Wales v Ireland and England v Scotland
The 1977 International
Championship began yesterday afternoon with Wales endeavouring to repeat the form that last year won them the Triple Crown, Grand Slam and Championship against Ireland, who showed in their short tour of New Zealand in the summer that they have a side capable of matching the best in the world.
At Twickenham the England supporters were looking for a revival that would wrest the Calcutta Cup from Scotland and end the famine that has seen them take the wooden spoon three seasons in a row.
Commentator at the National Stadium, Cardiff NIGEL STARMER-SMITH
Commentator at Twickenham
BILL MCLAREN
Director at Cardiff
DEWI GRIFFITHS
Series producer BILL TAYLOR

A series of four television seminars in which Don Cupitt , Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, confronts an invited audience with his own views on questions that divide Christians today. 3: Politics of Faith
Is the essence of Christianity lost if religion is blended with politics?
Studio director DENNIS SULLIVAN Producer JOHN WILCOX

The news of the week plus a visual commentary for those who cannot hear, with Kenneth Kendall
Editor BILL NORTHWOO Ð

Yellow Trail from Texas
The assault begins in Texas in May. By the time it is finished, five months later, the combine harvesters t hundreds of them - will have chewed their way north for nearly 2,000 miles to the Canadian prairies. The North American wheat harvest must be the biggest farming job in the world.
DALE STARKS started on the wheat trail 27 years ago with a bank loan and one small second-hand combine. Today, he and his wife own nine of the ten-ton machines.
Directed and narrated by TIM SLESSOR
Editors MICHAEL ANDREWS , ANTHONY ISAACS

Behind the Mask
The Theatre Music of Henry Purcell Conducted and introduced by Raymond Leppard
' I believe that though he lived by the church and state, he lived for the theatre.'
The reputation of Henry Purcell (1658-95), perhaps England's greatest composer, rests mainly on Ms music for church and royal occasions. Yet over half his output was written for the theatre, including the famous ' Lament' from his opera Dido and Aeneas, and 'Fairest Isle' from King Arthur, both featured in this programme. But the theatre music also includes dances and songs full of the fun and vitality of the Restoration stage.
RAYMOND LEPPARD has devised a compilation in the style of a cabaret entertainment which he has called ' Virtue Rewarded' or 'Good Luck at Last.' with April Cantelo (soprano) Robin Leggate (tenor) Ian Caddy (baritone)
ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA leader JOSÉ LUIS GARCIA continuo OLGA HEGEDUS
Script by RAYMOND LEPPARD Designer TIM GLEESON
Executive producer JOHN DRUMMOND Producer DENIS MORIARTY

Weather

From the BBC studios in Manchester, Brian Trueman takes a non-metropolitan look at topics and issues likely to affect our lives in 1977. Cartoonist Bill Tidy and reporter Felicity Goodey join him to explore a different subject each week in a variety of ways. And the people themselves, an invited audience, will be adding their voices to the topic under discussion.
Deputy editor RON NEIL
Editor RAY COLLEY. BBC Manchester

Introduced by Melvyn Bragg A film about Russian art presented by Edwin Mullins
The 1917 Revolution not only turned the political world upside down, the artists of revolutionary Russia produced a visual art that matched the excitement of the times. Painters like Kandinsky and Malevich, sculptors like Gabo and Pevsner explored a brilliant new world of abstraction. Architects designed fantastic buildings and monuments for a revolutionary people.
EDWIN mullins shows how these brilliant manifestations of the Russian visual genius emerged from what had been a backward and isolated country on the edge of Europe. He talks to Naum Gabo, the sculptor, who was in Russia after the Revolution, and relates what happened to the artists when the ideals of the Revolution began to fade.
... one of the most successfully packed, fluid and beautifully filmed art documentaries I have ever seen.
(THE LISTENER)
Director ROBIN LOUGH
Producer CHRISTOPHER MARTIN
Executive producer BILL MORTON

King Vidor Season starring Wallace Beery Jackie Cooper with Irene Rich
So far as young Dink is concerned, his father ' Champ ' can do no wrong. But the ex...prizefighter is addicted to gambling and to drink, and Dink's loyalties are frequently tried to the limit.
Based on a story by FRANCES MARION