Tommy Tiernan is back with another season of surprises; Ireland's Fittest Family returns; and a whole night dedicated to Elvis Presley - here's your top telly for Saturday
The Tommy Tiernan Show, RTÉ One, 9.45pm
Tommy Tiernan is back with a new season the chat show that's full of surprises for him - and his viewers.
A master of improvisation, Tommy thrives on the adrenaline of no preparation. The result is conversations full of adventure and surprise, with people from all walks of life, some well-known personalities, some lesser so.
Comedian Fred Cooke is also back to compere the new series.
Ireland’s Fittest Family, RTÉ One, 6.35pm
Ireland’s Fittest Family is back, with coaches Davy Fitzgerald, Anna Geary, Donncha O’Callaghan and Sonia O’Sullivan looking to bring home the title this year.
Camogie star Geary will go head-to-head with fellow Cork sporting legends Sonia and Donncha, as well as Clare hurling legend Davy.
Presented by Laura Fox, the new series features brand new challenges including The Drop Zone, and Raft Rage. 16 Families from all over Ireland will be put to the test with rugged courses and obstacle races.
In tonight’s opening episode, Donncha’s Parson family from Dublin, Davy’s O’Connell family from Waterford, Anna’s Magner family from Cork, and Sonia’s O’Neill family from Meath take on The Lake, all battling it out for two places in the next round of the competition at The Bog.
The families must each take on a brand-new event, The Drop Zone. This is a race to fill a giant water tank. This will drop a family member suspended high above the water into the lake, so they can climb a rope and ring the bell and stop the clock!
The next test is Slingshot. Strapped to a bungee with two levels of resistance, family members must get as many balls as possible from one side of the bog bath to the other and into a bucket.
With the scores of the first two events are combined, the winning family goes through to the next round, and the family at the bottom are sent home. Then the other two face Ireland’s Fittest Family’s Water Eliminator.
Ireland’s Fittest Family is returning to the beautiful Rathbeggan Lakes in County Meath to film this year’s Heats.
The Rothschild Legacy, RTÉ2, 7.05pm
This new series charts the rise of the Rothschilds, one of the most powerful banking families - representative of the fate of many wealthy Jewish families before World War II. Mayer Amschel Rothschild left the Frankfurt ghetto in 1756 as a 12-year-old and learned the profession of dealing in coins and banking. In 1811 he transferred a substantial sum to Frankfurt, in return for which the Jewish community received civil rights. Mayer's striving wasn't only aimed at maximising profits, he also contributed to overcoming discrimination against Jews. Under the Nazis, however, the Rothschilds became the target of anti-Semitic propaganda, and to this day anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are sparked by the name Rothschild.
Elvis night, BBC Two, 8.20pm
Beeb Two turns Saturday night over to the King, starting with his '68 Comeback Special, featuring songs such as Hound Dog, All Shook Up, Heartbreak Hotel, That's All Right, Jailhouse Rock, Blue Suede Shoes, Don't Be Cruel and Love Me Tender. Followed at 9.35pm by Elvis' best movie, Jailhouse Rock and at 11.10pm, and Tales of Rock 'n' Roll: Heartbreak Hotel - the story of Presley's first million-selling single, the 1956 release Heartbreak Hotel, which was inspired by a real-life suicide in Miami in 1955, finally at 11.45pm, ...Sings Elvis is a compilation of archive performances of Elvis Presley hits by artists including Cliff Richard, John Cale, Paul McCartney, Carl Perkins, Mac Davis and Tom Jones.
Film of the day
Nobody, Channel 4, 9.10pm
Nobody, Channel 4, 9.10pm
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk has a laugh riot in this superb action flick about an ordinary suburban Joe who's mad as hell and can’t take it anymore. He plays Hutch Mansell and we meet him where we left Henry Hill in Goodfellas - he’s an average nobody, living his life like a snuck. He’s locked in a groundhog grind of a job and a loveless marriage and when Hutch, all stunted masculinity and suburban torpor, fails to take on a couple of burglars who break into the family home, no one is too surprised. His teenage son loses what little respect he has for him and his wife (Connie Nielsen) freezes him out. But Hutch is a man who’s long suppressed his, well, particular set of skills and, ego suitably crushed, one night he decides to get even. Read our review here.
Full TV listings here
