There's a fascinating Sean O’Casey-related documentary called O'Casey in the Estate, the return of US spy drama Condor, Channel 4’s look at Page Three girls, and the final episode of Gangs of London . . .
Pick of the Day
O'Casey in the Estate, 10.15pm, RTÉ One
Esential RTÉ-produced documentaries are coming thick and fast these days. Here's another.
This is a two-parter about a new production of Sean O'Casey's landmark play The Plough and the Stars, performed by a group from Dublin's East Wall.
This is a community whose residents inspired the original characters of O'Casery's play, all of a century ago, when the 20th Century was in its infancy.
Episode one follows Abbey Theatre Director Caitriona McLaughlin's journey from the announcement of the project to final casting, as she meets and encourages people from the local community to take part.
The sub-narrative follows the lives of the residents both on and off stage, and how their experiences mirror that of the characters in the 1916 play.
Don't Miss
What We Do in the Shadows, 11.30pm, BBC Two
As season two of this smart and highly amusing mockumentary about vampires struggling with modern life on New York’s Staten Island continues, the vampires attend their first human Super Bowl party.
Later, the vampire room-mates fear they have been electronically cursed, leaving Guillermo to thwart a deadly threat to his masters.
New or Returning Shows
Condor, 9.00pm, RTÉ2
Just a week after season one began on Sky One, here’s the season two opener of this paranoia-fuelled spy drama starring Max Irons.
While traveling through Europe, Joe is approached by a Russian intelligence officer who offers to reveal the identity of a mole.
Page Three: the Naked Truth, 9.00pm, Channel 4
This year marks the 50th anniversary since the first appearance of The Sun's page three girl. It took a long campaign to end the practice of portraying topless women in the UK tabloid.
Here, Samantha Fox, Jilly Johnson, Maria Whittaker and Keeley Hazell describe the highs and lows, Rhian Sugden and Emma reveal the misery that came with tabloid scandal and Hannah Claydon talks about the countdown to her debut at the age of 16.
Dogging Tales, 10.00pm, Channel 4
Here’s a documentary by photographer Leo Maguire, providing an insight into why men and women engage in or watch sexual activity in front of strangers in public areas after dark. Accompanying his participants to lay-bys, woods and picnic spots around the UK, they discuss their attraction to dogging and reveal how they were introduced to it.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles, 8.00pm, BBC Four
Following on from Pride and Prejudice, this is another classic BBC period drama, a Thomas Hardy adaptation starring Gemma Arterton, Hans Matheson, Ian Puleston-Davies and Anna Massey.
Peasant girl Tess Durbeyfield is encouraged by her father to seek advancement with their supposed relatives, the wealthy D'Urbervilles, and meets the charming Alec, man of the house since his father's death.
He showers her with attention and gifts, promising her family will want for nothing - but as she soon discovers to her cost, there's a dark side to her persistent new suitor.
Tutankahmun in Colour, 9.00pm, BBC Four
Egyptologist Elizabeth Frood takes viewers back to 1922 to experience the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb as it happened, with the help of colourised photographs and film footage.
The documentary follows the story from the first encounter between Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, the discovery of a vast chamber filled with ancient relics to the opening of the burial chamber itself.
It also reveals how the discoveries made changed how the boy king and Egypt as a nation were viewed around the world.
New to Download
LOL: Last One Laughing Australia, Amazon Prime
Rebel Wilson hosts what’s described as a 'wacky’ gameshow in which 10 professional comedians are locked in a house and endeavour to make each other laugh.
The twist is that anyone who does laugh is booted out, with the last remaining comic deemed the winner.
The Order: Season 2, Netflix
At Belgrave University, the bad blood between werewolves and magicians reaches a breaking point - until a greater evil threatens to destroy them all.
Ending Today
Gangs of London, 9.00pm, Sky Atlantic
It’s the ninth and final pisode of this violent drama from Gareth Evans.
Here’s where old scores are settled, when new alliances are forged, how lives are lost.
Elliot is forced to make a choice that will define his entire future. And Sean makes a discovery about a traitor who has been in his midst all along.
