A new eight-part documentary series about Ireland's young surfers; another chance to watch Love Actually; and a film about Paul McCartney and Wings - here's your top telly for Tuesday . . .
New Wave: Ireland's Young Surfers, RTÉ, 5.30pm
This new eight-part documentary series offers an inside look at Ireland's emerging generation of junior surfers, from Donegal, Sligo, Clare, Dublin, Waterford, and Kerry as they train, travel, and chase a place on Team Ireland for the European Surf Championships in Santa Cruz, Portugal.
Filmed over one unpredictable season, New Wave brings you all the highs and lows and thrills and spills of life on the Junior Surf Tour, where just three surfers per division will make the national team. The series moves from wild Atlantic conditions of the Irish coast to the heat of international competition, as the surfers balance school, training, and the pressure of qualification.
Spartacus, BBC Two, 3.00pm
A real afternoon treat this. Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons and Tony Curtis head up an all-star cast in Stanley Kubricks's spectacular historical epic. Douglas plays the gladiator Spartacus, who has been born into slavery in the Roman Empire. He longs for freedom and soon finds himself at the head of an army of slaves in revolt against the might of his masters and oppressors.
Only Connect: pub Quiz Special, BBC Two, 8.00pm
Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts the quiz where knowledge only gets you so far - the vital extra ingredients are logic and lateral thinking. In this festive special - the first of four - the format has been tweaked and we will see the two teams, the Hopsters and Taverners, face off.
Paul McCartney and Wings: One Hand Clapping, Sky Arts, 7.30pm
Ah, Wings! The band The Beatles could have been. In this 1974 film, we get an intimate look into one of the group’s recording session for the album, One Hand Clapping - a live-in-studio album, released on 14 June 2024, nearly fifty years after it was recorded. The album began as a rockumentary (if you will) starring Macca and Wings, recording a potential live album, as well as voice-over interviews with the band members. The film and album went unreleased at the time. Tracks featured include Live and Let Die, Bluebird, Jet, Let Me Roll It, and Band on the Run.
Love Actually, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
If you thought Four Weddings and a Funeral was just too gritty and realistic and Notting Hill was an unbearably grim portrayal of societal decay, then Love Actually is for you! Directed by king of feelgood Richard Curtis and starring Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Martine McCutcheon, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, and Bill Nighy (and many, many others) it is a Christmassy overload of romance and pure silliness. An ensemble piece, Love Actually is an intertwining and overlapping series of love stories, set mainly in London in the five weeks before Christmas.
New Prime Minister (Grant) arrives at 10 Downing Street and promptly falls for his tea lady (McCutcheon). The PM's sister (Thompson) suspects her husband (Rickman) of having an affair with a secretary. And their friend (Neeson) is trying to cope with being widowed and his 11-year-old stepson's unrequited love for a girl in school. There is a whole lot more going on, too, and this has become a Christmas classic since its release in 2003. Read our full review.
Full TV listings here.
