Who knew virginity could be so funny? Or sexy? Set in 1959, the British comedy "Take a Girl Like You" on "Masterpiece Theatre" (8 p.m., Sunday, PBS, check local listings, concludes next Sunday) recalls the days before the sexual revolution when good girls defended their chastity and cads considered conquest as part of a "great game."
"Girl" stars Rupert Graves as Patrick Standish, a womanizing Latin teacher at a snooty private school in a dowdy little British village. Life for Patrick consists of one meaningless fling after another until he sees Jenny Bunn (Sienna Guillory).
AP Photo
Rupert Graves plays a womanizing Latin teacher in "Take a Girl Like You," which will be broadcast Sunday night on PBS.
She's a stunning, fashionable blond from the North, who is eager to embark on her career as a schoolteacher. Her arrival is noticed by all of the town's other would-be Don Juans, including her landlord, Dick (Robert Daws), who thinks nothing of pouncing on her right under the nose of his embittered wife Martha (Emma Chambers). There's also Patrick's pathetic, poetry-reciting friend McClintock (Ian Driver), and the dapper aristocrat Julian Ormerod (Hugh Bonneville). At one point, Jenny even attracts the Sapphic advances of her "liberated" French neighbor Anna Le Page (Kathy Kiera-Clarke).
While known for her obvious beauty, Jenny becomes famous for the vigilant defense of her honor. This drives Patrick into a frenzy and distracts him from the obvious fact that he is crazy about her. He diverts himself with a number of flings � with a married woman, a cold courtesan and a dangerous dalliance with the Dean's daughter. But all of these encounters only remind him of Jenny.
l In a rather odd programming quirk, viewers can spend Sunday � Mother's Day � watching three cautionary tales about female beauty.
Ten-year-old Ashley Rose Orr makes her TV debut in "Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story" on "The Wonderful World of Disney" (6 p.m., ABC). A veteran of the Broadway musical "Annie Get Your Gun," Orr captures much of the spunk and sparkle that made the pint-sized Temple the darling of Depression-era movie audiences. The movie is based on Temple's memoirs.
A much darker vision of child stars and stage parents emerges in the documentary "Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen" (9 p.m., HBO), part of their "America Undercover" series. It's easy to see why documentary filmmakers can't get enough of this peculiar subculture. There's something so honest and so grotesque about the women who dress up children � some as young as 6 months � as Las Vegas showgirls.
Finally, "Blonde" (8 p.m., CBS) recalls the short and unhappy life of Marilyn Monroe (Poppy Montgomery). Based on novelist Joyce Carol Oates' biography, "Blonde" explores Norma Jean Baker's relationship with her schizophrenic mother, early arranged marriage and her discovery and exploitation. Concludes Wednesday.
Saturday's highlights
� Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson star in the 1998 thriller "Sphere" (8 p.m., NBC).
� Sandra Bullock reprises her role in the 1997 sequel "Speed 2: Cruise Control" (8 p.m., ABC). She should have stayed on the bus.
� Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger star in the 2000 historical epic "The Patriot" (8 p.m., HBO).
Sunday's other highlights
� Lucy Liu guest stars on the season finale of "Futurama" (6 p.m., Fox).
� Scheduled on "60 Minutes" (6 p.m., CBS): Ed Bradley shares a 2000 interview with Timothy McVeigh with relatives of the victims of the Oklahoma City blast.
� News about Scully's unborn child emerge on the first of a two-part season finale on "The X-Files" (8 p.m., Fox).
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