John Byrne’s TV choices for the week ahead (Dates covered: Saturday Mar 14-Friday Mar 20)
Paddy's Day may dominate, but there's plenty to keep viewers glued to the goggle box over the coming days from both home and abroad.
Pick of the week
St Patrick's Day Festival, Tuesday, RTÉ One
On the day Ireland becomes the centre of attraction across the planet, St Patrick’s Festival Parade comes live on Tuesday from 12.15pm on RTÉ One. Presenters Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, Aidan Power and Des Cahill will be on the streets of Dublin, as the parade rolls through the capital.
Ireland’s leading pageant companies will bring their vibrant interpretations of Celebrate Now, the theme for the 2015 Festival Parade, to life with their spectacular pageantry and colourful performances. Plus, bands from the USA, Mexico, Germany as well as Ireland will deliver uplifting scores and inspiring rhythms. St Patrick’s Festival Highlights will be on at 7.00pm on RTÉ One and repeated at 11.20pm.
Here's Dustin the Turkey on Parades Gone By:
Star of the week
Hozier
Other Voices, Sunday, RTÉ2
The acclaimed music series returns for its thirteenth season and kicks off with a special on man of the moment, Hozier.
The Bray singer/songwriter came to prominence when he first played the Other Voices arts festival in Dingle in December 2013, and he also played the Other Voices stage at Electric Picnic in August 2014, and he subsequently found international success with an album now parked at the top of the US charts.
In this special, Hozier gives an in-depth interview revealing his musical influences and the significance of his first playing of the OV festival. Fans of both the show and Hozier will simply lap this one up.
Here's Hozier talking to TEN:
Starting this week
The Republic of Telly, Monday, RTÉ2
The IFTA award-winning comedy returns with Kevin McGahern and Bernard O’Shea once again ripping telly to shreds for viewers' entertainment.
With Jennifer Maguire heading off on maternity leave the lads have a new friend to play with every week. First up is Laura Whitmore. Also in the first show, Kevin McGahern and Bernard O’Shea are rogue TV Licence Inspectors - they’ll break the rules to make sure you’ve paid up. Laura Whitmore will star as the head of the SWAT team who works with the lads on their dawn raids.
And when Jennifer Maguire goes missing Whitmore turns crime sleuth in Gone Jen. When she appears as Jen in a reconstruction for Crime Call she begins to suspect Kevin and Bernard were involved.
Here's the Bridget & Eamon Foreign Student clip from last year:
Stargazing/Back to Earth, Wednesday, BBC Two
Super show, this, and great to see it back. Presented as usual by Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain, Stargazing Live will broadcast four programmes in the run up to and during the solar eclipse which takes place on Friday March 20.
The programmes will come from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Macclesfield, Cheshire, with a special episode transmitting during the eclipse itself, between 9am and 10am.
This special will feature a live remote OB from the Faroe Islands, one of only two sites in the world where a total eclipse will occur, lasting for nearly three minutes. Brian and Dara, along with special guests, will explain why the eclipse happens and also how best to see the event safely. Viewers will be able to enjoy the best vantage point by watching the programme during the event, as the team attempt to catch the total eclipse live on camera from a plane at 30,000 feet above the Faroe Islands.
The Stargazing Live specials will broadcast on BBC Two at 8pm on March 18 and 19, and at 9am and 9pm on the day of the eclipse, Friday March 20.
The Bridge, Thursday, TG4
As season two of the acclaimed Danish thriller begins a coastal tanker leaves the Öresund waterway and is headed straight for the Øresund Bridge. When the Coast Guard board the ship they discover there is no crew, and three Swedish and two Danish youths are chained below deck.
The Truth About Sugar, Thursday, BBC One
What’s so bad about a few sweet treats and what exactly does sugar do in the body that makes it such a problem? Journalist Fiona Phillips is determined to sort fact from fiction as she looks beyond the sensational headlines to uncover the truth.
Alan Carr Chatty Man, Friday, Channel 4
The legendary Morrissey joins Alan Carr for an exclusive chat and performance of his single Kiss Me a Lot live in the studio. Former soap star Michelle Keegan drops in to discuss her new drama, Ordinary Lies. Plus Elijah Wood talks about his role in the new children's animation Over the Garden Wall.
Back in Time for Dinner, Tuesday, BBC Two
In brand new six-part series, one British family embark on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure to discover how a post-war revolution in the food has transformed the way people live. Starting in 1950 and guided by real records of what ordinary families ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, they’ll go from meagre rations to ready meals and delivery pizza in just six weeks.
