TELEVISION / Update

Channel 4, which has just had its most successful quarter since its launch - in terms of ratings at least - yesterday announced its spring schedules. Highlights include Comics, a two-part thriller about an American comedian who gets involved in a Soho killing, written by Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect); First Sex, a pilot women's magazine show; Viva Cabaret], a weird supper club at which the artists are linked by stars such as Tom Jones, Julian Clary and Sandra Bernhard; Golden Palace, the Golden Girls' spin- off; a three-part profile of the fashion designer Jean Muir; and The Long Summer, in which Alan Bennett considers Britain's inter-war cultural history.