Sex On The Nile ... Tut, Tut

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday May 14, 1999

Doug Anderson

Egypt's Lost City, 8pm, SBS: Who was King Tut? What was his curse? And who put the overalls in Mrs Murphy's chowder? These are some of the most perplexing questions of antiquity. Some 76 years after Howard Carter ripped open the pharaoh's tomb, a few answers are forthcoming. Tutankhamen's father, Akhenaten, was a goer, as has been revealed in Dorothy Porter's searing account of his affairs with Nefertiti and Kiya. Take a trip via virtual reality and cathode ray to his monotheistic utopia, now emerging from the desert sands up the Nile from Thebes. I well recall a scintillating afternoon of sun worship, sexual indulgence and cucumber sandwiches at the site with King Farouk in 1952 ... but that's another doco entirely.

Neighbours, 6.30pm, 10: Karl and Susan take their tandem bike out for a spin, creating a new craze for cycling, no doubt. Until Karl's trousers get caught in the chain and he goes to the pub to take them off ... as you would. He is discovered sans culottes by Peter and Sarah who immediately collapse with a massive attack of anakatesthesia and float away to a better world. Boris Yeltsin, who would be right at home in Ramsay Street, sacks everyone in Russia, proclaims himself Sun God and moves the Kremlin to Thebes. Egypt's depressed harem trousers industry experiences boom times. The End.

1999 Cricket World Cup, 11.40pm, 9: "The moon in the quarter, ask anyone's daughter, is better than no moon at all ..." And if half a moon is okay, so is half a game. Catch the second dig in the match between England and Sri Lanka. Coming soon: Half a game of league and, with a bit of luck, about a tenth of Entertainment Tonight with Richard Wilkins (4.30am).

FOR THE WEEKEND

Dateline, 7.30pm Sat, SBS: Elections are imminent in Israel and things aren't looking fabulous for my old friend Ben Netanyahuserious. Spin doctors are working overtime and pollies are pally with media mates. Amira Hass is an Israeli journalist who is used to the cold shoulder. She lives and works in the Palestinian territories, reporting on security, terrorism, economic independence and the suppurating ratmangle of a peace process. She doesn't pack a gun and feels no sense of danger - as you might expect of an Israeli living on the West Bank. She is not the pin-up of right-wing settlers living under siege either because she offers an objective insight into the complex situations that impact on daily life among the Palestinians.

Good Medicine: On Wednes-day mention was made of certain surgical procedures of a kind unlikely to excite Senator Harradine. Viewers who tuned in and were disappointed can blame me. The operations will take place next Wednesday. All this excitement over the new millennium ... I can't wait until next week!