How to Cook Well with Rory O'Connell, Wednesday, RTÉ One
Rory O’Connell is probably Ireland’s most experienced cookery teacher as he's been at the gig for more than 30 years, having co-founded the Ballymaloe Cookery School with his sister, Darina Allen. In this brand new series, Rory introduces the timeless, classic and essential techniques every cook needs to cook well.
Ending this Week
Room to Improve, Sunday, RTÉ One
The move to Sundays has worked out well for Dermot Bannon's home improvement show, as it's being getting huge viewing figures. In this final programme, Pat Harrold and his wife Marita plan to renovate and extend the 1950s' three-bed bungalow where Pat grew up. It's a tiny, dark house currently occupied by Pat’s 93-year-old mother Mary. But with three generations of the family to accommodate, and each needing their own personal space, the bould Dermot Bannon has his work cut out.
Here's Dermot Bannon talking to TEN:
Flintoff: Lord of the Fries, Friday, Sky 1
Coming full circle, Freddie, Rob and their faithful green van head home to Lancashire - but not before a quick pitstop in Liverpool, mind, so that Rob can track down heroes Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, who are taking part in the Tour of Britain cycling race.
The Million Pound Drop, Friday, Channel 4
The Broadfoot family join Davina McCall to conclude their game – and there's a lot of cash in play, with just one question left to answer.
Drama of the week
Ordinary Lies, Tuesday, BBC One
Set in a car showroom, this new drama is about how a simple lie can spiral out of control.
Each episode focuses on one of the colleagues and friends of JS Motors. From party-loving receptionists, Tracy and Viv, to enigmatic salesman, ‘Paracetemol’ Pete, each new and individual story questions just how well we know the people we work with.
The first episode of the six-part series tells the story of family man and salesman, Marty McLean. Stuck in a rut both at home and at work, when Marty receives his final warning for being late from company boss, Mike, he knows the pressure is on.
However, when another heavy night of drinking leads to him sleeping through his alarm, Marty fears his number is up. Knowing he is on thin ice, Marty calls work and, in a panicked attempt to save his job, tells the drastic lie that his wife, Katrina, has tragically died.
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Comedy of the week
Raised by Wolves, Monday, Channel 4
This looks promising. A six-part series written by Caitlin and Caroline Moran, it’s a modern-day reimagining of the brilliant chaos of the Moran girls own childhood. Loads of kids, no money, home-schooled, and educating themselves on a bounty of books, films, TV and pop music.
In the first episode, family of six the Garrys are taken out into nature on the local common by their survivalist mother Della (Rebekah Staton) to forage for free food and ‘skill up’.
Eldest child Germaine (Helen Monks), in the grip of adolescent hormones, comes up with a psychologically unhealthy way to get closer to the boy of her very delusional dreams, local yob Lee (Kaine Zajaz). Younger sister Yoko (Molly Risker) reaches a female milestone in the bushes, prompting emergency intervention from Della and threatening Germaine's love scheme.
Meanwhile Della's father, Grampy (Philip Jackson), prepares for some afternoon delight with his overbearing wife.
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On Demand
The Legacy, Sky on Demand
The first season of this Danish drama became available from Thursday March 11, and it offers everything discerning fans of Scandi drama desire. It comes from the same crowd who brought us The Killing, The Bridge and Borgen. Say no more! It tells the claustrophobically intense tale of a family torn apart by a disputed inheritance. Sounds quite Irish, really.
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Documentary of the week
GAA USA, Wednesday, TG4
This new four-part series gives a new perspective on the Irish emigrant experience in America, where former All-Ireland-winning captain and Kerry legend Dara Ó Cinnéide travels across the US to GAA clubs in Boston, Chicago, New York, Milwaukee and San Diego.
He meets Irish people who have made a home for themselves in America who have maintained a love for gaelic games and respect for its past along with hope for its future. It is also a story of a people and their national games thousands of miles from home, a story of isolation, a sport of splits, infighting, bribes, backhanders, and gun-running.
In the opening programme, Ó Cinnéide investigates the earliest reporting of gaelic games in America and the devastating effect American professional sports, in particular baseball, would have on gaelic games among Irish immigrant communities all along the eastern US seaboard.
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Film of the Week
The Guard, Tuesday, RTÉ One
Great craic, this. Brendan Gleeson is in top form as cynical Garda sergeant Gerry Boyle based in Connemara. He investigates a murder, with evidence pointing towards an occult serial killer, and then FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) arrives on the scene to hunt down four Irish drug traffickers. Then the real fun begins...
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