TV HIGHLIGHTS
MONDAY
The Rose of Tralee International Festival, RTE1, 8pm This unique institution has survived huge changes in Irish life, and even an unmerciful lampooning on Father Ted. Tonight and tomorrow, the 57th incarnation comes live from the Festival Dome. For the seventh year in a row Dáithí Ó Sé will be presenting the hugely popular TV event, and will be interviewing the 32 Roses who have made the final. Last year, Meath Rose Elysha Brennan was crowned, but who will succeed her? Ripper Street, BBC2, 9pm The show that the BBC dumped, only to have it resurrected by online makers Amazon, returns with a prime time slot for season four. Reid (Matthew MacFayden) has been living by the sea, newly reunited with his daughter, having left the police and London’s Victorian East End slums behind. But he’s drawn back to the city when he learns that Bloom, an old friend, is to be hanged for the murder of a rabbi. His former colleague Drake (Jerome Flynn) is convinced he has the right man. Meanwhile, can Long Susan (Myanna Buring) avoid her fate at the end of a rope for her involvement in the fatal railway crash? Brief Encounters, UTV Ireland, 9pm The warm-hearted drama about the adventures of four women in depressed 1980’s England, who revolutionise their lives, and those of the ladies in their neighbourhood by selling them Ann Summers sex toys. A major lingerie event descends into crisis when a row puts Nita into labour, their male model vanishes, and a head office representative arrives.
TUESDAY
One of Us, BBC1, 9pm John Lynch, Juliet Stevenson and Adrian Edmondson are among the cast of this moral dilemma drama. Childhood sweethearts Adam and Grace are murdered shortly after their honeymoon. However, the killer is in a road accident, and, badly injured, finds himself in the company of two very angry families amid the brooding Scottish landscape. Do they call the police or do they get all medieval on him? While they’re deciding, all manner of revelations leave the families and the close community reeling. President Trump: Can He Really Win? C4, 9pm For many, the prospect of reality TV show host and multiple bankrupt Donald Trump as the next president of the United States is enough to have them waking up screaming in the middle of the night. Matt Frei previews the coming electoral fight between Republican Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Frei examines the candidate, already steeped in controversy, and his chances. He chats to both pro and anti-Trump republicans. In a year that has already seen the world shocked by the Brexit vote in the UK, could another major upset really be on the cards? The Walking Dead, RTE2, 11.10pm In a tense double bill climax before season six of the zombie apocalypse drama takes a hiatus, things go very badly for the human survivors in their secure hideout of Alexandria. Surrounded by the hungry dead, a decrepit clock tower collapses on the outer wall, and the hordes soon begin to get through the spot. Rick and the other survivors take shelter, but one of their number has been bitten.
WEDNESDAY
The Great British Bake Off, BBC1, 8pm There’s no reason why a lowbudget baking competition on
a niche channel became such a monster hit, spawning an Irish remake and loads of state-of-theworld pieces in the newspapers. Yet here are Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood back with 30 new challenges for the 12 amateur bakers. Each week, they face three tests. Cake week is up first, so they have a signature piece to produce, followed by the technical challenge, finishing off with a creation of their own imagination. One will be named star baker, the other will be eliminated. Mel and Sue present. As further proof that the show can change lives, the first episode is followed by the first of two parts of The Chronicles of Nadiya at 9pm, when last year’s winner Nadiya Hussain, born and bred in Britain, returns to her family’s Bangladesh home, to look at their food culture and how it’s influenced her. The Watchman, C4, 9pm Stephen Graham stars as fatherof-two Carl, who develops a somewhat inflated sense of his own importance while watching screens that are connected to CCTV cameras for a living. His growing anger with the police and their inaction over a bunch of drug dealers leads him to take matters into his own hands, but in a brutal night of violence, things begin to rapidly spiral out of control. BBC Proms 2016: Sao Paolo Symphony BBC4, 10pm The classical music concert series welcomes the Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra to London’s Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the Rio Olympics. Introduced by Clemency Burton-Hill and Clarke Peters, the programme includes Marlos Nobre’s Kabbalah, and pianist Gabriela Montero’s take on Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
