John Byrne’s TV choices for the week ahead (Dates covered: Saturday Apr 18-Friday Apr 24)
Téa Leoni stars in new drama Madam Secretary, Resurrection and Silicon Valley are back, while it's goodbye to Indian Summers and Ordinary Lies.
Pick of the week
Madam Secretary, Thursday, Sky Living
Téa Leoni stars as newly appointed secretary of state Elizabeth McCord in this new US drama. Pulled out of semi-retirement following her predecessor’s death, the former CIA analyst is forced to juggle her responsibility to her country and her family life after accepting a high profile and high-powered role in the White House.
Thrown in at the deep end and forced to deal with an international hostage crisis on day one, she quickly comes to blows with the president’s antagonistic chief of staff (Željko Ivanek - you mightn't know the name but will recognise the face) and learns that circumventing protocol comes with huge risks.
But office politics and an unsupportive West Wing are the least of her worries. As she questions whether she has made the right decision in taking the job and uprooting her husband (Tim Daly from Private Practice) and three children, she learns that the death of her predecessor may not have been an accident.
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Star of the week
Lena Dunham
Scandal, Thursday, Sky Living
Girls' creator and show lead Lena Dunham is also a massive Scandal fan, hence her guest star role in what's apparently a rather risqué instalment of the hit drama, starring Kerry Washington as Washington DC problem-solver and PR guru, Olivia Pope.
Abby enlists Olivia’s help when she discovers her current beau is one of the subjects of a soon-to-be-released book dishing the dirtiest of dirt on the sex lives of DC’s elite. As Huck and Quinn get to work on identifying who else features in the saucy tome from code names such as Sit-and-Spin and the Gulch, Liv squares off with the book's unashamedly sexually adventurous author, Sue (Dunham), who refuses to be intimidated.
Meanwhile, at the White House Elizabeth and Mellie look to be on course for a possible alliance when Lizzie-Bear offers to help the first lady achieve her own political ambitions. And as Olivia continues to recover from her recent ordeal, she takes a new step in, as the Americans put it, 'rediscovering herself'.
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Starting this week
The Goldbergs, Monday, E4
This US comedy has had mixed reviews since its launch in the USA in 2013. Former Entourage star Jeff Garlin and Wendi McLendon-Covey (Bridesmaids) feature as the parents of 11-year-old Adam Goldberg, who is documenting his family's life in 1980s suburbia. Very loud but deffo worth a look.
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Ninja Warrior, Saturday, UTV Ireland
Yep, yet another silly Saturday evening show featuring people doing stuff. Ben Shepherd presents as an assortment of Joe Soaps compete in an obstacle course challenge.
Hunters of the South Seas, Sunday, BBC Two
Will Millard, a fluent Indonesian speaker, makes his debut on BBC Two with this run of documentaries set in The Coral Triangle, known as the Amazon of the Seas. In this three-part series, he lives with some of the Coral Triangle’s most intriguing communities to explore their lives and customs.
Life Stories: Dáil on the Dole, Monday, TV3
Four TDs spend time with constituents who are surviving on social welfare. First up, Catherine Byrne of Fine Gael meets Laura Spencer, a single mother-of-two living in an inner-city flat in Dublin.
The Last Leg, Thursday, Channel 4
The topical comedy show resurfaces in the face of the upcoming UK elections as Josh Widdicombe, Alex Brooker and Adam Hills look for a comedic take on the campaign week's events.
Jane the Virgin, Wednesday, E4
This is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen, so fans of Ugly Betty and/or Devious Maids may like this comedy-drama about Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez), a driven young woman who is studying to become a teacher, nursing a dream to be a writer, and supporting herself with a job at a hot new Miami hotel.
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Super Garden, Tuesday, RTÉ One
Grace McCullen takes over the Coyle Family’s back garden in Bettystown, county Meath, to create a space their children can enjoy - and an area where mam, dad and Eddie can entertain friends and family.
W1A, Thursday, BBC Two
One year on in this comedy about the BBC and Head of Values Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) has finally got his own office, while he and the team have a new set of challenges to face.
