Ireland at its best and sweet soul music are our must-sees on TV tonight, Friday May 31.
In Good Hands, RTÉ One, 8:00pm
Hands, RTÉ's classic craft series of the 70s and 80s showcased the incredible talent in this country and is still a mesmerising and morale-boosting watch all these years later. Now, the husband-and-wife makers of Hands, David and Sally Shaw-Smith (pictured), have decided to go back to revisit six of the businesses and artisans who featured in the original series, to see how the skills and the secrets have been, well, handed down to a new generation. Episode One takes us to Donegal, where hand-weaving still survives, despite the power looms of big business.
Bloom, RTÉ One, 8:30pm
The weather gods have smiled on Dublin this bank holiday weekend (don't jinx it, keyboard warrior), so if you want a taster of just how great the city can be, or if a trip up to the Phoenix Park seems too much of a slog and you're more of an armchair horticulturalist anyway, join Keelin Shanley, Aine Lawlor and Ella McSweeney as they bring you the best from the seventh annual festival of gardening, family and food, Bloom. We'll hear from the designers of some of this year's 28 show gardens, take a wander around the stalls and, with over 25 cookery demonstrations, find out how one of the presenters gets on with a challenge from Neven Maguire. Bloom runs until Monday June 3 - well done to all for coming up, eh, smelling of roses. (Come on, it's Friday!)
Sweet Soul Music, BBC Four, from 9:00pm
BBC Four's themed music programming of a Friday night is the gift that keeps on giving, and tonight it's time to hear the story of the King of Soul, the late Otis Redding, who died in a plane crash at the age of 26 in December 1967. With home movie footage and family interviews, Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador is the first-ever TV documentary on the great man, and brings us from his childhood in Macon, Georgia to his seminal 1967 tour of Britain and posthumous worldwide success with (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay.
The film is followed at 10:00pm by Otis Redding and Friends: Stax Volt Review 1967, one of the best live shows you'll ever see, with the great man joined on the bill in Norway by Booker T and the MGs, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley and the Mar-Keys. Then it's back to London at 11:00pm for Classic Soul at the BBC, where Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Percy Sledge and Dusty Springfield turn up the heat in the studio before sending us to bed with a Ready Brek-style glow. Hmmm, reckon there's gone to be some record buying done tomorrow...
