Man Alive

Every year nearly half of an women in Britain are persuaded to go on diets. But are they being conned or are they perhaps simply conning themselves? The business of slimming has become a boom industry; more than £l50-million a year is spent on slimming foods alone. Jenny Con-way questions psychiatrists, manufacturers, media-people, models and. above all. would-be and sometimes desperate slimmers. Why the obsession?

Should parents of a girl of 15 be told that she asked to be put on the pill? Should a criminal who seeks help from a doctor be reported to the police? Should cancer patients be told they are being used in experiments? Should employers be shown the medical records of employees? Every day doctors, nurses and administrators have to make difficult ethical decisions. In the past they have often jealously maintained that they are the only people qualified to make these judgments. But now the British Medical Association has published an ' ethical-handbook' available to patients, and has invited Man Alive to debate these dilemmas with those who face them, and those who are affected by them. Nick Ross questions members of the profession and Harold Williamson talks to patients and their families.

Trooper Keith Thompson, aged 18, and Second Lieutenant Paul Currell, 22, were almost given up for dead when they were blown up on security patrols 18 months ago. Their lives were saved by surgeons and nurses at Belfast Royal Hospital using new techniques that have become the envy of the medical world, and Man Alive followed their return to consciousness in the much-acclaimed film, Fighting for Life. Since then hospitals have been battling to restore both men to health and independence. Lieutenant Currell, who had a leg blown off has had to learn to walk again and is still in the army. Keith Thompson, who suffered severe head injuries and has had to learn to read and write again at the age of 19, has left the army and found a job despite partial paralysis. Harold Williamson follows their determined fight to make a fresh start against impossible odds.

Trains are cancelled because of staff shortages; manufacturers lose orders because of a lack of skilled workers. Why is it, that with over one-and-a-quarter million people unemployed, there are still thousands of unfilled jobs up-and-down the country? Is it that people won't or cant move from one region to another? Is it that there's a shortage of particular skills? Is it that employers and unions sometimes demand unnecessary skills? Is it that, for some, there is just not enough incentive to find a job? Can they get almost as much on the dole?

In the studio, a mother confronts the private detective hired by her foreign husband three years ago to seize their son. She is still searching for the boy. As more ' international' marriages are made and broken, so increasing numbers of tug-of-war children are caught in the middle of complicated custody battles which rage across national frontiers. Nick Ross and Jeanne la Chard follow the trail of some of these 'missing' children and ask if there are changes in international Jaw which might cut through the muddle and the heartache.

And what those cellarmen are doing is engaging in private resale price maintenance, at I 2 expense of the shopper and shopkeeper. ' Pile it high and sell it cheap' is the motto of the supermarkets. But some manufacturers won't sell to supermarkets who say it's because they sell too cheaply and don't play according to the manufacturer's rules. Because of the price-fixers, not only are some prices too high, but so are our rates, and maybe even our taxes. A secret battle is being fought in town halls to hit back at price-rigging by contractors, but with little success.

Dyslexia, medically recognised tor 80 years, is the inability to read and write in children of normal to high intelligence. Ten per cent of our schoolchildren have trouble learning to read and write. But the Department of Education does not accept the existence of dyslexia, so how many of these slow learners are dyslexic is arguable. Michael Dean examines the controversy and reports from the only dyslexia clinic run entirely by the Health Service, at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. He follows the fight for help for just two children: Adrian, aged 8, from Norfolk, and Judith, aged 6, from Berkshire.

A children's theatre in Islington, North London, that began as an out-of-school experiment 11 years ago, now has a waiting list of over a thousand. Middle-class parents queue up to enlist their children, but it's a theatre that stays close to its Cockney origins. Anna Scher , was invited to take a small group of her Islington charges to Belfast. They took over a hall in one of the city's toughest areas and played host to 70 children from all over Ulster. For three days this small army of children, Catholic and Protestant, took a first exhilarating plunge into improvised drama, acting out their own scenes-scenes that had emotional roots in their daily lives. This is the film and story of that dramatic weekend in Belfast - and its interesting sequel.

