at a special place. David must make an important decision on the two women in his life.
[Seven/12:30am Wed] Mile High. A CCTV tape reveals Janis and Croker in a compromising position, and Will and Jack scamming. Will and Marco both race to try to recover the tape. Rpt.

[ABC/8:30pm] The Bill. Supt Heaton's zero tolerance to drugs policy is not well received by PC Hardy and Insp Gold. CAST: Roberta Taylor
[ABC/9:20pm] Foreign Correspondent. Foreign Correspondent: your passport to the world of international journalism.
[ABC/10:00pm] Woodlawn Cemetery: Art Eternal. Looks at the monumental art in New York State's Woodlawn Cemetery, where people like Celia Cruz, Herman Melville, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington are buried.

[SBS/7:30pm] Insight. SBS Television’s Australian current affairs program, presented by Jenny Brockie. CC WS
[SBS/8:30pm] Prisoner 345. Most Australians know the story of David Hicks, the Australian terror suspect incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay for the last five years without being charged. Think he’s the only one to suffer this fate? Think again. Screening on SBS Television on Tuesday, 13 March at 8.30pm in the Cutting Edge timeslot is the documentary Prisoner 345 which tells the hair-raising story of Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami al-Hajj. On 15 December, 2001 Sami al-Hajj was arrested by Pakistani intelligence officers while on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He was handed to the US military and then moved from one prison to the next ending up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in June 2002. Almost five years later Sami, like David, is yet to be officially charged. Prisoner 345 traces Sami al-Hajj’s movements before and after his arrest and examines the way he’s allegedly been treated by his jailers at Guantanamo Bay. The film is based on Sami's own unclassified letters, testimonies to his lawyer and eyewitness accounts from former Guantanamo Bay detainees who befriended the Al Jazeera cameraman. Director Abdallah El Binni and producer Ahmad Ibrahim offer a disturbing glimpse into one of the many dark sides to the war on terror. Prisoner 345 includes a demonstration of force-feeding, the latest controversial technique employed by prison authorities to stop hunger strikes. It also details an interrogation where a woman smeared menstrual blood on a prisoner’s face. Add to this men chained to the floor and taunted with sex acts and pornography. Much is corroborated by an official translator at the Cuban jail.

[Biography/10:15pm] ABBA Read more...