TV gets the sport treatment; PICK OF THE BOX.(Pick of the Box) - Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)

QUIZ

A Question Of TV (BBC1, 7.00pm)

THE winning format of the long-running A Question Of Sport gets a televisual makeover.

Gaby Roslin takes over the Sue Barker role as quizmistress with regular team captains Lorraine Kelly and Rowland Rivron.

Like QoS, there's rounds such as what happened next? and the picture board, but there are also TV specifics, including spot the cameo appearance.

Guests on the first show are Angela Ripon, Bradley Walsh, telly vet Trude Mustoe and Brookside's Steven Pinder.

Steven, who plays the beleaguered Max in the Scouse soap, sends himself up nicely as he struggles to recall just how many times his character split from/ reconciled with screen wife Susannah.

Gaby's badly in need of a telly hit after her most recent attempts failed to bring in the viewers.

Hosting a quiz show is probably the right way to get back in favour with the bosses at the Beeb.

And it's nice to see Lorraine Kelly freed from the constraints of talking diets early in the morning.

The bubbly Scot's personality is just right for this kind of light-hearted viewing.

DRAMA

A&E (ITV, 9.00pm)

CONSULTANT Robert Kingsford has suffered enough humiliation in this series of the medical drama.

Demoralised by failing to impress the management consultants brought in by his work - and love - rival Jack, Robert (Martin Shaw) decides to resign.

His decision shocks former love Christine (Niamh Cusack) and delights trauma surgeon Jack (Michael Kitchen), who can't wait to see the back of him.

Jack immediately lines up Christine as Robert's replacements and she has to decide where her loyalties are.

She may finally be about to see Jack in his true colours when he misreads one of her X-rays, an error which could prove fatal to his own career.

FACTUAL

Hell In The Pacific (Channel 4, 9.00pm)

THE final episode of this fantastic series tells of the last dramatic months of the horrific conflict in the Pacific.

The Allies had become used to the atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese, but nothing could have prepared them for kamikaze raids.

The desperate Japanese air force began the suicide raids in October 1944, their pilots sacrificing their own lives to fly bomb-laden planes into Allied ships, sinking 30 of them.

On land, the Allies were making slow, tortuous headway towards Japan itself, capturing tiny islands such as Iwo Jima.

These brutal campaigns are described by one veteran as 'like going through the gates of Hell'.

Meanwhile, the Americans were frantically preparing the weapon they expected to end the war - the atomic bomb.

The horrific consequences of dropping it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are recalled by one of the pilots and by a survivor.

Hell In The Pacific has been documentary film-making at its very best, bringing to shocking, vivid life one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Second World War.

REAL LIFE

Airport (BBC1, 8.00pm)

HEATHROW is swarming with secret service agents as the staff prepare for a real VIP

Former US President Bill Clinton is on his way through the airport, so the air is crackling with the sound of walkie-talkies as the security staff await his arrival.

Meanwhile, John from Qantas is investigating a strange buzzing sound emanating from the first class section of one of their planes.

And paramedics Eric and Jane have to make a life-saving dash away from Heathrow.

BEST OF SATELLITE TV

SCI-FI

THE X FILES

(Sky One, 9.00pm)

A DOUBLE-LENGTH episode of the cult drama will soothe any fevered fans bereft at the end of the current series.

A mysterious telephone call and an apparent suicide lead Scully (Gillian Anderson) to Emily, a young girl she suspects is the daughter of her dead sister, Melissa.

With Emily's health failing fast because of a mysterious illness, Mulder (David Duchovny) sets out to discover a cure.

CHAT

MRS MERTON

(Granada Plus, 9.00pm)

SHE may have given up her telly career for a quiet life, but Caroline Aherne will always deserve our praise and thanks for two things - The Royle Family and this, her spoof chat show hostess.

The beauty of Mrs Merton was that nobody - neither the guests nor the studio audience - initially had a clue that the wee white-haired granny was really twentysomething Caroline.

Tonight's guests include Jo Brand, Lorraine Kelly and - set your videos because this makes magnificent television - a very pompous Chris Eubank.

COMEDY

OPEN ALL HOURS

(UK Gold, 7.50pm)

CANTANKEROUS shopkeeper Arkwright (Ronnie Barker) takes extreme measures when his shop is broken into.

He gets himself a very large dog to guard the property.

Unfortunately, the beast proves too successful at keeping out customers instead of burglars.

David Jason stars as errand-boy Granville and Lynda Baron plays Arkwright's dream woman, nurse Gladys Emanuel.

FACTUAL

THE FBI FILES: CAT AND MOUSE

(Discovery, 8.00pm)

THE horrific abduction and murder of two young girls from neighbouring counties in South Carolina bear all the hallmarks of a serial killer, so the FBI immediately swings into action.

But will its behavioural profiling techniques and investigative skills, allied with the forensic evidence, be enough to stop the killer striking again?