John Byrne’s TV choices for the week ahead (Dates covered: Saturday October 25 – Friday 31)
Plenty of new and returning shows, including a drama starring John Simm, the latest US comic adaptation, some cracking documentaries and a spooky tale about people coming back from the dead.
Pick of the week
Resurrection (Tuesday, RTÉ2)
This new US drama sounds like a TV version of French scare-fest Les Revenants/The Returned, but it's actually based on the book, The Returned, by Jason Mott. An 8-year-old American boy wakes up in a rice paddy in a rural Chinese province with no idea how he got there. All he can recalls is that his name is Jacob and he's from Arcadia, a small town in the USA. An American immigration agent takes him there and discovers that Jacob appears to be a boy who died three decades ago. It may be more mainstream than The Returned, and a far less spooky experience, but Resurrection is well worth a look.
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Star of the week
John Simm
Intruders (Monday, BBC One)
I have a basic rule of thumb when it comes to John Simm: if there's a show on and he's in it, it's got to be worth watching. Cracker, The Lakes, Sex Traffic, State of Play, Crime and Punishment – even his appearances on Doctor Who as The Master – show the quality of the 44-year-old's track record. This week he's the star of Intruders, a BBC America drama about Jack Whelan (John Simm), a former LAPD cop with a troubled and violent history. He finds the quiet, idyllic life he has crafted with his wife Amy (Mira Sorvino), shattered when she vanishes. The incident occurs when she's on a business trip to Seattle and her mobile phone is found abandoned in a taxi. Whelan heads to Seattle to retrieve the phone and locate Amy, only to discover that she never checked in to her hotel. Meanwhile, his high school friend Gary begs for his help. By all accounts this is a spooky, paranormal thriller - just right for the week that's in it.
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Starting this week
The Flash (Tuesday, Sky 1)
Taking on another DC Comics favourite, the creators of Arrow have decided to give The Flash a new TV show. And who will be whizzing about as the world’s most iconic red blur? That would be young Grant Gustin of Glee fame, who eagled-eyed Arrow fans will recognise from a couple of guest spots last year. In this dazzling effects-laden opener, we meet Barry Allen (Gustin) before he develops a sudden need for speed. The baby-faced CSI investigator is preoccupied with unravelling the mystery of his mother’s death, for which dad Henry (John Wesley Shipp – who played Flash in the 1990s' TV show) is currently serving time in prison. Something about that fateful night just doesn't add up and, obsessed with urban legends and gee-whiz technology, Barry is determined to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
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Keep It in the Family (Sunday, UTV)
Here's a brand new family game show hosted by Bradley Walsh. For the first show of the series, six stars from the hit TV soap Emmerdale will be joining Walsh in the studio as they prepare to face the dreaded drop. Each week three generations of rival families battle head-to-head, through a series of hilarious games, for incredible prizes including a family holiday or a brand new car.
The Missing (Tuesday, BBC One)
James Nesbitt and Frances O’Connor head the cast of this new drama. Tony (Nesbitt) and Emily (O'Connor) Hughes’ life changes forever when their five year-old son Oliver goes missing on a family holiday to France. A huge manhunt led by Julien Baptiste, one of France’s finest detectives, is launched. The French police face an uphill struggle in their mission to find the young boy as Oliver seems to have disappeared into thin air. As their desperation and profile of the case grows, Tony and Emily find themselves thrown into a media storm, learning the hard way that not everyone they meet is willing to operate in their best interests.
Life Is Toff, (Tuesday, BBC Three)
The aristocratic Fulford family are returning to television a decade after a documentary about them made a star of their foul-mouthed father. And now there's a new generation coming of age - four young adults struggling with the same problems, insecurities and rites of passage that we all confront, but with the weight of 800 years of history and tradition bearing down on them.
Walking Through History (Saturday, Channel 4)
The dramatic moors and valleys of West Yorkshire are the setting for an unusual slice of the past in Tony Robinson's first walk in this new series. This evocative landscape was the home of, and inspiration for, the Brontes, the remarkable literary family that produced Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Over four days, Tony heads out from the Victorian wool capital of Bradford, and treks in a giant loop around what is now known as Bronte Country.
Returning this week
Speed with Guy Martin (Monday, Channel 4)
Speed junkie, motorcycle racer and lorry mechanic Guy Martin loves pushing the boundaries of speed in search of a buzz. He returns with a second season, taking on four new speed-based challenges. In the first, he gets back on a bike to see just how far it's possible to cycle during 24 hours of non-stop pedalling.
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Arrow (Thursday, Sky 1)
Stephen Amell is back for a third season as Oliver Queen, the billionaire businessman who is also the eponymous vigilante of DC Comics' fame. Crime in Starling City is at an all-time low and, thinking he’s cracked the work/life balance that has eluded so many superheroes, Oliver asks Felicity out on a date. Naturally, somebody bad has to spoil everything - this time it's a brand new villain (Peter Stormare) called Count Vertigo.
