start your day with news, sport, weather and travel available to all viewers.

Edgar takes a chance on the family's absence to let their home and settle his gaming debts.

An RKO film

with Jeremy Paxman Sally Magnusson and John Stapleton
Reports from MIKE STEWART MARK EASTON. BILL NEELY
CAROLINE RIGHTON
GAIL FOLEY and JAMES COX National and international news and analysis on the hour and half-hour
The latest sports news from Bob Wilson Timetable:
Weather with Francis Wilson at 7.25. 7.55, 8.25
Regional news and travel at 7.15, 7.45, 8.15

Weather followed by Open Air
Eamonn Holmes invites you to phone him on [number removed]with your views on the weekend's television. Natalie Anglesey and Mike Shaft are the reporters. Write to: Open Air
PO Box 27, Oxford Road Manchester M60 1SJ
Producers LIZ BARRON
PAUL COLBERT. TONY HARRISON RACHEL PURNELL , GEOFF WILSON SUE WOODWARD
Deputy editor MAGGIE SUTCLIFFE Editor PETER WEIL BBC North West
(Answers to your comments 11.00am)

with Robert Kilroy-Silk
Directors LINDA NASH. ANN MORLEY Producers Dl BURGESS
SUE NIX. HARVEY WOOLFE
Deputy editor JOHN GETGOOD Editor DAVID WICKHAM

Weather followed by The Flintstones
Son of Rockzilla Fred will do anything to become an overnight star - even putting on a monster costume to advertise a horror film. The result is a shocker! (R)

Andy Crane with programme news and birthday greetings followed by Take the lid off the Play School Rag Bin Presenters
Chloe Ashcroft , Iain Lauchlan Guest Russell Davies Story: Mr Podmore by ROBIN KINGSLAND (R) and The Wombles by ELISABETH BERESFORD Told by Bernard Cribbins Music by MIKE BATT
Animated and directed by IVOR WOOD (R)

with Joanna Lumley

Weather followed by Open Air with Pattie Coldwell and Eamonn Holmes

Weather followed by Daytime Live with Pamela Armstrong Alan Titchmarsh and Ross Davidson Put your feet up for 50 minutes of live entertainment. There's a New Year new look starting today, including a trip out with Robin Page in pursuit of curious country cures. Editor STEVE WEDDLE BBC Pebble Mill

with Michael Buerk
Weather BERNARD DAVEY

Clive tells Graham and Kate why he left medicine.
Charlene and Scott are in more trouble. Shane loses his nerve at the wheel.

Another opportunity to see COLLEEN MCCULLOUGH 'S best-selling novel, adapted for television in five parts. A story of ambition, desire and passion that sweeps over 50 years and two continents - from the raw Australian outback to the splendour of the Vatican. Starring
1: Australia 1920. Fr Ralph de Bricassart is summoned to
Drogheda, the home of Mary Carson , the richest and most powerful woman in the country. She seeks his advice on the future of her wealth and property - should she leave everything to the Catholic Church, ensuring a glittering future for Ralph, or should she consider her impoverished brother Paddy Cleary and his family?
When Mary sends for them,
Ralph is to see Meggie Cleary for the first time - a meeting that will shape both their destinies ...
Screenplay by CARMEN CULVER Produced by DAVID L. WOLPER and STAN MARGULIES
Directed by DARYL DUKE (R)
(Part two tomorrow at 1.50pm)
* CEEFAX SUBTITLES

Andy Crane - starting with

Bananaman: Doctor Gloom
(R)

A clown's-eye view of Merseyside featuring
from the Liverpool Museum with children from Dovedale Junior School, Liverpool
BACK PAGES: 86

(R)

by Roald Dahl
Told by Rik Mayall for Jackanory
Today: The Marvellous Plan
(R)

Wicket, Teebo and Paploo meet a fearsome, red-furred Ewok who appears to live alone in the forest with only the wild, wolf-like Korrinas.

[with] Mark Curry, Caron Keating, Yvette Fielding

Rags Appeal Stop Press! Will the Totaliser hit the jackpot and reach the appeal target of 1,000 tons of old wool and cotton? Today's your chance to discover whether there are enough rags to provide a pony for disabled riders and vital equipment for every RDA Centre in Britain!