At present, enormous quantities of gas are burnt off above North Sea oil rigs. With government encouragement, Esso and Shell plan to pipe it to a handling plant in Fife, where it will be stored as a liquid at more than minus 100 degrees centigrade. Thus, energy now being wasted will be utilised, and jobs desperately needed in the area will be provided. But evidence gathered by representatives of the several thousand people who live within a mile or two of the proposed plant shows that their lives could be at risk. For, if there is a serious accident, the resultant ' fire-ball ' would be catastrophic. How far should the well-intentioned interests of multi-national companies and Whitehall override the passionately-held and well-researched stand of local people? This film examines what is wrong with the present system of official safety studies, public enquiries and ministerial processes.

Raoul Wallenberg - a Swedish diplomat in Budapest in 1944-saved tens of thousands of Jews from being sent to death in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Russian forces occupied Budapest in 1945 and Wallenberg disappeared. For a long time people thought he was dead, but it is now known that he was arrested by the Russians. John Bierman reports in this investigative film the amazing story of this modern Pimpernel's rescue exploits and the mystery of his disappearance. Today, inescapable evidence shows that he could still be alive somewhere in the Gulag. If he is, he's been there ' forgotten ' for 35 years.

Among the many splits and divisions in Northern Ireland is educational apartheid. It runs so deeply through schools that Catholic and Protestant children are rarely found under the same roof. Public opinion polls show that a majority of people want that changed - that they believe bringing children together right from the beginning in school might be a step towards eventual reconciliation and peace. In this report, Jack Pizzey and a Man Alive film crew travel across the battered province asking who is against it And why? One parent talks of reprisals by her church when she refused to send her children to its school. Catholic and Protestant teenagers, who rarely meet, talk about what might happen if they did. In an experiment in one town the two sides do meet and - even more extraordinary in Northern Ireland -they discuss the gap between them and how they might brid

Why are there so few truly British films these days? Why is it that the French, the Swedes, the Germans and the Australians all have thriving indigenous film industries while British film-makers are reduced to turning out movies for the moguls of Hollywood? In the 1960s, British films were box-office hits around the world, and American investment flooded the studios. Then the economic tide flowed in the other direction and for most of the 70s the British film industry was high and dry. Now it's picking itself up again and going for the big time. But what will the industry of the 80s produce? Gavin Scott has been talking to the producers, the money men and the studio chiefs who decide what happens when the cameras start to turn.

From earliest times, people have longed to be sure they will have a baby of a particular sex. There are innumerable ' old wives' tales' offering advice on how to have a girl rather than a boy or vice versa. Now science is entering the field with gels to apply, advice on timing, methods of sperm separation and, in the animal world, the pre-sexing of embryos before implant. In the USA there are even some mothers who have tests to find out the sex of their baby and then seek an abortion if it's not what they want. What are the ethical implications of such procedures? How well do they work? What are the risks? If the use of some methods becomes widespread, will this upset the balance between the sexes? Would more people choose to have boys than girls?-Man Alive has commissioned a special poll to hnd out. Jeanne la Chard and Nick Ross investigate.

The price of a colour licence has risen to a record nine pence a day - almost as much as a newspaper. And yet, they say, it's not enough. The BBC faces the worst crisis in its history. While ITV is making handsome profits, the Corporation is cutting back programmes, making do with old equipment, losing and laying-off staff. And next year it will get worse. In a special report, Man Alive examines some facts about television advertising, commercial efficiency, BBC bureaucracy and public attitudes to the box. It asks whether other ways should be found of paying for the Corporation, or whether it is just up to Auntie to improve her housekeeping and content herself-and the viewer - with a much reduced service.

If distances by air from London were measured in money rather than miles, then the Shetland Isles would be further than Boston and Geneva would be only a little short of New York. Why is it that air travel in the United Kingdom and in Europe costs two, three and even four times as much per mile as it does over the Atlantic or in North America? Is it lack of true competition? Is it lack of sufficient passenger volume? Is it perhaps just inefficency? Jenny Conway and Nick Ross investigate. Will an alleged system of ' price-fixing ' among European ' state ' airlines be declared illegal - under the Treaty of Rome? Will the day come when one will be able to fly to Stockholm or Naples (1,000 miles) for appreciably less than one can fly all the way (5,500 miles) to Los Angeles today?

