Wildfires and rising coasts are the focus of Rising Tides: Ireland's Future in a Warmer World, Aussie drama Scrublands arrives, Justin Hartley from This Is Us stars in Tracker, and expect the weird in Files of the Unexplained . . .
Pick of the Day
Rising Tides: Ireland's Future in a Warmer World, 9.35pm, RTÉ One
Streaming on RTÉ Player
Philip Boucher-Hayes continues to investigate what kinds of adaptations the human race need to survive and thrive into the future.
This week he explores how we can adapt to new wildfire seasons, learning from the experts in Spain.
Philip takes these lessons home and speaks with experts here about how landscapes and infrastructure in Ireland will have to change for us to live well in a new climate world.
Philip also travels to The Netherlands and learns how to build world class coastal defences to combat the rising seas. And if anyone understand this stuff, it's the Dutch.
Sea level rise is arguably the most concerning, longer-term threat of climate change.
Dr Bregje Van Wesenbeeck is an engineer working with Deltares, the Dutch firm responsible for most of The Netherlands’ incredible flood protections.
Planning for how to live under the water table is something many regions around the world are going to have to learn about and the Dutch have already mastered it.
New or Returning Shows
Scrublands, 10.30pm, RTÉ2
Here’s a pretty good crime drama from Australia, starring Luke Arnold.
It consists of just four hour-long episodes so it doesn’t mess around.
Disenchanted investigative journalist Martin Scarsden is told by his boss to write a follow-up piece a year after a mass shooting of five parishioners by a young priest.
The townsfolk do not look kindly on yet more intrusion into their still raw lives, but Scarsden begins to doubt the accepted version of events of that tragic day.
Clocking Off, 10.15pm, BBC Four
First episode of the 2000-2003 drama series, starring John Simm (below), Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, Philip Glenister, Christopher Ecclestone and loads more familiar names.
Stuart Leach finally returns more than a year after he left home to find work, seemingly suffering from amnesia.
But suspicious brother Martin refuses to believe there is anything wrong with him.
Preceded at 10pm by Paul Abbott Remembers Clocking Off, where screenwriter Abbott discusses the creation of his BBC drama.
He recalls how he and team united a cast of young actors, many of whom would go on to be household names, to tell a collection of stories that captured the experiences of the north of England at the start of the new millennium.
Don’t Miss
MasterChef, 9.00pm, BBC One
The contestants are tasked with elevating an everyday ingredient in the new Basic to Brilliant challenge before they are given a trout to fillet, cook and serve in the most delicious way they can.
The two that make it through join those from the first round as they prepare a two-course menu for three past MasterChef champions.
Téacs Taistil, 9.30pm, TG4
This week’s episode sees the intrepid trio head to Vienna, capital of Austria, which lies to the country's east on the Danube River.
The city is known for its imperial palaces and notable former residents, such as Mozart, Beethoven and Sigmund Freud.
Surgeons: At the Edge of Life, 9.00pm, BBC Two
This show is not for the squeamish and you’d do well to keep your dinner down if you’ve just eaten. Stronger stomachs may find this series fascinating.
Maxillofacial consultant Sanjay Sharma and his colleague Madan Ethunandan must remove a patient's eye to cut out cancer that is growing deep behind it and then reconstruct his face.
Urology consultant Vicky Dawson and her mentor Julian Smith must remove 83-year-old Norman's bladder - where cancer has now spread - and his prostate without damaging surrounding structures.
New to Stream
Files of the Unexplained, Netflix
From eerie encounters to bizarre disappearances, mysterious hauntings to chilling cold cases - a mix of perplexing phenomena are explored in this investigative docuseries.
They range from unknown gelatinous substances covering towns to the bog-standard 'abducted by aliens’ tales. It’s all pretty X-Files and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Bring on the weird!
Wish, Disney+
In this animated musical-comedy, Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose), a sharp-witted idealist, makes a powerful wish that’s answered by Star, a ball of boundless energy.
Soon, Asha and Star must face a formidable foe and prove that one brave human can make wondrous things happen.
Tracker, Disney+
The series stars Justin Hartley (aka Kevin Pearson in This is Us) as Colter Shaw, a lone-wolf survivalist who roams the USA as a reward seeker.
He uses his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries while contending with his own fractured family.
The show is based on the bestselling novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver.
New episodes will be released weekly.
Restaurants at the End of the World, Disney+
This series is hosted by chef and entrepreneur Kristen Kish.
The adventurous chef, entrepreneur and global trailblazer travels the world in search of the people, places, culture and traditions behind the world’s most remote restaurants.
From local purveyors, farmers and herders to kitchen crew, managers and chefs, she goes behind the scenes to meet the people, hear the stories and see the balancing acts required to keep food on the table in the most remote outposts on earth.