An opportunity to see the dramas of Ramsay Street in a new time-slot each weekday.

with Nicholas Witchell and Philip Hayton
Weather JOHN KETTLEY

Lucy Meacock Steve Clarke Richard Bath bring you tonight's news and views from London and the south east.
Plus sport from Michael Wale Editor FIONA CHESTERTON

Join Terry and his guests for conversation and entertainment live from the Television Theatre.

A special investigation into the miracle cure for shortsightedness that could leave you blind. In America this revolutionary new treatment has given rise to multi-million dollar lawsuits and it's now available here. The Watchdog team has been on both sides of the Atlantic talking to victims and doctors alike on the consequences of this experimental surgery.
If there's anything you want action on, write to Watchdog, [address removed], or ring the hotline on [number removed]

New readers start here - Kenneth Everett, he of the tinkling laughter, twinkling eyes and twisted truss, presents a weekly half-hour of wicked wackiness. Should you choose to read on, you will be taking a trip from London to Brighton in four minutes, meeting Chris Rea and his band and exploring certain organs of Joan Collins. Dear reader - how can you resist? Join Kenny tonight. End of chapter.
Written by BARRY CRYER, JOHN LANGDON. ANDREW MARSHALL and DAVID RENWICK, PAUL MINETT and BRIAN LEVESON
CEEFAX SUBTITLES

starring Noel Edmonds
Presented with an unusual situation, can you foresee the outcome? Shown a picture of a person, can you see into their personality? Pit your wits against Noel's contestants.
Sound ALAN MACHIN
Lighting ALAN JEFFREY Designer JOHN STOUT
Production MICHAEL HURLL

with Michael Buerk and Debbie Thrower
Regional News; Weather

Thatcher's 's 000 Days
Mrs Thatcher has now been in office for 3,167 days - overtaking Asquith as the longest serving Prime
Minister this century. Only four premiers have now served longer terms - Robert Walpole , William Pitt the Younger and Lords Liverpool and Salisbury.
Robert Harris, Political
Editor of the Observer, looks at how the Prime Minister has stamped her personality on the government of Britain, and talks to more than a dozen men who have worked closely with her.
Lord Hailsham on her place in history:
'You've got to put her in the same category as Bloody Mary, Elizabeth 1, Queen
Anne and Queen Victoria.' Lord Havers on her ruthlessness:
'If she thinks a minister is no longer up to it, then he's out.' Sir John Nott on her handling of the cabinet:
'She thinks that all men are feeble, and that gentlemen are even more feeble.' Others taking part are Norman Tebbit , John Biffen. Enoch Powell
Lord Joseph, Lord Jenkins Roy Hattersley , the former West German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt.
Producer ELIZABETH CLOUGH Editor TIM GARDAM

The epic Academy
Award-winning story of the Mercury space programme shown in two parts starring Sam Shepard Scott Glenn
Ed Harris
Dennis Quaid
Barbara Hershey
1: October 1947. Flying with broken ribs in an experimental Bell X-l rocket plane, test pilot
Chuck Yeager becomes the first man to take it through the sound barrier. His bravery will be the first step to 'punching through the envelope' and man's eventual conquest of space.
(First showing on British television. For cast see Wednesday at 10.20pm)
0 FILMS: page 13

A new look each week at a specific issue crucial to the health of business and industry in 1988. Banking on New Business
Many businessmen starting from scratch stumble when it comes to getting the money. This week David Lomax looks at the experiences of four businessmen. Alan Crowe in Worcestershire managed to get a highly profitable chocolate factory going, despite the refusal of the banks to lend him money. Paul Green , from
Birmingham, was sent on a three-month journey through four branches of a leading high-street bank before he could meet a large order for his idea for a new clipboard. Dave Morgan , who can make and sell 100 kites a week, could not even get a £1,000 overdraft.
David Wickins managed to get a business going which now turns over E2 billion a year without borrowing from the banks at all - but then his was a very special idea ... Film editor ALEX RICHARDSON
Producer ALAN HAYDN GRIFFITHS Editor BRIAN DAVIES (e)