The Tommy Tiernan Show is back for its eighth series; Shirley Bassey gives it socks at the BBC; and a double Oscar-winning movie - here's our telly picks for today
The Tommy Tiernan Show, RTÉ One, 9.30pm
It's that man again! TT returns with the eighth series of the chat show where he genuinely doesn’t know what - or who - will happen next. His guests can be well-known (and he’s scored a few scoops over the years) or they can be lesser well-known; however, they all have a story to tell. Speaking to the current issue of the RTÉ Guide, Tommy said, "One of my friends said to be recently that what he loves about the show is that it’s one of the few shows on primetime television where things are allowed to get awkward." Half Dr Anthony Clare, half flying by the seat of his trousers, it’s just as well TT is a master of improvisation. All this plus our affable compere, the genial Fred Cooke. Let the freewheeling awks commence . . .
Shirley Bassey at the BBC: Volume 2, BBC Two, 8.30pm
Here’s another raid of the BBC archives for a second collection of great songs and lung-busting performances from the dame from Tiger Bay. This programme features Shirley’s inimitable take on a rich collection of hits - from pop favourites to film themes and songs from the shows, taken from a selection of shows she appeared on over the years and her own hugely popular TV show that ran throughout the 1970s. Amongst the classic tracks featured here are My Way, The Way We Were, Copacabana and even her own version of The Beatles’ iconic Hey Jude.
Excalibur, RTÉ2, 11.25pm
It's time to get a little bit bonkers - ok, a lot bonkers. With a suitably mystic Co Wicklow standing in for Camelot, veteran director John Boorman’s epic medieval fantasy retells the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. The cast includes Helen Mirren as Morgana, Liam Neeson as Gawain, Gabriel Byrne as Uther and Patrick Stewart as Leondegrance. As Merlin would have it, "STAND BACK! Be silent! Be still!... That's it... and look upon this moment. Savour it! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness!"
Fanning at Whelan’s, Virgin Media Two, 10.00pm
Episode five of the new season of the music show features David Keenan, Lucy McWilliams, Amy Michelle, Winnie Ama, Blood Donor and an interview with Steve Garrigan of Kodaline about his favourite music.
Nomadland, Channel 4, 10.00pm
Writer-director Chloé Zhao's double Oscar-winner is a poignant, questioning, and ultimately life-affirming journey (it’s ok to use that word because this film is about a journey in every sense of the word). In her third Oscar-winning role, Frances McDormand plays Fern, a widow who travels from state to state and job to job in her van, "not homeless, just houseless". She meets others who have jumped off the grid for different reasons, learns from them, is replenished by their friendship - however fleeting - and reaches another crossroads in her life. Read our full review here.
Full TV listings here