Elderly victims of violence are confused and bitter; more and more they are being mugged - often in broad daylight-by teenage and even younger children. The attack frequently seems motivated by a need to release violent aggression - the pickings from a pensioner's purse or wallet are almost always pretty meagre. And though it's bad enough to be mugged, it's even worse to realise that, apart from medical care, the victim can expect little other help. Compensation applies only to physical injuries - and for every £1 we spend on offenders we devote lp to their victims. In other cases, when their savings are stolen, pensioners' bills run irretrievably into arrears. For some, growing old becomes a lonely nightmare, and peace of mind is replaced by fear and mistrust.

They'll tell you that they are there as part of a balance - balance of fear. If these pilots of a front-line Phantom Squadron in Germany can convince the other side that they and their aircraft are primed and ready to fight, then, so the theory goes, they may never have to. NATO is committed to deterrence; the aircrews stake their lives on it - because if it fails they don't expect to survive. When the exercise sirens sound across RAF Wildenrath, Jack Pizzey takes off with the aircrew for a nightmare preview of the Phantom that haunts us all - the Third World War.

When should the freedom of the media be limited by other, perhaps wider, responsibilities? Should, for example, viewers be told unvarnished truths about cancer? Should terrorists be given the opportunity on television to air their views? Should the film Death of a Princess be allowed to disrupt Anglo-Saudi trade? In short, how far should programme-makers go in pursuit of their stories? Tonight, Man Alive debates these and other ethical issues. And Nick Ross and Michael Dean talk to people who sometimes allege, ' It's all very well for you TV people, hut you arenpvpr aroundthp next morning to pick up the pieces

And anything else they can lay their hands on too! The popular image of gypsies is one of a trail of old iron and rubbish, thieving, drunkenness and violence. A raggle-taggle people who are disliked for the mess they leave, distrusted and even feared for their powers of foretelling the future and putting on curses. Is it any wonder then that ' authority' sees gypsies as a problem to ' tidy up ' - first into camp-sites, then into houses? But as Jeremy James found out, gypsies equally see us, the house-dwellers, as a problem and a threat. What is it that the gypsies really want? What is the way of life they so passionately want to protect? Why is there so much distrust of this minority - only 50,000 of them compared with 50 million of us - who ask for little more than to be left alone, free not to conform with our particular values?

Millions of people around the world would be very well nourished on what we, in the West, feed to our pigs. Britain stands accused of being one of the meanest nations on earth. We eat to excess and build mountains out of surpluses. Other western nations do much the same. While we are all preoccupied with our seemingly important economic problems, 450 million people elsewhere are starving; many of those that don't die will be permanently crippled - physically and mentally. Of them, 350 will die during the 50 minutes of this programme. Yet this fertile planet produces enough food for everyone. What's gone wrong?

When a mother discovered that her baby son was deaf, blind and spastic - and she was given the news piece by dreadful piece -she was gripped by despair. Denise Hennessy had committed herself to a child who would, apparently, never be able to return her love. ' No one', she said, ' ever comes to terms with having a handicapped child-it just goes on'. But then she discovered a group of women just like herself - all from Liverpool, all young, all mothers of severely handicapped children. They come from different backgrounds, different parts of town, drawn together by a common burden. They've made a pool of their own inner resources of compassion, resilience and guts. Denise and four of her friends in the Liverpool group tell Michael Dean how they have learned to live with and help their handicapped children - and each other.

John Bierman reports the amazing rescue exploits of Raoul Wallenberg , a 20th-century Pimpernel who saved tens of thousands of Jews from the Auschwitz gas chambers and who could still, according to some witnesses, be alive somewhere in the Soviet Gulag - forgotten ' for 35 years.

Five black women, fully aware of the risks they are taking, talk openly about their lives. A mother, living in the aridity of a black reserve, longs for the annual return of her husband from a caretaker's job in distant Johannesburg.... A maid working for a white family in that same city talks of her own children who are forbidden to live with her and must be boarded out with relatives ... A nurse in Soweto dreams of the day when the skills she has slowly acquired will be properly recognised and used ... A hospital cleaner allows a camera to follow her into an enormous barrack block where she lives with 4,000 other women ... A housewife in the illegal shanty town of Crossroads tells of police and bulldozers ... South Africa -from five very individual and rarely filmed viewpoints.