Now in its fifth year, Midlands Arts Centre’s (MAC) Square Eyes TV Festival returns this month with a mouth-watering mix of archive rarities, classic series and recent favourites. As well as a stellar line-up of screenings and events at Birmingham’s much-loved MAC Cinema, look out for more televisual treats as Mockingbird Cinema and The Crossing at Digbeth partner up to join in the fun...

BRUM ON THE BOX WITH SAM NICORESTI
Four years in, and Brum On The Box host Chris Beanland still hasn’t run out of footage for his annual celebration of the good, the bad and the just plain rubbish of Birmingham’s televisual past.
Chris will be joined by stand-up comic Nathan Cassidy and this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Award winner, Sam Nicoresti - who just so happens to hail from the fair city of Birmingham! 
This unlikely trio will be introducing clips from across the decades, including a special section devoted to the late Prince of Darkness himself: Ozzy Osbourne.

Saturday 8 November, 7.30pm - Cinema, Midlands Arts Centre

AN AUDIENCE WITH PETER DAVISON
Square Eyes welcomes Peter to this year’s festival to talk about his stellar TV career, including his time as the fifth Doctor Who - not to mention appearances in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Miss Marple, Gentleman Jack, and many more...
The afternoon will feature an audience Q&A, before which there will be a screening of the Doctor Who adventure Black Orchid, from Peter’s first series as the Doctor. 
There will also be clips from BBC drama A Very Peculiar Practice, which was partly filmed at locations in the University of Birmingham in the late 1980s, including the Arts Building tower and the Vale.

Sunday 9 November, 3pm, with Q+A - Theatre, Midlands Arts Centre

THE BLUE DESCRIPTION PROJECT
On 19 September 1993, Derek Jarman screened Blue on Channel Four - an epoch-defining account of AIDS, illness and the experience of disability in a culture of repressive heteronormativity and compulsory able-bodiedness. Blue was screened in cinemas, simulcast on TV and radio, released as a CD and published as a book. 
Conceived by artists and writers Christopher Jones, Liza Sylvestre and Sarah Hayden, The Blue Description Project creates a new, experimental iteration of Blue. Access takes centre stage as the film offers creative captions and audio description edited into the main movie soundtrack.

Sunday 9 November, 2pm, with Q+A - Cinema, Midlands Arts Centre

IAIN LEE AND MACKENZIE CROOK
TV presenter and comedy mainstay Iain Lee joins forces with pal and TV legend Mackenzie Crook for a celebration of their work together - and also to mark Lee’s 25 years spent working in television.
Enjoy a classic episode from The 11 O’Clock Show, followed by an exclusive screening of an unseen comedy pilot starring both Iain and Mackenzie - one written and directed by Bob Mortimer. There’ll also be a live audience Q&A, hosted by Mark Cartwright, in which Iain and Mackenzie will be chatting about their work together.

Sunday 9 November, 3pm, with Q+A The Mockingbird Cinema

THE BEST OF CAR S.O.S
Now into its 13th series, Car S.O.S is a reality TV phenomenon which has steadily built a huge fanbase. It’s also a Midlands show through and through, both filmed in the region and headed up by Birmingham-born presenter Fuzz Townshend, who features in the show with fellow presenter Tim Shaw. 
Join Tim, Fuzz and guest host Tim Warwood as they look back on more than a decade of restoring cars. Clips of their favourite moments will be interspersed with the kind of cheeky banter that’s made Car S.O.S such a success. Screened in association with Royal Television Society Midlands.

Thursday 13 November, 7.30pm, with Q+A - Cinema, Midlands Arts Centre

A BIRMINGHAM GHOST STORY
While the BBC became known in the 1970s for its popular anthology series Ghost Stories For Christmas, Birmingham’s Pebble Mill had an anthology programme of its own: Centre Play. In 1975, the series featured Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Imp Of The Perverse.
Adapted for the screen by Andrew Davies, the production will here be screened alongside the 2005 BBC ghost story A View From A Hill. 
The process of book-to-TV adaptations will be discussed by host Jon Dear and screenwriter Peter Harness, the latter having brought the likes of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and The War Of The Worlds to the screen.

Sunday 16 November, 2.30pm, with Q+A - Cinema, Midlands Arts Centre

The full Square Eyes Festival programme can be found at macbirmingham.co.uk/square-eyes-tv-festival