Once upon a Time . . . in Hollywood, Leo Varadkar on The Late Late Show, The Shadows and Friday Night Dinner are just some of the options on another busy day on the box . . .
Pick of the Day
Once upon a Time . . . in Hollywood, 9.00pm, Sky Cinema Premiere & NOW TV
Also available to download any time on Sky, Quentin Tarantino's ninth feature film is a love letter to Tinseltown of the 1960s and is arguably his best work.
It’s certainly the greatest film I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Taking place in LA 1969, hippy Hollywood is running wild. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant as former western TV series star Rick Dalton.
Along with his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt, also in fantastic form), he’s struggling to make it back into the limelight in a Hollywood he no longer recognises.
As the pair attempt to negotiate their way back to stardom/regular employment, their story becomes intertwined with the fate of Rick’s increasingly famous next-door neighbour, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and a group of renegade hippies.
Everything about this film is superb, from the storyline of a changing Hollywood to its typically Tarantino-esque sense of humour, the acting from pretty much everyone on show to its underlying pathos. The attention to detail is staggering.
But at its core is the peculiar but deep relationship between Dalton and Booth.
Here's Sarah McIntyre's review of the film and interview with Tarantino.
Don't Miss
The Late Late Show, 9.35pm, RTÉ One
Like the beam from a lighthouse, The Late Late Show has been guiding us to a sort of mental safe harbour and away from the rocky reality of these pandemic times.
This week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will be live in studio to bring all the very latest developments regarding the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, while Picture This will perform for The LauraLynn Foundation.
Also: Paul Mescal, breakout star of Normal People will talk about the series; Evanne Ní Chuilinn, Henry Sheflin, Aidan O'Shea and Kieran Donaghy, will chat about how the GAA community has pulled together during the current crisis.
Ryan will also catch up with Tom Cullen, the little boy who stole hearts with his Nanny Pat on The Late Late Toy Show last November.
New or Returning Shows
The Shadows at Sixty, 9.30pm, BBC Four
This one’s for all those cocooning out there, who remember when rock ’n’ roll was something new.
The Shadows were at the forefront of the UK beat boom generation and the first backing band to emerge as big stars in their own right, with number one hits such as Apache, Kon Tiki and Wonderful Land.
This programme features unseen archive, personal testimony, interviews with Cliff Richard, band members Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett and some of those they influenced, including Brian May, David Gilmour and Pete Townshend.
Influenza 1918, 7.15pm, PBS America
Here’s a programme that looks at a similar situation to now, from a century ago.
The story of the worst flu epidemic in history, which broke out as the First World War was drawing to a close.
Soldiers and sailors in the crowded army camps succumbed first, thanks to traffic from flu-ridden Europe.
Across the Atlantic, approximately 25 million Americans were affected leading to 675,000 deaths.
New to Download
Hollywood, Netflix
This looks the business. The fact that Ryan Murphy is behind it makes me even more excited.
It’s a drama that follows a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers in post-World War II Hollywood as they try to make it in Tinseltown - no matter the cost.
Each character offers a unique glimpse behind the gilded curtain of Hollywood's Golden Age, spotlighting the unfair systems and biases across race, gender and sexuality that continue to this day.
The cast includes Jim Parsons (shedding his Big Bang Theory character Sheldon 'Bazinga!’ Cooper), Glee star Darren Cris, and another Ryan Murphy show regular, Dylan McDermott.
Trying, Apple TV+
This new comedy series - made by BBC Studios - is about a thirty-something couple and their friends learning to grow up, settle down and find someone to love.
All Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall) want is a baby but it’s the one thing they just can’t have. How are they going to fill the next 50 years if they can’t start a family?
After ruling out every other option, they decide to adopt and are confronted by a world of bewildering new challenges.
Upload, Amazon Prime Video
Greg Daniels (The US Office, Parks & Recreation) is behind this brand new sci-fi comedy starring Robbie Amell and Andy Allo.
The show follows Nathan, a young app developer who ends up gravely ill in the hospital following a car accident.
After a rushed discussion with his girlfriend, he chooses to be uploaded to her family’s luxurious virtual afterlife, the Horizen company’s Lakeview.
Once uploaded, Nathan meets his customer service Angel, who at first is his charismatic concierge and guide, but quickly becomes his friend and confidante, helping him navigate his digital life.
