Movies, chat, and series - take your pick.
Life
Channel 4 Player
You may already know more about this film than you realise. Have you ever seen that iconic photo of James Dean walking in the rain in Times Square? Well, the picture was taken by a man named Dennis Stock, and the story of it, and his friendship with the soon-to-be-huge star, is touchingly told in Life. Stock (Robert Pattinson) is eking out a living photographing Hollywood's red-carpet elite when he meets Dean (Dane DeHaan) at a party. There is an instant rapport between them, and Dean invites Stock to a preview of his new film, East of Eden, the following day. After the screening, Stock is convinced he's just seen the actor of the future. Now to persuade his paymasters at photo agency Magnum - and Dean himself - that a pictorial essay for Life magazine is a brilliant way of introducing the public to a prodigious talent... Pattinson and DeHaan have some great moments together in this overlooked treat, and the era is so lovingly and beautifully recreated by director Anton Corbijn (A Most Wanted Man, Control) and his team that your time with the two men will probably feel all too short.
The Late Late Show
9:35pm, RTÉ One
Patrick Kielty welcomes Gabriel Byrne to the studio "to reflect on his extraordinary career, life on and off screen, and 30 years since the release of his iconic film The Usual Suspects". Also on Friday night's show are comedian Russell Howard, An Cailín Ciúin and The Walsh Sisters star Carrie Crowley, presenter Jennifer Zamparelli, The High Kings, and footballer Pico Lopes - a league and cup winner with Shamrock Rovers, World Cup-bound with Cape Verde, and a new dad! Phew!
The Outrun
Netflix
Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend; Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in The Days of Wine and Roses; Natja Brunckhorst in Christiane F; and Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, and Jared Leto in Requiem for a Dream - just some of the many actors who brilliantly portrayed the terrifying truth that addiction is a full-time job. Joining that list in 2024 was Saoirse Ronan, but don't let The Outrun's starting point of rock bottom put you off, because, ultimately, this is a story about recovery more than it is about the horrors that precede it. Based on Amy Liptrot's best-selling memoir, The Outrun sees Ronan playing Rona, an Orkney Islands native who returns home after recently getting sober. Her life in London is gone, but Rona keeps telling others that she'll be heading back "soon" and "next week". It never happens; something better does. In her first film as a producer, Ronan found the best of collaborators in author Liptrot, writer-director Nora Fingscheidt, and screenwriter Daisy Lewis. Covering familiar territory in a stunning location, The Outrun puts many dramas where a lot more happens to shame. It's also leaving Netflix soon...
Crá
TG4 Player
With the news that this Irish-language crime drama is coming back for a second series, here's your chance to catch up on season one. As per TG4: "Crá follows Garda Conall Ó Súilleabháin (Dónall Ó Héalaí, Monster, Foscadh) as he searches for justice in the most personal of cases - the murder of his own mother, Sabine, whose body is discovered 15 years after her disappearance. Forbidden from joining the investigation, Conall partners with a determined young journalist, Ciara-Kate (newcomer Hannah Brady), who is using her true-crime podcast to expose the village's deepest secrets. As they unravel the truth, they must confront a community bound by silence and its own moral codes." The six-episode second series will begin filming in early 2026 in Co Donegal, and returning and new cast members will be announced shortly.
Palm Royale
Apple TV
The great Kristen Wiig returns as Maxine Dellacorte, the outsider trying to scale the societal heights in 1970s Palm Beach, Florida. Season one ended with a breakdown and a scandal, so Maxine has her work cut out as season two begins under the sun. "In season one, she was really focused on getting into this clique and this club and all of that," Wiig told the PA news agency. "She was also quite obedient to her husband, Douglas (played by Josh Lucas), and very submissive in that relationship. This season, we're seeing Maxine outside of that dynamic. It's interesting to see where her mind goes when she's finally let loose into the world." Best watched in true Seventies style with a slice of Black Forest Gateau.
