There's a documentary about British singer and activist Pauline Black, Rory O'Connell has a new show called How to Cook Well in Morocco, David Oyelowo stars in Government Cheese, and there’s more Champions League action . . .
Pick of the Day
Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story, 9.00pm, Sky Arts
Streaming on NOW
This documentary is about much more than a musician – so even if Pauline Black is an unfamiliar name to you, it’s well worth a watch.
Pauline Black is the living embodiment of the 2-Tone music movement that began in the UK as the 1970s turned into the 1980s and a woman who has made her mark on society.
Her band, The Selecter, had a unique sound and energy defined by Pauline’s distinctive voice and performance.
They were a reflection of working-class life in Thatcher's England, and their music was social reportage.
In this new film, featuring unseen archive from the era, viewers can see how Pauline’s life story imitates her art, music and informs her activism as she discusses her experience of adoption, abuse, persona, gender and perseverance.
Contributors include fellow The Selecter member Arthur 'Gaps’ Hendrickson, film director and DJ Don Letts, Skin (Skunk Anansie), Blur’s Damon Albarn, Rhoda Dakar (The Bodysnatchers), Lynval Golding (The Specials), Mykiell Riley(Steel Pulse), artist Sonia Boyce and Jools Holland.
New or Returning Shows
How to Cook Well in Morocco, 8.30pm, RTÉ One
Streaming on RTÉ Player
In his latest series, Rory O'Connell journeys through Morocco and cooks dishes inspired by his travels, capturing the flavours of the North African country, back home in East Cork.
The chef starts out in the city of Tangier and visits the fish market before cooking a fish tagine at the Blue Door Cuisine, a cookery school with an all-female team which aims to promote cultural exchange through food.
Just Act Normal, 9.00pm, BBC Three
This promises to be a darkly comic drama about three stubbornly optimistic siblings with a terrible secret.
When their mother seemingly goes missing, Tiana, Tionne and Tanika will do anything to keep it quiet so that they can stay together as a family.
But feistily resilient and fiercely loyal as they are, can they really outwit the authorities and carry on life under the radar?
Tiana, the eldest, takes charge, determined to hold the household together until she turns 18 and can legally keep her siblings under one roof.
But keeping their lives on track without a parent is a battle she is barely equipped for - especially as the lies pile up, the bills go unpaid and the world starts closing in around them.
Targeted: Lebanon’s Deadliest Attack, 11.00pm, BBC Two
This is the story of one attack, on one building, that took the lives of 73 people and shattered the lives of countless others.
On a quiet Sunday in September 2024, an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment block in the Lebanese village of Ain El Delb.
More than 100 people were in the building at the time, and 73 were killed - Lebanon’s deadliest attack in the latest escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
Nawal Al-Maghafi travels to Ain El Delb to investigate this attack and try to understand who was in the building and why it was hit.
New to Stream
Government Cheese, Apple TV+
Starring multi-award-winner David Oyelowo, who also serves as executive producer, alongside Simone Missick, Jahi Di’Allo Winston and Evan Ellison.
Government Cheese is a surrealist family comedy set in 1969 San Fernando Valley that tells the story of the Chambers, a quirky family pursuing lofty and seemingly impossible dreams, oblivious to the realities of the world.
When Hampton Chambers (Oyelowo) is released from prison, his long-awaited family reunion doesn’t go quite as he’d planned.
During his absence, Hampton’s wife, Astoria (Missick), and sons, Einstein (Ellison) and Harrison (Di’Allo Winston), have formed an unconventional family unit, and Hampton’s return spins their world into chaos.
The Stolen Girl, Disney+
A seemingly ordinary decision turns the world of Elisa, mum to two young kids, upside down in this tense thriller starring Holly Grainger.
When her 9-year-old daughter Lucia excitedly asks to go on an overnight playdate with her new best friend Josie, Elisa agrees.
After meeting Josie’s mother, Rebecca, she’s put at ease by her charming nature and their impressive house.
But when she says goodnight to her daughter, she has no idea that she is about to be thrust into every parent’s worst nightmare.
The Diamond Heist, Netflix
Produced by Guy Ritchie, The Diamond Heist pulls back the curtain on what would have been the biggest heist of all time.
Rewinding the clock back to November 2000, the audacious scheme was targeted at the new Millennium Dome (now the O2 Arena).
When the capital unveiled its new dome, a gang from South-East London set out to steal a flawless diamond from a collection inside the building.
Their audacious plot will be explored in the three-part series, which will feature accounts from one of the real-life men behind the scheme.
When the new dome was unveiled, it naturally became the subject of much public attention for its exhibitions. One of the world's leading diamond companies, De Beers, drew attention with its diamonds display.
One of the company's jewels, a pear-shaped 203.04-carat diamond, caught the attention of a local gang.
The group plotted to raid the exhibition by ramming a bulldozer into the building, stealing whatever they could, and fleeing by a speedboat through the Thames.
The robbery went surprisingly well for the gangsters, but the Met Police's Flying Squad had been watching the entire scheme unfold.
Don’t Miss
The Secret Genius of Modern Life, 8.00pm, BBC Two
As Ronan Keating once sang: Life is a Rollercoaster. But what is a rollercoaster really?
The rollercoaster has been sending hearts racing and stomachs dropping for over a century, and today, millions get their kicks on these topsy-turvy, daredevil joyriders.
As she continues her look at the secrets behind the miraculous technologies of the modern world, Hannah Fry gets the inside story on the UK’s newest, tallest and fastest rollercoaster - Thorpe Park’s Hyperia.
She uncovers the wild origins of the modern-day coaster and finds out how some dodgy French physics in the 19th century, Nasa rocket scientists and an ambitious cartoonist called Walt delivered the ultimate thrill machine.
Jimmy McGovern Remembers: The Lakes, 10.00pm, BBC Four
Writer Jimmy McGovern (above) looks back on The Lakes, his 1997 drama series that showed viewers one of Britain’s most-loved beauty spots in a whole new light, riddled with crime, drugs, sex and adultery.
Jimmy talks about the inspiration behind the series, working with cast members such as John Simm, and how he feels looking back on the show today.
It’s followed by the first two episodes of The Lakes.
Sport
Live UEFA Champions League, 7.30pm, Virgin Media Two
Inter host Bayern Munich (KO 8pm) in the quarter-final second-leg tie from Milan's magnificent San Siro, where the Italian champions start with a 2-1 lead following a superb performance in the first leg in Germany.
In Champions League Live (7.30pm, RTÉ2), there’s coverage of the other of tonight’s quarter-finals, as Real Madrid take on Arsenal at the Bernabeu (KO 8pm), aiming to claw back a 3-0 deficit from the first leg - and keep Declan Rice far away from goal.
Darragh Maloney is joined in studio by Kevin Doyle and Richie Sadlier, with commentary from Des Curran and Ronnie Whelan.