Ending Today
Friday Night Dinner, 10.00pm, Channel 4
In the season six finale, Adam and Jonny finally bring their `females' home to meet their parents, and just to add to the potential confusion both girls are called Lucy.
Before the objects of their affection can make it out of the car, the boys rush into the house to give Mum and Dad a last-minute rundown of the `rules’.
Though Mum seems delighted, Dad fails to make the best first impression.
Repeats of the Day
Great Guitar Riffs at the BBC, 10.30pm, BBC Four
A compilation of archive BBC clips and performances which include some of the most memorable guitar riffs of all time (or the last six decades, really). Featuring Jimi Hendrix, the Kinks, Cream, AC/DC, the Smiths, Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Pixies and the Stone Roses.
Elton John Live at Hyde Park, 11.30pm, BBC Four
The much-loved singer/songwriter performs a concert in London's Hyde Park in 2016 to a crowd of 50,000 fans, as the headlining act of Radio 2's Festival in a Day event.
The show features many old favourites from Elton's five-decade career, as well as songs from his then recent studio album Wonderful Crazy Night, on which he and Bernie Taupin worked together for the first time in nearly a decade.
Discovering: Abba, 8.00pm, Sky Arts
Leading music critics reflect on the career of the Swedish pop band, examining how they cracked the UK, US and Australian charts with hits such as Dancing Queen, SOS and Mamma Mia.
And this:
Daytime Film Choices
Support Your Local Gunfighter, 2.55pm, Film4
Comedy Western starring James Garner, Jack Elam, Suzanne Pleshette, Harry Morgan and Chuck Connors.
A slick conman tries to pass his dim-witted sidekick off as a notorious gunslinger as a way of profiting from a dispute between rival companies in a small mining town.
ParaNorman, 3.45pm, Sky Cinema Family
Animated adventure featuring the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee and John Goodman in a tale of a boy who communicates with ghosts haunting his neighbourhood, but no one else believes they exist.
When a curse placed on the town by a witch centuries ago causes zombies to rise from the grave, it falls to the youngster to avert disaster.
Rory's Way, 3.15pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
Brian Cox, Rosanna Arquette and Tim Matheson star in this drama about a rugged Scotsman departs his homeland and heads to San Francisco for medical treatment.
His life is transformed there, as he moves in with his estranged son Rory and develops a newfound emotional bond with his baby grandson.
Prime Time Movie Picks
Taken 3, 9.00pm, Film4
Action thriller sequel - there’s a clue in the title - starring Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker and Maggie Grace.
Ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills' efforts to finally live a quiet life are shattered by the death of his ex-wife. Just when things seemingly can't get any worse, he is framed for her murder and must fight to clear his name.
The Magnificent Seven, 10.15pm, TG4
Classic Western staring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn and Eli Wallach.
Oppressed Mexican villagers cross the border into America looking to buy guns to defend their homes and crops from bandits.
Instead, they encounter an enigmatic loner who persuades them to hire a band of gunslingers to teach the villagers how to fight before the marauders return.
Team America: World Police, 9.50pm, Sky Cinema Comedy
Hilarious satirical puppet comedy, voiced by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
An American counter-terrorism unit travels around the world on the lookout for threats to global peace, causing much destruction to major world cities in the process.
Late Late Flick Picks
The Full Monty, 10.45pm, BBC One
Classic late 20th Century British comedy, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Tom Wilkinson, Hugo Speer and Paul Barber.
Six unemployed men from Sheffield decide to become strippers for one night only in a bid to raise extra money.
Despite having no dancing experience and far from perfect physiques, the men rely on the unique selling point of complete nudity to impress the punters.
Oranges and Sunshine, 11.20pm, BBC Two
Not an easy watch, this fact-based drama, with Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham, is about a social worker who discovers that, over several decades, thousands of British children were forcibly sent to care homes in Australia, where they suffered terrible abuse.
She devotes herself to exposing the scandal and helping the victims to find their real families.
Joan Jett: Bad Reputation, 1.00am, Sky Arts
Documentary chronicling the life and career of the rock musician Joan Jett, from founding the Runaways as an ambitious teenager to her evolution into a solo star and activist.
Click here for full TV listings
