The Late Late Show Country Special, a feast of country music on BBC Four and two great movies - here are our telly highlights for Friday
The Late Late Show Country Special, RTÉ One/RTÉ Player, 9.35pm
Yee and, indeed, ha! It's the annual Late Late Show Country Special and tonight what has become a country music institution marks its tenth anniversary.
The line-up features Priscilla Presley, John C. Reilly, Daniel O’Donnell, Philomena Begley, Nathan Carter, Michael English, Cliona O’Hagan, Mike Denver, Sandy Kelly, Declan Nerney, Claudia Buckley, Susan McCann, David James, The Three Amigos, and Gerry Guthrie.
American businesswoman and actress Presley will sit down with host Patrick Kielty to chat about her memoir Softly As I Leave You. She opens up about her marriage to Elvis, rediscovering herself following their divorce and her unwavering commitment to protecting his legacy.
She’ll speak candidly about her relationship with daughter Lisa Marie, Lisa’s marriage to Michael Jackson and how she has found joy in life again despite the tragedies that have shaped her life in recent years.
Hollywood star John C. Reilly will also join the line-up to share his deep connection with Irish music and culture and along with stories from his recent trip to Co. Kerry. He’ll talk about the influences that inspired his latest musical venture, Mister Romantic, and give viewers a glimpse of what to expect from his upcoming performance at Dublin’s Ambassador Theatre.
And in true tradition, another Irish country artist will be surprised as they are inducted into The Late Late Show Country Music Hall of Fame.
Country Kings at the BBC, BBC Four, 9.00pm
Just in case you want to keep it country for the rest of the night after the Late Late Show, here’s a feast of torch and twang. Beeb Four raid the vaults for classic male country singers in action, journeying from The Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis to Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson, and featuring classic songs and performances by Glen Campbell, Charley Pride, George Hamilton IV, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, Johnny Cash, Eric Church and more. This 50 years-plus compilation is a chronological look at country kings as featured on BBC studio shows as varied as In Concert, Wogan, The Late Show and Later . . . with Jools Holland, plus early variety shows presented by the likes of Lulu, Harry Secombe and Shirley Abicair.
That’s followed at 10pm by In Concert: Kenny Rogers from 1979; Country music star Tammy Wynette sings her favourite songs at 10.50pm; and at 11.15pm, a classic edition of The Old Grey Whistle Test has Country legend Emmylou Harris and The Hot Band in concert, followed by Emmylou Harris: From a Deeper Well - a profile of the veteran country singer.
How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge), BBC One, 9.30pm
After a four year absence from our screens, the great man is back!
Leaving behind a lucrative career voicing radio commercials in Saudi Arabia, Alan Partridge returns to TV to make a documentary about mental health. The new six-part series was co-written by Steve Coogan and Neil and Rob Gibbons, who have been his regular collaborators since 2011. Coogan says How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge) is a kind of 'Trojan horse’ to air issues people feel anxious about bringing up.
Alan Corr previews How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge) on RTÉ Radio 1 arts show Arena
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On the show, we will see Alan reflect on cancel culture and he also has a domineering new girlfriend called Katrina, whom he describes as, "one of the fittest women over 40 in Norfolk" and whom, the Gibbons brothers say, was originally based on Liz Truss. The mind boggles.
Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping, Channel 4, 10.00pm
Former Peep Show flatmates David Mitchell and Robert Webb returned with this pretty good sketch show at the start of September. Written by the duo, with Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Stevie Martin, Lara Ricote and Krystal Evans, it is surreal and arcane stuff. On tonight's show, the real cause of climate change is revealed, while there's a death in the Sweary Aussie family. Plus, Channel 4's lawyers have to intervene in the show's writers' room. It’s good to have them back.
Movie of the day 1
The Father, RTÉ2, 10.00pm
Are you ready to be heartbroken? Anthony Hopkins stars as an elderly gent who gradually succumbs to dementia as his daughter (Olivia Colman) contemplates starting a new life in Paris.
This accomplished debut feature from French novelist and playwright Florian Zeller sees Hopkins play a dapper and distinguished octogenarian living in a handsomely appointed London flat. After he scares off his latest caregiver, Anthony's daughter Anne (Colman) tries to persuade him to hire someone else, as she is moving to Paris to be with a man.
We first realise that something is seriously amiss when Anne returns to the flat after this confrontation - but this time she is played by another actress, Olivia Williams. The sense that nothing is as it should be, and that we can't trust what we're looking at, permeates the rest of the viewing experience.
The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, 10.40pm
It's a bit star-studded tonight with our Graham, Taylor Swift, who may have a new album to plug, is on the couch and so is Cillian Murphy, who will no doubt be talking up his new movie Steve. Also along for the ride are Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith and Domhnall Gleeson. Plus, Lewis Capaldi performs Something in the Heavens.
Film of the day 2
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, BBC One, 12.40am
To mark his illustrious return to our TV screens, the Beeb are airing this rather good Alan Partridge movie from 2013. We find the hapless local radio DJ in the middle of a siege of a radio station when a colleague (a great Colm Meaney) responds rather badly to being fired. Naturally, Alan turns the whole ordeal into a career opportunity.
Read our review of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
Coogan himself said that Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is like Dog Day Afternoon meets Network. You will laugh like a drain. You will shout "back of the net".
Full TV listings here
