Under the Sun - Season 9

First aired: 1/7/1998 6 episodes

Episodes

1. What Sort of Gentleman Are You After?

Aired: 1/7/1998

Melbourne's most successful, legal, heterosexual prostitute is a pleasant-looking 32-year-old man with more than 1,200 female clients who each pay him 90GBP for an hour of sex. He also adores his wife and four children, but found that his furniture-making business could not support them. The man, his wife, and his clients are all interviewed.

2. Prom Daze USA

Aired: 1/14/1998

For American teenagers, the prom night is the most important of their lives so far. But this documentary, which follows New York teenagers Nana, Danielle, and Michelle in the weeks leading up to the prom, shows how many of the expectations and traditions of this expensive rite of passage can cause their own problems.

3. Gun for Sale

Aired: 1/21/1998

Two brothers are at loggerheads with each other. One is a warrior-commander who worries that his tribe's new attachment to guns will bring death and destruction. The other is a young blood determined to trade his cattle for the gun that he believes will bring him wealth and status.

4. Shinjuku Boys

Aired: 1/28/1998

Gaish is an elegant Japanese playboy with lots of girlfriends who meet him at the Club Marilyn in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. Gaish is a so-called "onnabe", one of a group of cross-dressing ladies who provide comfort for lonely women. The female clients know that onnabes are not supposed to enter into serious relationships, but that doesn't stop onnabes trying.

5. The Forgotten Island

Aired: 2/4/1998

Tristan Da Cunha, Britain's smallest colony is 2,000 miles from the nearest land mass, and is forgotten by the outside world. Elaine left the island as a teenager but now she returns and provides an emotional and humorous insight into a community where almost everyone is a relative.

6. Painted Babies: Update

Aired: 2/11/1998

This documentary following the children's beauty-pageant circuit in the American South has been updated since first airing in 1996. Five-year-olds Asia and Brooke, rivals in the race to be crowned Supreme Queen at Atlanta's Southern Charm pageant, are just part of a lucrative business where children aged from four months to 17 years can win cash, cars, and holidays. The film updates the stories of Brooke and Asia to see how they have coped with this existence. (season end)