Grit, gripes and a great movie are our TV picks for Friday night.
Operation Transformation: 7 Years and Counting
6:30pm, RTÉ One
How time flies. Ahead of the start of the new series here's a chance to relive the highs, the lows and the talkings-to from 2008-2014. We'll catch up with past leaders and find out how they've been getting on since their time in front of the camera, and we'll also hear from the experts tasked with keeping them on the right track. Many of us are healthier because of this show so keep up the good habits or start afresh when the series returns on Wednesday January 7 on RTÉ One at 8:30pm.
Room 101
8:30pm, BBC One
Ah yes, Frank Skinner. The man with one of the funniest and most poignant autobiographies in celeb history returns in a new series of pet hate probing. His guests in the first show are Strictly Come Dancing head judge Len Goodman, impressionist Ronni Ancona and comic Tim Vine. Laughs guaranteed.
The French Connection II
3:50am, RTÉ One
If your epic Christmas viewings are almost at an end, then you're going out in style here with one of the best sequels ever made. While the original Oscar-winning film was based on fact, this follow-up is a case of what if? Gene Hackman excels once again as boorish but brilliant New York cop Popeye Doyle whose obsession with taking down drugs kingpin Charnier (Fernando Rey) brings him to the Frenchman's home turf of Marseille. As expected, Doyle rubs his Gallic counterparts up the wrong way and gets in way over his head when he doesn't heed their advice. What follows is gripping cinema, with one of the best endings in thriller history.
