The Birds are back

THE comedy series, Birds of a Feather, is one of the most successful and longest running to come out of Britain for many years.

Its longstanding popularity the world over must be due to the strength of the characters and their nicely-honed knack of sending themselves up.

Tracey and Sharon -- as their names suggest -- are an ordinary pair of London East End girls. Tracey marries Darryl and the couple move up to snobby Chigwell, while Sharon's marriage ends up in a tatty council flat.

But the two sisters are drawn together once more when it transpires that both their husbands have been paying a lot of illegal attention to their local bank and are imprisoned for a long, long time.

This latest series (M-Net 20h00) picks up, a little unseasonably, with a Christmas special, which explains its unusual hour-long duration.

For the thousands of people who would have loved to see the Operama production of Aida in Pretoria a few weeks ago, but either couldn't get there or couldn't afford the ticket price -- SABC 2 has the answer.

At 21h30 tonight, the station is broadcasting the whole two-and-a-half-hour production complete with huge cast and spectacular visuals.

Last week's Special Assignment (SABC 3 21h30) investigation into private schools and colleges was quickly pulled and postponed for a future date.

Tonight they are expected to look at Cape Ganglands with particular reference to Pagad assassinations.

"We will take you where no television team has ever been and show you pictures you have never seen," they boast -- hope they survive to tell the tale.

Ines Watson