Derry Girls' Saoirse-Monica Jackson stars in The Decameron, Tabloids on Trial looks at the UK's phone-hacking scandal, and - in a late addition - there's live coverage of Ireland v Fiji in the Olympics rugby sevens from 8.30pm . . .
Pick of the Day
The Decameron, Netflix
Here's yet another period piece that mixes comedy, sex and adds a contemporaneous perspective.
This time around it’s a wine-soaked sex romp set in the Italian countryside. Sounds like the ideal holiday to me.
The Decameron is a soapy dark comedy that examines the all-too-timely theme of class struggles in the season of a pandemic.
In the year 1348, the Black Death strikes hard in the city of Florence, and a handful of nobles retreat with their servants to a grand villa to wait out the plague with a lavish holiday.
But as social rules wear thin, a scramble for survival ensues, brought to life by a cast of characters both cunning and outrageous.
Created by Kathleen Jordan, who was very loosely inspired by the 14-century story collection The Decameron, the eight-episode series stars Zosia Mamet from Girls and Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson.
New or Returning Shows
Down Scroll: Andrew Tate and the Dark Side of the Internet, 9.00pm, Sky Documentaries
The internet - and social media in particular - has brought out the worst in so many people. I try to avoid it myself, but, ah, I'm only human.
This documentary offers an exploration of social media algorithms and how they allow people to push extreme, hateful and misogynistic content in pursuit of profit.
For example, one of the most toxic people online, and arguably the world’s most infamous woman- hater, Andrew Tate (above), has been spewing bile about how to become a 'dominant’ man.
37-year-old Tate, and his brother Tristan, 36, are facing extradition from Romania to the UK over allegations of human trafficking, while Andrew is also accused of rape.
Imagine having someone like that influencing your life?
Tabloids on Trial, 9.00pm, UTV
More human slime.
The UK’s phone-hacking scandal exposed a murky tabloid world where stealing secrets was big business and privacy meaningless.
This documentary, featuring Britain's Prince Harry's (above) first major interview since the conclusion of his court case with the Mirror News Group in 2024, hears about his mission to expose the illegal tactics of Britain's tabloid Press.
Rebecca Barry meets celebrities, including Hugh Grant, Charlotte Church and Paul Gascoigne, as well as people catapulted into the public eye, whose lives were ripped apart by the newspapers.
Broken Kids: The Untold Story of Young Athletes, 9.30pm, TG4
They are future gymnasts, swimmers, skaters, hockey, tennis or football players, and their childhood is often sacrificed on the altar of high-level sport.
Sometimes aged less than 10 years, they are already victims of repeated injuries, burn-out, anorexia or bulimia, their growth stopped.
This edifying international investigation lifts the veil on the globalisation of inhumane training methods where children pay the price for an insatiable appetite for success.
Linford, 8.30pm, BBC One
Linford Christie (below) looks back on his extraordinary career, which certainly had extreme highs and lows.
It ranges from winning successive gold medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games to failing a drugs test after coming out of retirement for one last race.
Featuring exclusive interviews with Linford himself, as well as fellow athletes including Sally Gunnell, Jonathan Edwards, Darren Campbell and Katharine Merry, and the journalists who followed his career.
Don’t Miss
Free Guy, 9.35pm, RTÉ2
This adventure comedy, starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi and Lil Rel Howery, will pass the night without much effort.
Guy leads a fairly monotonous life as a bank employee. That is until he meets the girl of his dreams and realises he's an NPC within a massive open world video game.
Does he deviate from the life he's always lived or does he follow his dream girl into the unknown future?
LATE ADDITION TO LISTINGS: Before Free Guy, from 8.30pm there's live coverage of the Rugby Sevens quarter-final between Ireland and Fiji from Stade de France (KO 9.00pm) on Paris Olympics 2024.
Richard Eyre Remembers Country, 9.00pm, BBC Four
The veteran director explains his involvement in dramatist Trevor Griffiths' landmark piece.
And while it's about a very British event, it's deffo worth a watch.
Set on the night of the Labour Party's momentous post-WWII British election victory in 1945, Country contains the rage and compassion for which Griffiths was well known.
He recalls the genesis of the project and how persuading Leo McKern (above) to play the part of Frederick Carlion unlocked the door to the stellar cast that followed.
Followed by a screening of Country, where the wealthy Carlions gather for a christening, but it is 1945 and there are plans to be made, family wealth to protect and peace to be won.
Starring Leo McKern, James Fox, Wendy Hiller and Penelope Wilton. First shown in 1981.
New to Stream
Kleo, Netflix
This looks like fun. A kind of German Killing Eve, less the annoying bits.
The hunt for the red suitcase continues, as former GDR spy Kleo is determined to retrieve it and destroy it for good.
Meanwhile West Berlin police officer Sven is trying to do everything he can to redeem himself in Kleo's eyes and work with her again.
She’s exactly the dose of adrenalin he’s been missing in his work.
Because the contents of the red suitcase play a key role in the reorganization of Germany and Europe in the wake of the Cold War, it’s no wonder that the KGB and CIA are after it as well - and Kleo quickly becomes the target of both secret services.
But that's not all: while Europe’s future is in Kleo’s hands, she’s catapulted deeper into her own past than she would like.
Tokyo Swindlers, Netflix
Based on Ko Shinjo's novel, Tokyo Swindlers brings to life a high-stakes game of real estate deception.
The story unveils a series of unprecedented crimes committed by a cunning group of land scammers who use real estate sales as bait to steal large sums of money.
As if the Irish property market couldn't get worse . . .
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Prime Video
Here's an action/comedy movie, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson and Alex Pettyfer.
The trailer reeks of Guy Ritchie geezer flick. Maybe they should've called it Snatching Nazis?
The British military recruits a small group of highly skilled soldiers to strike against German forces behind enemy lines during World War II.
It’s a top-secret combat unit of rogues and mavericks who go on a daring mission against the Nazis, ultimately changing the course of the war and laying the foundation of modern black ops.
