Channel Hopping

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE Sunday, 9.30pm, RTÉ One

DUBLIN troubadour Damien Dempsey is the focus of the opening episode of the genealogy show where archivists help famous people unearth any dark secrets in from their ancestors’ pasts. Damo maybe a bit too ‘salt o’ the earth’ for some but he is undoubtedly a talented musician who has carved out of a successful career for himself. Given his true Dub, ‘ah here, me oul’ flower, gerrup-theyard’ persona, it would be quite the ticket if he were revealed to actually be of bogger stock from, say, Ballygobackwards.

BLACK EARTH RISING Monday, 9pm, BBC1

PROMISING eight-part political drama written by Hugo Blick who was responsible for The Honourable Woman. Michaela Coel plays Kate Ashby a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who, after being adopted and brought to London, is intent on overcoming old traumas and becoming a legal investigator, like her mother. John Goodman (above with Coel) plays her mentor as they seek to unravel a mystery in Kate’s background.

VOGUE: IS MONOGAMY DEAD? Wednesday, 9.30pm, RTÉ2

THERE must be a reason why Vogue Williams turns up on our TV screens with such regularity. But I – and I suspect many others too – can’t fathom why. She just seems to pop up regularly like a genial, toothy, tanned meerkat fronting random documentaries like this one where she says ‘reallllly?’ a fair bit. Tonight, she is exploring monogamy, and, will meet, among others, a polyamorous couple and a private detective.

BIG BROTHER LIVE LAUNCH Friday 9pm, Virgin Media One

THE lines between Celebrity Big Brother and Big Brother are blurrier than a very blurry thing. If I were to mention that the last few ‘celebs’ in the Orwellian compound included fitness athlete Chelsea Rumbelows, pet whisperer Bryson St George, and oat milk entrepreneur Hans Gu, you’d likely be left scratching your head. Well, at least I hope you would be as I made them all up. Tonight some more civilian fresh meat toss themselves willingly into the Big Brother fiery furnace.