TV HIGHLIGHTS
MONDAY Classic Joe Dolan, RTE1, 9.35pm
Documentary capturing how the RTE Concert Orchestra worked with archive recordings of the late singer’s vocals to release a new album. Filmed over the summer, it features archive footage of the muchmissed entertainer and includes interviews with comedian Al Porter, DJ Larry Gogan and singers Nathan Carter and Albert Hammond.
Paul Williams: State of Fear TV3, 10pm
The war against crime appears to be always with us, and here the journalist and broadcaster takes a look at the issue, comparing 2016 with 1996, a year when two crimes took place within the space of three weeks that continue to cast a long shadow over the country: the murders of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe and the journalist Veronica Guerin. Two decades later, gardai are still being murdered by criminal gangs, journalists are being threatened and gangsters kill with seemingly no fear of the law. Part two is tomorrow.
Republic of Telly, RTE2, 10pm
The team wrap up the latest series with Kevin McGahern’s ripping reviews of the best and the worst of the box. Elsewhere, model-turned-presenter Vogue Williams approaches some unsuspecting members of the public, while Karl Spain looks at the news and the Republic Receptionists give us the latest on what’s really going on behind the scenes at ‘Telefis Eireann’.
The Rubberbandits’ Guide to Everything, RTE2, 10.30pm
We’ve been in their universe for the last three weeks, and now the Rubberbandits provide their take on the nature of reality – or as much reality as we can expect from two boys with plastic bags on their heads. Tonight Mr Chrome and Blindboy Boatclub look at the nature of reality, told through their usual combination of reconstructions and experiments – and some very, very funny jokes.
TUESDAY Vogue Williams: On the Edge, RTE2, 9.30pm
The host investigates our drugs laws, their effects as a whole on the nation, and asks if they do more harm than good. Seven years after a blanket ban on psychoactive substances, Ireland’s consumption of synthetic drugs is currently three times the European average, leading to a rise in hospital admissions and deaths due to the use of the substances. Vogue Williams meets addicts from varying backgrounds, ranging from those living on the street to middleclass recreational users, before travelling to Switzerland to see how a more liberal approach deals with the controversial issue.
Storyville: The Cult That Stole Children – Inside the Family, BBC4, 9pm
Searing investigation into the activities of Anne Hamilton-Byrne, the beautiful and delusional head of The Family, an apocalyptic sect in Melbourne in the 1960s and 1970s. Acquiring many children, she dressed them all identically and allegedly beat, starved and injected them with LSD, before the children were rescued by police in the 1980s.
Rillington Place, BBC1, 10pm
The Beeb rolls out what sounds like an unmissable dramatisation of one of the most chilling episodes of 20th century Britain. Tim Roth and Samantha Morton play estranged couple John and Ethel Christie. Told from Ethel’s perspective, the pair reunite after nine years apart, and they move into a flat at 10 Rillington Place in London. However, the Second World War breaks out and the cracks in their relationship begin to fracture even further. Then Christie moves out of the flat, and several bodies are found. But what has happened to Ethel?
What in the World? RTE1, 11.25pm
The new series of the programme that examines international stories that may have flown under the radar somewhat finds presenter Peadar King in Afghanistan, where he talks to the utterly remarkable Malalai Joya. She was aged four when the Soviet Union invaded in 1979, heralding what became decades of strife. A refugee, she returned to her homeland as a teenager. In 2003 she was elected to an optimistic Afghanistan parliament, but her bravery and outspoken nature saw her expelled. Today she lives in hiding, in fear of her life, yet contemplating a run for the country’s presidency in 2019.
WEDNESDAY The Late Late Toy Show Unwrapped, RTE1, 7pm
The first of a three-part documentary, which concludes on Friday, going behind the scenes of last year’s Beauty and the Beast-themed edition of the Late Late Toy Show, the country’s biggest TV show of the year. It features interviews with the elves who put the show together, and also talks to the children who auditioned to take part.
