From The Late Late Toy Show to new dramas such as Capital and Blindspot, returning Scan-dram The Bridge, to the latest Vogue Williams vehicle. It's another busy seven days of telly.
John Byrne’s TV choices for the week ahead (Dates covered: Saturday Nov 21-Friday Nov 27)
Pick of the week
The Late Late Toy Show, Friday, RTÉ One
There can be no more arguments: Christmas is officially here. Ryan Tubridy is dusting down his selection of seasonal cardigans and jumpers to host the show that celebrates being young, gifted and Santa-ised, as this year's most talked about toys get tested by kids from all around the country. As ever, there'll be special guests, live music and lots of surprises.
Last year’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-themed show proved to be hugely popular with children of all ages. Fingers crossed for another great spectacular.
Star of the week
Johnny Depp
The Graham Norton Show, Friday, BBC One
I'm so old I can remember seeing Johnny Depp starring in a decent film. Anyway, the vibes are positive about his latest caper, co-starring alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in the gangster movie Black Mass, so fingers crossed he's back with something good.
Both Depp and Cumberbatch are on the sofa opposite Graham Norton, and this week's other guests include Daniel Radcliffe, who continues to shed his Harry Potter skin with his latest film, Victor Frankenstein. He'll be appearing alongside co-star James McAvoy. Music comes from The Corrs.
Starting this week
Capital, Tuesday, BBC One
The hugely versatile Toby Jones stars in this new drama, which offers a fascinating premise as its centred on eye-popping property values in London.
To the outside world, the residents of Pepys Road in south London have it all. House prices have rocketed, creating a street of multimillion-pound homes, and all's well until a mysterious note with the words 'we want what you have' is dropped through every letterbox. Who has sent the message? And why are they watching the residents?
Petunia (Gemma Jones) has lived all her life on the street. She is growing increasingly worried about her dizzy spells, but doesn’t want to turn to her daughter Mary (Lesley Sharp) for help.
Meanwhile, Roger (Toby Jones), banker and supposed family man, is hoping that this year’s bonus might bring him and his wife Arabella (Rachael Stirling) happiness, or at least cover the cost of it.
Before long the ripples caused by the anonymous note will have touched every corner of the community - and the residents of Pepys Road will see their lives transformed.
The Bridge, Saturday, BBC Four
The Saturday night subtitled show on the Beeb's fourth channel is as popular as ever among the chattering classes, and this Sofia Helin-starring cop show is among the favourites. Helin returns as Saga Norén, Malmo's top homicide detective, and this run kicks off with the corpse of a Danish citizen.
Bressie's Ironmind, Sunday, RTÉ2
Enlisting the help of experts in everything from psychology to nutrition, the bould Bressie is taking on the task of training four people with their own mental health challenges to compete in a gruelling half-Ironman event, having never trained for one before.
Ireland with Simon Reeve, Sunday, BBC Two
This two-parter explores life on both sides of the Irish border. In this first episode, Reeve arrives by ferry into Wexford and looks at the beginnings of the long and turbulent relationship between Britain and Ireland.
Vogue Williams - Wild Girls, Tuesday, RTÉ2
The former Mrs McFadden returns with a new series, this time taking her into contact with some of the world’s toughest women.
In the opener Vogue Williams travels to America and experiences life as an inmate at The Miami-Dade Prison Bootcamp in Florida.
Tomorrow's Food, Monday, BBC One
Led by Dara O Briain, this series will reveal the cutting-edge technologies and produce appearing in farms, supermarkets, kitchens and restaurants around the world, transforming how we grow, buy and eat our food.
Ending this Week
Junior Eurovision, Saturday, TG4
Live from Sofia in Bulgaria, Ireland will compete in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. 13-year-old Aimee Banks from Galway will be singing her own, self-composed Irish language song.
Dominic Sandbrook: Let Us Entertain You, Wednesday, BBC Two
The final episode looks at the way in which post-war culture has seen the triumph of an idea that first took hold during the Victorian period: the rise of the individual.
Vikings, Monday, RTÉ2
Rollo’s destiny is recognized and Bjorn steps up as a leader. With one last chance to take Paris, Ragnar and his Vikings troops take a daring chance.
The Fear, Monday, BBC Three
The competition to find scariest amateur horror movie in the UK comes to an end. After the last remaining films are scored by the cinema audience, the fright-fest reaches a nail-biting climax.
Family Guy, Sunday, BBC Two
As another season wraps, Lois books a couples' holiday in the Bahamas, but Peter's in for a shock as it turn out to be a marriage counselling programme.
The Works Presents, Thursday, RTÉ One
In the final programme of the run, John Kelly meets performance artist Marina Abramovic at her home in New York. She looks amazing for a 68-year-old!
Designer Ireland, Thursday, RTÉ One
Last up, the show explores the impact design has on everyday lives, and uncovers the increasingly visible role that Irish architects and designers now play in a global design industry.
Drama
Blindspot, Tuesday, Sky Living
Sullivan Stapleton (Strike Back), Jaimie Alexander (Thor) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies, Broadchurch) star in the latest highly-anticipated US mystery crime drama. It's getting like Sky own everything on the telly now...
Anyway, it all begins when a woman (Alexander) is found naked and covered with tattoos inside a holdall in Times Square. With no memory of her past, she has no idea who she is or how she came to be there. Hidden in her cryptic body ink is the name of hardened FBI agent Kurt Weller (Stapleton).
And, as he and his FBI teammates begin to decode the map of clues etched on her skin, they discover that each tattoo contains clues to a crime they must solve and a huge conspiracy that could – of course! – ultimately change the world.
Comedy
Live at the Apollo, Monday, BBC One
The roll call of stand-ups who have performed in front of London's famous Live At The Apollo lights plays out like a who’s who of comedy, and this week has an Irish angle as well as one of the UK's best known members of the psychedelic end of things.
In tonight’s episode, the always entertainingly spaced-out Noel Fielding is the host with the toast, as he introduces the brilliant Dane Baptiste and the second-funniest thing from Tallaght, Al Porter.
Here's Al on the Late Late talking Tallaght:
Documentary
Seconds To Live: Reality Bites, Thursday, RTÉ2
This week's Reality Bites tracks the Rapid Response medical unit based in Cork. It comprises of a team of highly-skilled doctors who give up their time outside of their regular jobs in the hospital and general practice to bring the operating room to the roadside.
This is a place where time and movement of injured parties can be a matter of life or death which at times can be risky to themselves.
These dedicated men are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and are unpaid life-saving volunteers.
On Demand
Love is Strange, from Saturday, Netflix
This highly-acclaimed drama sees John Lithgow and Alfred Molina in tremendous form as Ben and George, a same-sex couple from New York, who get married after 39 years together.
George is a Catholic school music teacher, and when word of the marriage reaches the archdiocese, he's sacked. Without his salary, the couple can no longer afford their New York apartment and are forced to ask their friends and family for shelter, while trying to find time to spend together.
Film of the Week
The Great Gatsby, Wednesday, RTÉ One
Baz Luhrmann isn't to everyone's taste, and there were many raised eyebrows at the notion of him filming F Scott Fitzgerald's literary masterpiece, but I thought it was a gloriously colourful interpretation.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the eponymous newly-monied Jay Gatsby, with Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton in supporting roles in a film that links two distinctly shallow periods - the early 20th and 21st Centuries.
John Byrne
