Here are some tips on what's worth watching on the box between Friday and Sunday . . .
Pick of the weekend
Wingman, 9.30pm Sunday, RTÉ One
New series in which Baz Ashmawy meets a person with something missing from their life: it might be an unfulfilled ambition, a personal dream, a love lost, a hope that’s never been encouraged.
In episode one he meets quirky dairy farmer Jimmy Byrne from Togher in Louth who wants to put on a play, but none of his neighbours or friends can take his aim seriously.
Baz arrives to help Jimmy figure out how he can prove people wrong and live out his dream, playing the role of wingman – Jimmy's self-appointed cheerleader and facilitator.
New or Returning Shows
The Looming Tower, 9.30pm Friday, BBC Two
Based on Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book, The Looming Tower tells the story of the rising threat of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the late 1990s, and how the rivalry between the FBI and CIA during that time may have inadvertently set the path for the tragedy of 9/11.
This is a pretty good drama starring Jeff Daniels as FBI man booted John O’Neill that was recently shown on RTÉ2. If you missed it there, here's your chance . . .
Sex Tape, 10.00pm Friday, Channel 4
Three couples with relationship problems take part in a bold new social experiment, filming their most intimate moments for one week, before sharing their 'sex tapes' with the other couples as well as relationship therapist Anjula Mutanda.
In this first episode, Brian and Victoria, Aaron and Lebo, and Lindsay and Enlli are the couples hoping to re-energise their sex lives.
Rick and Morty, 10.55pm Friday, E4
This second season of the misadventures of drunken scientist Rick and his easily influenced grandson Morty is where this initially superb animated sci-fi show first lost its mojo.
After a delay of six months, Rick unfreezes time hoping that everything will return to normal, but he warns Morty and Summer not to touch Jerry and Beth in case unstable timelines cause parallel dimensions to develop.
It's still fun, but not nearly as inventive or deranged as the first season.
Word is Bond, 10.00pm Friday, Sky Arts & NOW TV
Documentary-maker Sacha Jenkins examines the transformative power of lyrics in the world of hip-hop music.
What was born on the streets of the South Bronx has now taken root globally, and the young poets of New York have helped to spawn regional dialects everywhere.
Through dynamic archival footage, in-depth interviews and verité excursions with artists like Nas, Tech9, J Cole, and Rapsody and Anderson, Jenkins explores the many dimensions that hip hop poetics occupy.
John Lee Hooker: the Boogie Man, 9.00pm Friday, BBC Four
John Lee Hooker was one of the greatest bluesmen of the 20th century. Born into poverty and racial segregation, he lived through a monumental time in American history.
This is the story of a cultural icon, and his far-reaching impact on popular music, told in his own words and those of his family and closest collaborators.
Jamestown, 9.00pm Friday, Sky One
We’re going back to the birth of a nation as Jamestown returns for its third and final season.
With trade booming and the tobacco farms established, the settlers’ pioneering aspiration soon clashes with reality as they begin to strive for more than new lives – now they crave control and power.
After the burning of her plantation Jocelyn regains her thirst for advancement. Banished Silas is devoted to his new life with the Pamunkey, forcing Alice to make a devastating decision. Yeardley brutally proves that disloyalty will not be tolerated.
Inside Jaguar: a Supercar Reborn, 8.00pm Saturday, Channel 4
Historic car enthusiast Mark Evans goes behind the scenes at Jaguar's state-of-the-art Classic Works, to witness the complete resurrection, from scratch, of the first of its legendary lost supercars.
The XKSS is an automotive icon: a road-going conversion of the race car that dominated at Le Mans in the 1950s. Only 16 were ever built and Steve McQueen owned one of them.
Today they are among the most sought-after cars in the world, worth around £15 million apiece. Jaguar has never built an XKSS from scratch before. Until now.
The Adulterer, 11.00pm Sunday, Channel 4
Walter Presents continues with this powerful psychological thriller from Holland telling a provocative and compelling tale of sex, love, loyalty and treachery.
A chance meeting between photographer Iris Hoegaarde and top lawyer Willem Steenhouwer leads to an instant and undeniable attraction. Unfortunately, they are both married.
As they struggle with their feelings for one another, they find themselves and their families entangled in a web of corruption, lies and murder.
