Mrs Brown’s Boys: Mammy's Gamble - the second of the Christmas specials - goes out tonight, 10.15pm BBC One. Callan Kicks the Year (10.55pm RTÉ One) reviews 2014 in colourful fashion, while Rubens: An Extra Large Story (8.00pm BBC 2) looks at the vast output of the Flemish artist, presented by Waldemar Januszczak.
Mrs Brown’s Boys: Mammy's Gamble
10.15pm BBC One
Already seen on RTÉ One on New Year’s Eve, but just in case you missed it with all that's going on, here you go. After a spate of burglaries in the local area, Agnes is determined to make sure she doesn't fall victim to the recent crime wave. Not only has she fitted a reinforced steel bolt to her back door, but she's asked Buster Brady to install a state-of-the-art alarm system. If only Buster didn't get all his gear off the back of a van.
Rubens: An Extra Large Story
8.00pm BBC 2
"If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model., “ Dawn French declares. “Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush." Waldemar Januszczak presents this new film on the great Flemish Baroque artist (1577-1640). Among the undisputed greats of art, only Picasso can rival Rubens in the number of works he produced, and the range of media he employed. He produced tapestries, domestic interiors, altarpieces, portraits, nudes, landscapes, mythologies, prints and book illustrations, and painted vast murals that adorned European palaces.
Our picture shows Rubens' The Three Graces at Museo del Prado, Madrid. “Rubens' women are seen as something unhealthy, lax and even disgusting, “ observes Januszczak. “It’s a viewpoint I try to challenge in my film. Who’s really unhealthy here? The modern world with its starvation diets and its liposuction? Or Rubens’ world with its motherly softnesses and its bigger bottoms?”
Callan Kicks the Year
10.55pm RTÉ One
The programme returns for its second Christmas special outing with Dobbo at the helm. Marty Morrissey's New Year Party looks back at all the GAA, rugby, golf and football moments, while Michael D reflects on his British State visit. Shane McGowan, Imelda May and Ireland's only actors The Gleesons, look back at the entertainment high points of the year.
