Documentaries, sport and movies - there's something on for everyone.
Pick of the Day
Evacuation, Channel 4, 9:00pm
This three-part "documentary military thriller" about the British operation to evacuate Kabul begins tonight and continues on Channel 4 on Monday, with all three episodes available to stream from the get-go. The story of Britain's biggest airlift since WWII features previously unseen footage from combat teams and the personal stories of British nationals and Afghan civilians alike. We're promised "the truth about the unfolding minute-by-minute drama". If you're not making your way through episodes two and three afterwards, Channel 4 has another must-see starting at 10:00pm - Jon Snow: A Witness to History.
Sport
The Sunday Game Live, RTÉ2, 1:15pm
The conclusion of a bumper weekend promises loads of Jones Road fireworks with Derry v Cork (throw-in 1.45pm) and Dublin v Mayo (throw-in 4.00pm) in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-finals. An afternoon of drama and a night of talking points await!
Sunday Cinema
Mary Queen of Scots, BBC One, 10:30pm
Here, Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie face off in a scene that was described by its director Josie Rourke as "a kind of Renaissance version of Heat". Now, it's in no way as iconic as De Niro and Pacino's sit-down, but it does show two of the best of their generation matching each other word for word as their characters try to hang on to power. Essentially two stories playing out in parallel with the central duo only meeting for the finale, Mary Queen of Scots sees the widowed young monarch (Ronan) arriving on the shores of her kingdom and drawing the line about what she will and won't do in her dealings with her first cousin once removed Queen Elizabeth I (Robbie). The wait for their meeting is well worth it, even though the film is overlong and sags a little around the middle. And although the big-screen encounter between Mary and Elizabeth never happened in real life, what's lost in accuracy is made up for in fireworks.
Streaming
The Florida Project, Channel4.com
The lament that Ireland becomes more like the US every day is brought home once again in Sean Baker's The Florida Project - a 2017 film that gives plenty of chills under the sun. The setting is the $38-a-night Magic Castle Motel, which is both a few blocks and a million miles from Disneyworld. Among its residents are Halley (Bria Vinaite) and Moonee (Brooklynn Prince), a tearaway mother and daughter whose chaotic existence has you worrying from the off about what lies ahead. Trying to keep a watchful eye on both of them is motel manager Bobby (Willem Dafoe), a weathered soul who has seen this story play out so many times before that he knows every calamitous chapter by heart. It's going to be a long summer. A few pacing dips aside, it's hard to find fault with this film.
