Sky Saves Me from a banal night
SAVE ME SKY ATLANTIC, TONIGHT, 9PM
IN WHAT is a rather banal evening of telly, the stand out is undoubtedly Sky Atlantic’s Save Me (tonight, 9pm) which features one of the finest casts to appear on the small screen in quite some time.
Lennie James – best known to most people as Morgan from The Walking Dead – wrote and stars in this gritty, but never gratuitous, drama.
James plays Nelson ‘Nelly’ Rowe, an ageing lad-about-town who seems to survive on a mix of mooching, charm and a belief that things will eventually work out.
When his daughter from a previous relationship with Claire – the always excellent and, indeed, constantly improving, Suranne Jones – goes missing on a surprise visit to see her wastrel dad, he is arrested and suspicion immediately falls not just on Nelly, but on the grim cast of supporting characters.
This has been hailed as the best home produced drama Sky has ever produced and it’s easy to see why...
Foodies are well catered for tonight, but then again, they usually are. In fact, it often seems that if we spent as much time in the kitchen cooking as we did in the sitting room watching other people cooking then we’d be a much healthier country.
First up is Neven’s Irish Food Trails (RTÉ One, 8.30pm), which sees the charming chef head off to ‘cutting-edge’ Country Crest farm in Rathmooney which prides itself on its biodiversity, green ethos and recycling.
That’s followed by The Restaurant (TV3, 8pm), which this week sees Ciara Kelly as the guest chef, while Marco Pierre White is joined at the judges’ table by Rachel Allen and Catherine Fulvio. Oh, to be a fly on that particular wall...
Tomorrow night is a much better prospect altogether and starts with Cloch Le Carn (RTÉ One, 7pm), a look back at the life and career of the great Jimmy Magee.
Few people can claim to be almost universally loved, and even fewer could make that claim after a 50-year career in broadcasting.
But though a mixture of his own genius and charm, and the fact that he seemed to know everything that was worth knowing and a lot more besides, Magee could make a genuine claim to be one of the most genuinely popular Irish people who ever lived.
Colleagues and his family reminisce about the great man ....
Homeland (RTÉ 2, Thursday, 10.10pm)has been captivating so far this season, as President Keane does her best to turn America into a police state, while loud-mouthed, paranoid conspiracy theorists do their best to foment revolution. Homeland can be hit and miss at the best of times, but so far, season seven has been enjoyably paranoid and panic strewn.