Friday, 6 June, 2008

This week's Newsnight Review - BBC Two, 2300BST - is presented by Kirsty Wark.

THE PANEL:
Germaine Greer | Michael Gove | Safraz Manzoor

ON THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMME

FILM | Gone Baby Gone

BOOK | The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway

TV | Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley

MUSIC | Backwoods Barbie by Dolly Parton

Gone Baby Gone

It was a case of life imitating art. The Madeleine McCann case forced Ben Affleck to postpone the UK release of his directorial debut, Gone baby Gone, last year.

Finally the kidnap thriller has arrived, following local private investigators Patrick (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend Angie (Michelle Monaghan) in the search for a missing four-year-old girl on the seedy side of Boston.

Joining police captain Morgan Freeman and old timer detective Ed Harris, they find themselves drawn into an underworld of lies and corruption. What will our panel make of Ben Affleck's directing debut? And were the filmmakers right to postpone the UK release?

Gone baby Gone, certificate 15, is on general release.

The Gone Away World
by Nick Harkaway

Nick Harkaway's debut novel is a sprawling tale of a post apocalyptic near future.

Countries have liberally deployed 'Go-Away' bombs against each other which strip the information out of matter to erase everything in the target area - but the fall out is a world where human thoughts can become concrete actuality in an instant. Small bands of survivors struggle to adjust to the frightening new world.

Since Nick Harkaway secured a £300,000 one-book deal, and then revealed his literary pedigree as the son of John le Carré, expectations for the book have been high. Will our panel feel it lives up to the hype?

The Gone-Away World is published by William Heinemann.

Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley

It's Dartford in 1949 and the young Margaret Roberts has just started on her battle to get selected to a winnable Tory seat. Margaret, played by Andrea Riseborough, is working as a chemist but wants nothing more than to be an MP.

Written by Tony Saint, the story follows Margaret through the ten year series of rejections she suffered before she was elected to Finchley in 1958.

Along the way Margaret meets her future husband Denis (Rory Kinnear) and also the young Ted Heath (Samuel West).

The depiction of the young Margaret's relationship with the young Ted in the drama has caused a stir - what will our panellist, Tory MP Michael Gove, make of it?

Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley is on BBC FOUR on 12 June at 9pm.

Backwoods Barbie
by Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton is possibly the most successful woman in country music.

Instantly recognisable with her platinum bouffant and deliberately trashy clothes, she's set up TV and wig companies, a theme park in her own honour and more importantly she's retained rights to the 3,000 or so songs she's written during her career including the hits I Will Always Love You, Jolene and 9 to 5.

Backwoods Barbie is her 42nd studio album and signals a return to her mainstream country roots with songs that mix laments for the tough times in life with religious faith, down home feminism and some irrepressible Dolly optimism.

Backwoods Barbie by Dolly Parton is released on the Universal Music Television label on June 9th.