Kevin Dundon: Back to Basics, Friday, UTV Ireland
Cooking made easy, beginning with Kevin Dundon looking at the importance of eggs.
Ending this Week
Indian Summers, Sunday, Channel 4
It's the end of the summer season and Ramu Sood's fate is left in Ralph's hands. Now he knows the truth behind the murder, will he let an innocent man hang? A vote takes place at the club to lift the colour bar. Alice and Aafrin prepare to go public with their relationship, but will the news be as welcomed as they think?
Here's a Q&A with the cast and crew:
Ordinary Lies, Tuesday, BBC One
The final episode of the six-part series looks closer at the story of JS motors’ Head of Admin Beth Corbin. Sixteen months have passed since her husband Dave disappeared, but just as she feels ready to move on and make serious plans for the future with company boss Mike, she is rocked by unexpected news.
Suits, Friday, RTÉ2
Harvey and Mike clash with a tenacious US attorney in the Season 3 finale. Elsewhere, Scottie and Harvey struggle to reach a compromise, and Mike and Rachel have different ideas about the future.
Have I Got News For You, Friday, BBC One
Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was pencilled-in to host this final programme in the current run of HIGNFY, but dropped out. Other than that, there's not much to say.
Raised by Wolves, Monday, Channel 4
In the final episode of Caitlin and Caroline Moran's comedy, Germaine is jubilant to hear Cathy and Lee have broken up, and drags a reluctant Aretha and Yoko to a nightclub in a last attempt to win Lee's heart.
Drama of the week
Resurrection, Tuesday, RTÉ2
While it has a similar theme to Les Revenants (The Returned) in that a town witnesses the inexplicable return to life of dead citizens, Resurrection is a completely different kind of show, created with a more mainstream audience in mind, and lacking the French show's gloom and darkness. But it's still worth a watch.
As season two opens, Bellamy (played by former House star Omar Epps) faces a shocking turn of events and the town welcomes another returned. He wakes alone and abandoned at Arcadia’s outskirts, missing a week of his life. As his memory returns, he has a shocking revelation. Meanwhile, Arcadia welcomes one more returned, Margaret Langston (guest star, Game of Thrones' Michelle Fairley), the powerful matriarch of the Langston family, who has been dead for over three decades.
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Comedy of the week
Silicon Valley, Monday, Sky Atlantic
Mike Judge’s Emmy-nominated and hugely enjoyable comedy, set in the high-tech world of Silicon Valley, returns for a second run. Having taken the tech world by storm with their music app Pied Piper, Richard, Erlich, Jared, Gilfoyle and Dinesh look ahead to a bright and profitable future, and are aggressively courted by every venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. But legal woes and petty revenge plans from the CEO of internet giant Hooli, Gavin Belson, and his competing platform, Nucleus, threaten to derail their plans.
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On Demand
Veep, Sky Atlantic, from Thursday
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a comic genius. After nailing it as Elaine Bennis in the peerless Seinfeld, she's managed an equally impressive turn in Veep as US Vice President Selina Meyer. And here you can go back and watch Armando Iannucci’s Emmy Award-winning comedy from the start.
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Documentary of the week
Gallipoli – Ireland's Forgotten Heroes, Tuesday, RTÉ One
In this story of bravery, tragic loss and forgotten history, RTÉ's Political Correspondent David Davin-Power returns to the rural Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli where his own grandfather fought and which claimed the lives of some 3,000 Irishmen. With the help of historians and relatives of soldiers, he tells the story of this brutal WWI battle and disastrous campaign from an Irish perspective.
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Film of the Week
Withnail & I, Friday, Channel 4
Full of great performances, memorable lines and laugh-out-loud moments, this black comedy was written and directed by Bruce Robinson, and based on his life in London in the late 1960s. The plot follows two unemployed young actors, played by Richard E Grant and Paul McGann, who live in squalor while waiting for their careers to take off. Needing a holiday, they head to a country cottage in the Lake District belonging to Withnail's lecherous gay uncle Monty (the late Richard Griffiths). Then the real fun begins.
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