Satellite and Cable: Pick of the Day

DIRECTORS RARELY make the same film twice, but LA Takedown (10pm FilmFour), a made-for-TV drama by Michael Mann (Miami Vice, The Last of the Mohicans), proved to be the template for his later release, Heat. Surprisingly, many critics judged the earlier work to be superior. Michael Rooker and Scott Plank take the roles later to be filled by Robert De Niro and Al Pacino of a dedicated cop who finds himself obsessed by the work of a master criminal.

Tom Cruise (right), occupied for the past two years by the filming of Stanley Kubrick's ultra-secretive Eyes Wide Shut, has not released a movie for some time. For all that, such films as Jerry Maguire and Mission: Impossible, ensures his status as Hollywood's top star. His work is examined in today's Action Heroes (2.15pm Sky Moviemax).