ThUrSDAY
A Doctor’s Sword, RTE1 10.10pm Cork doctor Aidan MacCarthy had a more active World War Two than most. By 1941 he’d received the British military honour, the George Medal, was one of 35 PoWs from 1,000 to survive the bombing of a Japanese ship, and spent the last year as a slave. Having survived the atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki, he treated its living victims. Oh, and he also saved the commandant of his brutal prison camp from the angry PoWs. In return, he received an ancient ceremonial sword. Now, 20 years after his death, his family have decided to go to Japan to trace the country’s history, alongside the doctor’s incredible war record. Horizon: My Amazing Twin, BBC2, 9pm Adam Pearson, an actor who has starred opposite Scarlett Johansson, has neurofibromatosis, which makes benign tumours grow all over his body. His twin brother Neil also has the disease, though physically looks unremarkable, yet he is affected by short term memory loss and epilepsy. Adam’s manifestation of the disease may soon cause him to lose his sight. Determined that both of them may have a future, Adam tries to figure out why the disease affects each twin so differently, and if anything can be done to prevent it from progressing. The Circuit, C4, 10pm After Pulling and Catastrophe, the brilliant Sharon Horgan goes for a hat trick of hilarious if excruciating comedy classics. New neighbours Gabe (Adeel Akhtar) and Nat (Eva Birthistle) are invited to a dinner party, only to arrive and find the hosts in the middle of an argument. Things rapidly spiral downhill into resentment and violence.
FrIDAY
Celebrity Big Brother: Live Final, TV3, 9pm Emma Willis prepares to enter the house and to find out which of the contestants has survived the challenges, the backstabbing, and the tricks of the omnipotent Big Brother to be declared this year’s winner. It wouldn’t be the programme it is without the huge rows and scandal, after hot favourite and previous I’m a Celebrity... winner Christopher Biggins was hauled out of the house for controversial comments. But, as always, be prepared for surprises. The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice, BBC2, 9pm Yet again an inspired choice to present, comedian Jo Brand, who made her name with comedy routines about her love for cake, hosts the spin-off show of the Wednesday night sensation. Each week the menu includes a chat with celebrity fans of the show for starters, followed by a main course of drama and controversy. And for the final course, audience members show off their own attempts at baking. Highlands – Scotland’s Wild Heart BBC2, 9.30pm The final programme in the series which focuses on nature in the Scottish Highlands looks at steps being taken to alleviate the changes wrought by man on the mountain ecosystem, including protecting the island’s last wild feline, the Scottish Wildcat, and the monitoring of birds and sealife along the shores.
SATUrDAY
The X Factor, TV3, 8pm Here we are again for what may be the biggest reality show of them all. In case you’re just in from (very distant) lands, each year the idea is to find an unknown and propel them through a series of singing tests and tabloid trials. The winners, via the judges and public vote, receive a record contract, fame and fortune. This year, viewers might think they’ve switched their television on in the mid2000s as Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger all return to their judging roles. Dermot O’Leary is back as host. It’s followed at 9.30pm on TV3 by the return of behind-the-scenes gossipfest The Xtra Factor Live, with former contestant Rylan Clark-Neal co-presenting with Matt Edmondson as they follow auditions across the country, show unseen footage and look back on special moments. Pointless Celebrities, BBC1, 7.10pm This week’s edition of the genteel quiz show is a comedy special. Pauline ‘Mrs Doyle’ McLynn, comedian Hugh Dennis, The Sketch Show’s Charlie Higson and ’Allo ’Allo! pair Vicki Michelle and Richard Gibson (Yvette and Herr Flick) all feature. Alexander Armstrong presents, with co-host Richard Osman.