The Science Squad (Monday, RTÉ One)
Back for a new run, Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Kathriona Devereux and Jonathan McCrea return to showcase more of the exciting and innovative scientific research that is currently underway in Ireland. Jonathan looks to the skies and takes to the waves to find out about the most ambitious civilian earth observation programme in the world, Kathriona gets up close and personal with a deadly parasite, and Aoibhinn travels to Uganda to find out about an Irish-led water purification project which could save the lives of millions.
Ending this week
Damo & Ivor (Monday, RTÉ2)
Sixth and final episode of the comedy starring Andy Quirke as a set of identical twins who were separated at birth brought up in contrasting circumstances. It’s the big wedding day and after a romantic ceremony Damo is giving his best man speech, Tracey and Sarah-Jane’s waters break and panic ensues in the rush to the hospital. Meanwhile, the paternity results are in and Sarah-Jane discovers the identity of her baby's father.
Here are the lads with Proud to Be Irish:
Trust Me, I'm A Doctor (Wednesday, BBC Two)
Many people have coffee when they're feeling tired, but does it actually help in keeping people alert? In this third and final episode, some alternative ways to boost our brain power are put to the test. Also on the programme medical journalist Michael Mosely examines the growing popularity of electronic cigarettes and asks if they are safe, while Dr Chris van Tulleken investigates whether household chores can count towards the recommended amount of weekly exercise.
24 Hours in Police Custody (Monday, Channel 4)
It's Saturday night in Luton, and Bedfordshire Police are dealing with drunken domestic disputes and a booze-fuelled fight. For example, Constables Leanne Turner and Andy Parsons are sent out to investigate an alleged assault against a vulnerable and fragile 75-year-old man in a domestic dispute.
Drama of the week
Dominion (Thursday, Syfy UK)
This will definitely be either great or complete rubbish - it simply can't just be middling. Dominion is an American apocalyptic supernatural action drama loosely based on the 2010 film Legion. The basic plot is that God vanishes and in his absence the archangel Gabriel and his army of lower angels wage war against mankind, believing them to be the cause of God's absence. Although most higher-up angels remain neutral, Gabriel has convinced the lower angels to fight alongside him. 25 years later, mankind survives in a few fortified cities. The Archangel Michael has chosen to side with humanity against Gabriel, living among humans in the fortified city of Vega (once Las Vegas) until the time a prophesied saviour appears to save mankind. The cast is pretty good and includes former Home and Away star Christopher Egan, Roxanne McKee of Hollyoaks fame, and veteran actors Anthony Head and Alan Dale.
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Comedy of the week
Enlightened (Friday, Sky Atlantic)
The second-last episode of this brilliant comedy-drama sees Dougie getting official confirmation that Cogentiva is going to be shut down and finally has to break the news to his team. With unemployment looming, Tyler tells Amy that his new girlfriend Eileen (Molly Shannon) might be able to get them transferred within the company. Eileen does get Amy a meeting with CEO Charles Szidon (James Rebhorn) – one that could lead to her dream job, but the timing could not be worse, with Jeff's Abaddon exposé just about to break.
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On Demand
Happy Town (Available now, Sky on Demand)
Brief-but-bonkers drama that was fun while it lasted, which was just eight episodes. Dark secrets lurk under the surface of a small Minnesota town in this compelling US crime drama. The action takes place in the seemingly idyllic Haplin (dubbed Happy Town), where a murder stirs up fear amongst the local population that the prime suspect in an unsolved kidnapping case has resurfaced.
Documentary of the week
A Parting Gift (Thursday, RTÉ One)
Filmed over 18 months, with unprecedented access at the Body Donation Programme at Dublin's Trinity College, this documentary looks at an act that contributes to world-class medical education, research and scientific endeavour: body donation. A Parting Gift captures different perspectives, from the motives and life-stories of donors to the experience of their bereaved families; the staff of the Anatomy Department who receive and prepare remains; and the medical students (past and present) who benefit from a donor’s parting gift. This is the first instalment in a season of programmes on RTÉ One, entitled Once in a Lifetime, which explores aspects of, and attitudes towards, death in Ireland.
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Film of the Week
Rosemary's Baby (Friday, Sky Movies Select)
Roman Polanski directs this super psychological chiller from 1968 that's based on the best-seller by Ira Levin. It stars a young Mia Farrow as a woman who finds herself mysteriously pregnant, and fears that her husband made a deadly pact with their eccentric neighbours. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for her performance as Minnie Castevet, and the interior scenes were filmed in the Dakota Apartments, where former Beatle John Lennon was murdered in 1980 by Mark Chapman.
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