CATTCCH H -UPUTPVN—OIWN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Ireland’s Deep Atlantic

RTE Player, until May 23, episodes 1&2 This is the kind of programme we are more used to seeing on other channels, maybe voiced over by David Attenborough and filmed in the waters around, say South Africa or South America. Who knew that the same kind of beauty and wonder could be found so close to home?

In this two-part series, which was two years in the making, underwater filmmaker Ken O’Sullivan heads out from his home in Co Clare, in an eight-metre rib that doesn’t look remotely up to the job of tackling the wind and the waves of the Atlantic. He discovers a magical world of whales, sharks, jellyfish and sea life of every kind. O’Sullivan, who explains that he is from a family of fishermen going back generations, none of who could swim, is a learned and engaging guide, and is as passionate about conservation as he is about documenting the wonders he finds. “You can’t go out to the sea and not highlight conservation – it’s like going to the Amazon and showing beautiful trees and wildlife and the river and somehow forgetting to mention their habitat is completely decimated. Sometimes... you decide to tell the story because it’s the only way to get it out there. This is our opportunity to show people the life that’s there.” Marple TV3 Player, until June 4 Geraldine McEwan (left) as the sharpeyed, gently-mannered, impeccably moral Miss Marple is the constant here, with each episode bringing the kind of all-star cast that sometimes suggests a summer holiday of sorts for famous actors.

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