Vinyl begins tonight, Sky Atlantic 9.00pm, the new Scorsese/Jagger-produced series which is set in the mercurial record industry scene in New York in 1973. Claire Byrne Live: Leaders Debate is at 9.35pm RTÉ One, while The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On can be seen at 9.00pm on BBC One.
Vinyl, 9.00pm, Sky Atlantic
The origins of HBO’s much-vaunted new drama series go back 20 years, when Mick Jagger first mentioned his idea for a film about the record industry to his pal Martin Scorsese. Now it comes to fruition, with Jagger as executive producer, along with co-producer Scorsese, and screenwriter and producer Terence Winter, who was writer and executive producer on The Sopranos. Bobby Cannavale plays record company boss Richie Finestra in New York in 1973 as former mobsters are cottoning on to a potential new racket in the music industry. Bands like the New York Dolls are beginning to take the city by storm, there is money to be made, but not necessarily legitimately. Things are not going so well for Finestra, as his label, American Century, seems as its about to go bankrupt. Will a new punk band be his means to salvation? Mick Jagger had envisioned a three-hour production spanning four decades, made for the cinema. Years on, his idea has finally been realised for television and it also stars his son.
Vinyl
VinylClaire Byrne Live: Leaders Debate, 9.35pm, RTÉ One
The first Leaders' Debate pitching the seven leaders of the main political parties against each other takes place in the Concert Hall at the University of Limerick. Those taking part include the following: Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny; Tánaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton; Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin; Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams; Richard Boyd Barrett of the Anti Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit group; Renua leader Lucinda Creighton; and Stephen Donnelly of the Social Democrats. There will be approximately six to eight questions, all addressed to the leaders in general, rather than to any one leader in particular. Questions will be chosen by a panel involving political academics Michael Marsh (Trinity College Dublin) and David Farrell (University College Dublin) and Claire Byrne Live Executive Producer Aoife Stokes.
Claire Byrne: steering the debate ship tonight
The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On, 9.00pm BBC One
Ten years since Stephen Fry’s The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive started a national conversation about mental health, The Not So Secret Life Of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On looks at the experiences of Fry and others with bipolar disorder. Alika's manic episode on the London Underground went viral on YouTube which certainly didn't help. Husband and father Scott is trying to hold down his job as a chef. His early attempts to control his bipolar disorder with medication caused terrible side-effects. Rachel's first manic episode at age 19 led to life-changing injuries when she believed she could fly, leaving her in a wheelchair. Academic high-achiever Cordelia featured in the original series. Now in her 30s, Cordelia's experience of bipolar eclipses even the cancer she is dying from.
Stephen Fry
