Ray of hope

YOU’RE stuck in a rut, your wife has left you and you’re struggling to pay the bills and look after the children. So, what do you do? Well, have you considered turning to prostitution?

That’s the premise at the heart of US comedy import Hung, starring Hollywood leading man Thomas Jane. This series first made waves in Britain on More4, and now moves to C4.

It centres on the trials and tribulations of Ray Drecker (Jane), whose situation is desperate to say the least. The former high school sports legend who has grown up to be a down-and-out 40-something basketball coach, and a pale shadow of the star he once was.

The team he coaches is on a losing streak, his wife (Anne Heche) has left him for a wealthy dermatologist and, worst of all, he’s struggling to provide for his two children, teenage twins Damon and Darby, who now live with their mother.

In a last-ditch attempt to turn his life around, Ray attends a get-rich-quick seminar, where he is reunited with former one-night stand Tanya, who tells him he still has one sizeable asset – the fact he’s well-hung gives him a “marketable tool”

and she encourages him to embark on a new career as a male escort.

“He’s a likable guy, even though he’s kind of crabby and irascible,” says Jane of his character.

“He’s been beaten up by life a few times so he’s a little bit jaded. He’s less likely to give the people the benefit of the doubt.”

The actor also reveals that despite resorting to extreme measures to stay financially afloat, it’s not a choice Ray makes lightly.

“He’s got a very strong moral compass.

I think Ray wants to live the American dream. You were given promises in the American dream that you will have a house, two kids and a wife and a job, and that’s the American dream.

“Ray would rather be doing anything else on the planet rather than selling himself – that’s the last thing he would think of to do.

Yet, it becomes the only thing he can see as a way out. He just doesn’t have an alternative.”

In this opening episode, Ray’s first encounter with a paying customer is a total disaster and he heads back to Tanya to ask for her advice.

Can she help Ray to use his biggest asset to find his feet as Detroit’s premier “Happiness Consultant” or is his new career doomed to failure?

WITH all eyes turning towards the 21st Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, viewers are receiving an opportunity to marvel at the country’s natural beauty in British Columbia: Canada’s Olympic Wilderness.

Although even a polar bear would have to wrap up warm before venturing outside in Canada, the jaw-dropping scenery is worth braving freezing temperatures that can plummet to less than minus 20C.

To coincide with the Winter Olympics, Ed Leigh and Graham Bell journey across the frozen province of British Columbia, in Canada, as they make their way to the resort of Whistler, the venue for several events at this year’s Winter Olympics.

En route, they travel through remote communities, meet locals who live off the land, and trek on foot through the Coast Range Mountains. The scenery will amaze you, and there’s the added bonus of being able to see it from the warmth and comfort of your living room, while you put your feet up with a nice, hot cuppa.

YOU can’t turn on the television nowadays without seeing an advertisement urging you to sue if you’ve had a “slip, trip or fall” in the past few years. It seems like we’re also becoming a nation besotted with “suing culture”

as more and more of us try to make a quick buck. Whatever happened to loving thy neighbour?

With that in mind, this Cutting Edge film Scams, Claims and Compensation Games explores Britain’s personal injury industry to see if the nation is going to the dogs, or if “no win, no fee” lawyers are finally giving people a chance to fight back.

Cameras follow real-life cases as they unfold, and the programme meets those working on both sides to reveal the real winners and losers of the compensation culture.