The Missing, BBC1, 9pm
If the last series of The Fall fell flat, then this thriller has been the perfect pick-me-up. Both timelines of the second series of this drama should be resolved tonight, with the events leading to Alice’s return to Eckhausen being revealed, while in 2016 Sam, Gemma and Julien team up to search for Alice and Sophie’s kidnapper in the treacherous mountains of Switzerland.
Finding Banni: Reality Bites RTE2, 9.30pm
One of the thousands of children who were affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Banni was flown to live with the Flynn family in Ireland intially for a week. He stayed a year, and approaches were made to adopt him. Despite all of the paperwork going through, the adoption fell through at the last minute, and the boy was returned to Belarus. Banni would now be about 21. Here cameras follow one of the adoptive family, Colm Flynn, now a TV journalist, as he flies to Belarus to discover what happened to Banni, and to try to meet up with him again.
THURSDAY Don’t Tell the Bride, RTE2, 9.35pm
The seventh Irish series of the show which takes one of the most important days of a woman’s life – her wedding day – and puts it in the hands of a fiance who may have substantially different tastes to her, begins with Polishborn Paulina. She’s a girly girl while Brazilian Eduardo likes his adrenaline sports and is determined to bring a flavour of his native country to the wedding. There’s just one problem: Paulina thinks Brazilian culture ‘tacky’.
House of Lies, Sky Atlantic, 10pm
The classy comedy-drama tracing the rise and fall and rise of a management consultant bows out forever with a history-making double bill. Marty (Don Cheadle) hopes to get back in position for a potential buyout, but he’s floored by what he discovers following computer difficulties. Plus, in the final episode, the Pod goes to Havana, Cuba, the first American television show to do so since both countries restored diplomatic relations.
The Works Presents, RTE One, 11.15pm
In the final episode of the series, John meets with television personality and writer Clive Owen. Born in Australia, Owen moved to England in 1962 where he went on to study at Cambridge University. He was able to combine his intellect with his love for television when The Observer hired him to write a regular newspaper column. His witty take on the news of the day helped turn him into a star. A television career soon beckoned. John looks at what makes Clive such an important figure in popular culture.
FRIDAY Alan Carr’s Happy Hour, Channel 4, 8pm
The comedian and chat show host throws open the doors of his own club night in a new series featuring celebrity guests, comedy, variety acts and the best music. Filmed at a genuine social club in front of a specially invited audience, expect the bespectacled comic’s usual mix of saucy charm and wit.
The Late Late Toy Show, RTE1, 9.35pm
Ryan Tubridy returns for his eighth time presenting one of the most high-pressured gigs in Irish television, revealing which toys are the most wanted in the playgrounds of the nation, bringing in some of the little mites to test out some of the toys Santa might be packing. Kept under the tightest of wrapping until the night are both the show’s theme and the always-speculated Christmas jumper the presenter will be wearing.
Promises & Lies: The Story of UB40, BBC4, 10pm
They sold 70 million albums and recorded songs that became the most unlikely of hits all over the globe. So how did UB40 end up bankrupt and penniless? Newly filmed no-holds-barred interviews with the original band members paint a rather sad story about a divided family, and a group that now continues to tour as two separate entities — both using the same name.
SATURDAY The People of the Year Awards, RTE1, 9.50pm
Live from the RTE Studios, Grainne Seoige and Aidan Power present this annual celebration of some of the people who have made a huge difference to Irish life over the past 12 months. The roll call of previous winners includes the likes of former President Mary Robinson, golfer Rory McIlroy, broadcasters Terry Wogan and Gerry Ryan, and poet Seamus Heaney. It promises to be an emotional night.
The X Factor, TV3, 8pm
It’s the semi-final tonight, which means that the battle for the Christmas number one, dominated for more than a decade by the winning act, is moving into view. Who is likely to fall at this weekend’s hurdle and miss out on being one of the three acts singing for their future during next week’s final?