New to Download
The Equalizer 2, Sky Cinema Premiere & NOW TV
Denzel Washington returns to one of his signature roles in the first sequel of his long and successful career.
If you have a problem and there is nowhere else to turn, the mysterious and elusive Robert McCall will deliver the vigilante justice you seek. This time, however, McCall’s past cuts especially close to home when thugs kill his best friend and former colleague.
Now out for revenge, McCall must take on a crew of highly trained assassins who’ll stop at nothing to destroy him.
Chambers, from Friday, Netflix
Taking place in a mystic, New Age pocket of Arizona, this is a psychological horror story starring Uma Thurman that explores the different ways we metabolize trauma.
But what starts out as a grounded human story eventually pivots into something far more strange and more messed up than anyone could expect.
Yankee, from Friday, Netflix
This is the story of Edgar Valdez, a young man from Texas who, instead of heading off to University with his friends, decided to cross the Rio Grande to become one of the most bloodthirsty assassins in the history of Mexican drug trafficking.
Ending this weekend
All Round to Mrs Brown's, 9.10pm Saturday, RTÉ One & BBC One
The last episode in this run sees Agnes pack the house full of fantastic guests.
They include Love Island star Dani Dyer and her mammy Jo, new Top Gear host Paddy McGuinness, while Jason Donovan takes to the skies with Dermot and Buster on their first flight as cabin crew, and Foley’s gets ready for Busted to play out the show.
Miriam's Dead Good Adventure, 9.00pm Sunday, BBC Two
In the concluding episode of Miriam Margolyes look at mortality, she wants to know if we can ever be ready to meet death.
She's keen to meet people who talk openly and frankly about the reality of dying and meets Tracy, who is living with terminal ovarian cancer. Miriam helps Tracy plan her wake and learns that knowing when you are going to die allows time to prepare for death.
Weekend movies
Gone With the Wind, 1.15pm Saturday, RTÉ One
Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh head the cast as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in this wonderful Hollywood classic from 1939.
The American Civil War provides a suitably explosive background as the manipulative Scarlett and the roguish Butler conduct a turbulent romance while their fellow Southerners' way of life crumbles around them.
Straight Out of Compton, 9.10pm Saturday, RTÉ 2
Here's a hugely enjoyable biopic about rappers NWA, who emerged from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionized Hip Hop culture with their music.
Paths of Glory, 10.50pm Saturday, BBC Two
Stanley Kubrick's 2001: a Space Odyssey (8.30pm Saturday, BBC Two) and Barry Lyndon (9.00pm Sunday, BBC Four) are also on this weekend, but this superb anti-war is the pick of the bunch.
Kirk Douglas is superb as Colonel Dax, a French lawyer defending three soldiers against a charge of cowardice, the result of a suicidal mission concocted by - but not including - generals.
Super 8, 10.55pm Saturday, Channel 4
It's 1979 and 12-year-old Joe and his friend Charles, who owns an 8mm movie camera, are secretly making a zombie flick for their local film festival.
One night, when the young moviemakers sneak out to film a key scene, they witness - and record - a spectacular train crash. But there's more to the incident than meets the eye.
Don't Miss
Ireland's Favourite Folk Song, 9.35pm Sunday, RTÉ One
This new, five-part series, presented by Mary Black, will feature two of the ten folk songs nominated by the public back in January.
A bespoke performance of each song will also be uploaded onto rte.ie/culture, with background information and history on each song. And of course, that’s where you can also cast your votes.
Tonight's contributors include musician John Sheahan, satirist Oliver Callan, actor Daragh O'Malley, and rapper/poet Temper-Mental MissElayneous.
Box Set Binge
Paths to Freedom, RTÉ Player
This six-part mockumentary was a massive hit when it arrived towards the end of 2000, and nearly 20 years on it's still great fun.
Brendan Cole plays Dr Jeremy Fitzgerlad, a posh lad who's sure that his time spent in prison was a "gross miscarriage of justice" and is determined to return to the life he once had with his wife, Helen (Deirdre O'Kane).
On the other hand, Raymond 'Rats' Doyle (Michael McElhatton) is a working-class fella who's been in and out of trouble throughout his life. Just like Jeremy, he's released from prison and determined to make something out of his life.
