There's the fascinating tale of Nasa, Nazis & The Space Race, 40 Hits of 1985 at the BBC, Paul Walter Hauser stars as The Luckiest Man in America, and the United Rugby Championship Grand Final at Croke Park . . .
Pick of the Day
Nasa, Nazis & The Space Race, 8.35pm, Channel 4
A documentary exploring the role played by pardoned Nazi scientists in the moon landings isn’t your usual Saturday night fare.
But this looks fascinating.
Using newly declassified documents, this programme reveals how America turned a blind eye to Nazi atrocities in order to progress their involvement in the Space Race.
They were willing to whitewash records and grant new lives to high-ranking Nazi members such as Wernher von Braun (above, right), the architect of Nazi Germany's deadly V2 rockets to improve their space programme.
That kind of amoral pragmatism shows how the world really works.
New or Returning Shows
40 Hits of 1985 at the BBC, 8.10pm, BBC Two
Here’s a more Saturday night 'Yay!’ type of programming.
As the title announces, it’s a selection of songs from the year, featuring – sharp intake of breath - Queen (below, at Slane in 1986), Simple Minds, Elton John, Prince, Duran Duran, Foreigner, Billy Ocean, Marillion, Go West, King, Strawberry Switchblade (I have their debut LP!), Kirsty MacColl and Princess.
There are also collaborations between Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey, Gary Moore and Phil Lynott, and Chrissie Hynde and UB40.
The scary things for those of us who remember this year vividly is that it’s all of 40 years ago.
40 years the other way was the final year of WWII.
Blood Money: Inside the Soviet Economy, 7.30pm, RTÉ2
Yet another clever approach to re-examining the entrails of WWII.
It’s a two-part documentary exploring how the USSR - once seen as a second-rate industrial power, economically inferior to Germany, the USA and the UK - managed to defeat Hitler's armies and secure its place among the victors.
New to Stream
The Luckiest Man in America, Sky Cinema Premiere & NOW
Starring Paul Walter Hauser, Walton Goggins, and David Strathairn, this stranger-than-fiction drama resurrects the hugely popular 1980s game show and the ‘luckiest man in America’ who broke it.
In 1984, a man named Michael Larson appeared on a popular game show called Press Your Luck.
Unfortunately for the producers, Michael was about to make television history.
In trying to beat the system, he caused one of the strangest moments in the history of the small screen in the USA.
Don’t Miss
The Last Anniversary, 9.35pm, BBC One
It's the penultimate episode of the latest Liane Moriarty adaptation.
Connie tries to set up Rose with a suitor but is frustrated when she rejects him.
Sophie confides to her exasperated editor that she might have discovered a link between two of Australia's biggest unsolved mysteries, but a return to the city leaves her wondering if it might be time she left the island for good.
Margie and Ronald's connection deepens as he helps her uncover an important clue to her family's mystery.
Rory Gallagher: Live at Montreux 1979, 12.10am, TG4
The legendary guitarist played the renowned Montreux Festival on five occasions, spanning his breakthrough years in the mid-1970s right up to the year before his tragic premature death at the age of 47 in 1995.
This 1979 show includes some of Rory Gallagher’s greatest hits including Moonchild, Out on the Western Plain and I Could've Had Religion.
Saturday Cinema
The Magnificent Seven, 1.55pm, BBC Two
Legendary Western, with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn and Eli Wallach.
It’s all about oppressed Mexican villagers who cross the border into the USA looking to buy guns to defend their homes and crops from bandits.
Instead they encounter an enigmatic loner who persuades them to hire a band of gunslingers to teach the villagers how to fight before the marauders return.
M3gan, 9.35pm, Channel 4
Here’s a really good doll horror movie, starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw and Ronny Chieng.
Gemma, a toy company robotics engineer, applies for temporary protective custody of her nine-year-old niece, Cady, after her parents are killed.
A hi-tech doll called M3GAN, which has malfunctioned in development, becomes Cady's unusual guardian, but the flaky android soon causes mayhem.
Also: BBC Four hsve added Love and Mercy (11.05pm) to tonight's schedule, in honour of the recently deceased Brial Wilson.
It's a superb biopic of the Beach Boys' creative genius, following the singer-songwriter at two pivotal periods in his life.
In the 1960s, he's at his creative peak, but haunted by inner demons that take their toll on his mental health.
But by the 1980s, he's a broken man (played by John Cusack, above) dominated by a shady doctor, until a new relationship offers him a chance at recovery.
Family Flick
The Bad Guys, 6.35pm, RTÉ One
Animated adventure, featuring the voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron and Awkwafina.
To avoid prison, a gang of animal criminals pretend to seek rehabilitation, only for their leader to secretly discover that he really wants to change his ways.
Sport
Rugbaí Beo , 4.15pm, TG4
The 2025 United Rugby Championship Grand Final at Croke Park as Leinster host the Bulls from Pretoria, South Africa.
The final is being staged in Ireland for the first time since 2021 and the reconfiguration of the United Rugby Championship, with a third appearance for the Bulls following their defeats in 2022 and 2024, and a first appearance for Leinster since the competition adopted its current formatt.
Neither side has yet won the United Rugby Championship in its current format, but Leinster will be attempting to win a record-extending ninth overall title in all variations.
