Satellite and Cable: Pick of the Day

NICOLE KIDMAN (right) caused quite a storm with her recent stage appearances in London and New York in The Blue Room. However, it is as a screen actress that she made her name. In The Portrait of a Lady (11.50pm Sky Premier), Jane Campion's follow-up to The Piano, she is well-cast as Isabel Archer. An independent- minded woman, she is lured into marriage by Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich at his most insinuating), who then reveals his true, cruel nature. This exquisite adaptation of the novel by Henry James puts a modern, feminist spin on the portrayal of a woman hemmed in by a patriarchal society.

The up-and-down career of Whoopi Goldberg - from the high of Ghost to the low of Jumpin' Jack Flash - is charted in today's Femmes Fatales (1pm Sky Moviemax).