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The Late Late Show plus today's other TV highlights

Jason Donovan joins Ryan Tubridy on tonight's Late Late
Jason Donovan joins Ryan Tubridy on tonight's Late Late

Jason Donovan and Dermot Bannon are Late Late guests, Toyah get shocked on Coronation Street, and The Sound of Musicals comes to a close.

Pick of the day

The Late Late Show, 9.35pm, RTÉ One

Former Neighbours heartthrob Jason Donovan - who turns 50 next year - will join Ryan Tubridy to chat about achieving international fame on the soap, becoming a successful pop star and then a very happy father.

Also on tonight's show, Dermot Bannon will be explaining why he supported the recent occupation of Dublin's Apollo House, as well as the radical solutions he thinks are needed to fix the housing problem.

Other guests include veteran broadcaster Eamonn Holmes, his wife and This Morning co-presenter Ruth Langsford, Irish soprano Celine Byrne, and traveller couple Michael and Nell McDonagh.

Movie Choice of the day

The Bucket List, 9.30pm, RTÉ2

Here's a fun-if-treacly 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two disparate men brought together by a common cause: terminal illness.

Two 70-year-olds, blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Nicholson), meet for the first time in hospital after both have been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Cole is initially reluctant to share a room with Chambers, but they become friends as they undergo their respective treatments, and then go off together on a joint Bucket List adventure.

Soap Choice of the day

Coronation Street, 7.30pm, TV3

Plenty of fun and games ahead in Weatherfield as Toyah Battersby is horrified by Nick Tilsley's plans in tonight's Corrie.

Leanne tears a strip off Nick for his lack of sensitivity towards Liz. As Nick and Leanne continue to row, they're interrupted by the arrival of Toyah. Under pressure, Leanne admits to Toyah that the baby she's carrying isn't Nick's but is actually Steve McDonald's, leaving Toyah stunned.

Later, Nick offers Liz an awkward apology and Liz assures him that she doesn't want to cause any trouble for him and Leanne.

As Nick heads off, he spots Leanne chatting to Steve outside the café. Reaching a decision, Nick heads to the Bistro with drastic measures in mind. When Toyah interrupts him, she's horrified by what he's planning to do.

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Best On Demand/TV Catchup

Frequency, Netflix

This case-of-the-week drama lasted just one season on US channel CW, but it's worth investigating both because of and despite its daft premise.

Former Mad Men cast member Peyton List – she played Don Draper's stand-in secretary who became Roger Sterling's second wife – stars as modern day NYPD Detective Raimy Sullivan.

After lightning strikes the antenna of her late father Frank's old ham radio, she begins to communicate on it with a man, who turns out to be her dad Frank back in 1996.

Just like the lead characters in the late-1960s/early-1970s' UK show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) they quickly develop into a quirky crime-solving duo, where one partner is really a ghost.

Today's Guilty Pleasure

Sound Of Musicals with Neil Brand, 9.00pm, BBC Four

It's the third and final episode of this hugely informative and fascinating series about the development and  popularity of stage musicals.

This week, Neil Brand looks at the rise and rise of the all-conquering contemporary blockbuster, from Evita to Les Misérables and The Lion King. Such musicals run for decades and rake in hundreds of millions at the box office.

Brand also investigates how these mega-musicals have met with unexpected competition from quirky hits like The Rocky Horror Show and Avenue Q.

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