John Byrne's essential telly for the coming week includes the groundbreaking Channel 4 reality show Eden, the Billions finale, and the return of Zoo, Devious Maids and Friday Night Dinner.
Dates covered: Saturday July 16-Friday July 22
Sunday
The Secret Agent, BBC One
Here's the latest adaptation of Joseph Conrad's tale of intrigue, anarchy and espionage, which has been a best-seller since its release in 1907.
Set in London in 1886, Verloc (Toby Jones - a man with a guilty face if ever there was one) runs a seedy shop in the heart of London’s Soho area. Unknown to his loyal wife Winnie (Vicky McClure), Verloc is paid by the Russian embassy to spy on a dangerous anarchist cell.
Things get further complicated for him when the Russians tell him to orchestrate a bombing that can be blamed on the anarchists and provoke a political crackdown by the British.
Zoo, Sky 1
More bookish adventure here - this time, of the sci-fi kind - as the 2015 thriller based on the best-selling James Patterson novel of the same name returns for a second season.
With the violent shift in animal behaviour now a global epidemic (you'd almost think they were human), the team has one remaining hope of stopping the chaos from going any further: a leopard may be the key to stopping the creature crisis.
Francis Brennan's Grand India Tour, RTÉ One
Travel nut Francis Brennan returns to lead 12 paying tourists on the surprise trip of a lifetime. In the opener his guests assemble at Dublin Airport and their mystery destination is revealed to be India. The news goes down well with some, while others are less impressed.
Francis has organised an intense ten-day journey to the heart of India, a land of great beauty and extraordinary contrasts. They’ll soon be seeing New Delhi, the 'Pink City' of Jaipur and the breathtaking Taj Mahal. But how will Francis and his guests cope with the stifling heat, spicy food, extreme smells and intense poverty?
Monday
Eden, Channel 4
This latest reality shows promises to really push the boundaries and should really be worth watching, unlike most shows in this tired format.
Over the course of the coming year, a group of 23 men and women attempt to start a new society from scratch. Fed up with consumerism, social media and disillusioned with 21st century life, they set out to build their very own Eden in the Scottish Highlands, to see what happens when we start again.
Very Channel 4, this.
Tuesday
The Search, RTÉ One
Here's a documentary tracing the stories of Colin Brennan and Gerry Moran, just two of the approximate estimated 170,000 former residents of the much-maligned Irish Industrial Schools.
Forty years ago, these two Irish men from mixed race backgrounds left the State’s Institutional care and in the decades that followed they’ve tried to piece together their respective pasts.
Now in their late 50’s, both men are still joining their familial dots. The Search is their story of tracing lost mothers and family.
Thursday
Don't Tell the Bride, Sky 1
Expect dodgy stag dos, dress dramas and bolshie bridesmaids as Don’t Tell the Bride arrives on Sky 1 after ten seasons on BBC Three and a single run on BBC One.
From picking the venue and the cake to the wedding dress and the entertainment, the groom is given just three weeks, £14,000 and the help of his best men to choose every detail of his wedding from start to finish.
First up are Adam and Bianca - a couple who met on a popular dating app.
Billions, Sky Atlantic
This stylish and superbly-casted drama from US cablers Showtime hasn't so far been quite as compelling as it could have been, but it's still pretty engrossing TV.
This week's double-bill finale promises to be a game-changer in the war between corrupt billionaire businessman Bobby 'Axe' Axelrod and ruthless Paul Giamatti as Charles 'Chuck' Rhoades Jr, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Devious Maids, TLC
Co-exec producer and former Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria is a special guest - and plays herself - in this season four opener as the repercussions from the explosion at the end of season three take shape. Her best quote? "You're the meanest person I've ever met . . . and I worked on Desperate Housewives."
Marisol (Ana Ortiz) finds herself acting as a support system to Evelyn (Rebecca Wisocky) in the wake of a big life change. Meanwhile, Rosie (Dania Ramirez) loses her normally positive and sunny disposition thanks to her new boss.
Fluffy and fun, as ever.
Friday
RDS Dublin Horse Show, RTÉ One/RTÉ2
This is the week when rural Ireland's various versions of D4 descend on the posh end of the capital for a few days of dressed-up horsey business.
Tracy Piggott presents the first of three days’ live coverage from the RDS Dublin Horseshow including the highlight of the week, the Nations Cup. Brendan McArdle reports with Robert Hall and Tom Freyne on commentary.
Friday Night Dinner, Channel 4
This award-winning but frankly awful comedy - a waste of a great cast - returns for a fourth season with brothers Adam (Simon Bird) and Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) who return to Mum and Dad's house (Tamsin Greig and Paul Ritter) for a Friday night dinner accompanied by massive side-orders of wind-ups and bickering.
In episode one, Dad accidentally invites someone he used to hate around for dinner. It could well be someone from a 1970s' sitcom.
