CATCH UP WITH TV CLASSICS
Expand your mind with the most fabulous REAL-LIFE SHOWS on demand – the third in our five-part series
ALL this week in the Daily Mail, as tens of millions of people across the country stay indoors, the Mail’s TV critic Christopher Stevens and TV Editor Mike Mulvihill are helping you to navigate the vast back catalogue of catch-up TV — available through the RTE Player and Virgin Media Player, as well as streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Today it’s documentaries — sport, crime, science and many more.
DOCUMENTARY COLLECTIONS Cloch Le Carn RTE PLAYER
This long-running RTE series profiles proment people who have made a great contribution to Irish life. There are some remarkle figures in Ireland’s recent history profiled, from all walks of life. Politicians Tony Gregory, Seamus Brennan and Brian Lenihan are in the mix alongside puppetmaster Eugene Lambert and the much-loved broadcaster Bill O’Herlihy. Nine episodes
The Meaning of Life RTE PLAYER
The sad passing of Gay Byrne left a hole that will never be filled in Irish broadcasting but there’s still the chance to see this legend at his best as all 13 series of The Meaning of Life are available on the RTE Player. With each famous face, Gaybo asks some probing questions and really gets to the heart of the matter with some of our most famous faces. Wherelse would you find Colin Farrell and Andrea Corr (pictured) revealing their innermost thoughts and feelings. And of course, there’s that famous moment with Stephen Fry too, that caused quite the controversy. Interesting, intriguing and hours of great entertainment, you can binge watch or dip in and out. 78 episodes
The Americas With Simon Reeve DAILY MOTION
The boyish adventurer is far more interested in people and their cultures around the world than the scenery. He meets biker gangs and money launderers, and uncovers pollution and feuds. Reeve’s innocent manner leads him to ask questions that sometimes seem downright dangerous. But he never seems to annoy anyone enough to get into real harm and it’s interesting to see most treat him with kindness, regarldess of their own issues. 15 episodes
Our Planet NETFLIX
Everyone is familiar with Sir David’s greatest shows, such as Life On Earth and Blue Planet II. His earliest and most recent series are less well known but equally wonderful. In Attenborough’s Early Years, Zoo Quest takes him to Indonesia in the 1950s in search of the Komodo dragon, and to Madagascar long before the destruction of the rainforests. Adventure: Zambezi follows him across Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, when elephants roamed in huge herds. Sixty years later he makes an impassioned plea for the protection of the world’s remaining wild habitats in his latest offering, Our Planet which is a new arrival to Netflix. 22 episodes
Civilisation AMAZON PRIME
Kenneth Clark changed the nature of documentaries for ever with this erudite but down-to-earth history of Western art from the Ancient Greeks to Picasso. He didn’t lecture, he explained. Like a man able to assemble a jigsaw blindfolded, he showed exactly how each masterpiece and new idea connected to everything else — its influences and its legacy. When David Attenborough watched it, he was inspired to do the same by charting the history of evolution in Life On Earth. 13 episodes
Louis TherouxNETFLIX
The prince of the awkward question, Theroux never lets his subjects wriggle off the hook. Glib answers are met with a sad look, as though he’s disappointed beyond words — and the interviewees start jabbering, condemning themselves. It’s a magnificent technique, one he tests in more than 50 documentaries, talking to swingers, neo-Nazis, big-game hunters and religious obsessives. 52 episodes
Michael Palin AMAZON PRIME
With his movie career booming thanks to films such as A Fish Called Wanda, the former Python unintentionally launched a new TV genre when he agreed to copy Jules Verne’s heroes by travelling Around The World In Eighty Days without using planes. Join him in North Korea, Brazil, the U.S. and the Pacific Rim. Seven episodes, North Korea free on My5
New Lives In The Wild MY5