Best on TV

SATURDAY

Titanic Weekend

History Channel

While some people are already suffering from Titanic overkill, tomorrow’s anniversary of the sinking will ensure that shows about the disaster will run for a couple of more days. The History Channel has three major shows this weekend: Heroes of the Titanic (today, 6.15pm) looks at the boilermen and engineers below deck whose actions helped buy time for others to evacuate; Ghosts of the Abyss (Sunday, 4pm) follows James Cameron’s submarine journey to the shipwreck; and Titanic 100: Mystery Solved (Sunday 6pm) looks at the issues with the ship’s structure.

SUNDAY

This World — Norway’s Massacre

BBC Two, 9pm

In the week that Anders Breivik has been found sane enough to stand trial for his killing of 77 people in Norway last year, this documentary traces the story of the attacks. It includes survivors of the island onslaught and members of the police team who eventually arrested Breivik.

The Piano

Film4, 9pm

This channel’s ongoing movies in its Films For Life series features Jane Campion’s superb 1993 New Zealand-set drama. Holly Hunter stars as the mute Scottish widow who enters into a torrid affair with Harvey Keitel’s character. Watch out for a young Anna Paquin (True Blood).

MONDAY

Inside Nature’s Giants

Channel 4, 8pm

It’s the turn of Australia’s iconic kangaroo to go under the scalpel tonight as we find out more about the anatomy of the marvellous marsupial. Unlike some of the other creatures the show has tackled, there is no problem finding a kangaroo carcass to cut up. The southern continent is teeming with tens of millions of the blighters and individuals often come a cropper in collisions with cars. An anatomical marvel, we see how its massive Achilles tendon is the key to its hopping movement, while the male’s genitalia looks back-to-front and each female has three vaginas, as well as the famous pouch. The show also visits the Blue Mountains near Sydney in the company of Charles Darwin’s great great grandson to look at some of the region’s other unique wildlife.

TUESDAY

Garraí Glas

TG4, 8pm

Síle Nic Chonaonaigh is with John Dolan in Ballingeary, Co Cork, where he’s transformed several acres of boggy hillside into a lush forest garden. She also goes to a bog for another lesson in traditional turf-cutting.

WEDNESDAY

Chelsea v Barcelona

RTÉ Two, ko 7.45pm

The first leg of the Champions League semi-final will be a tough test for the home side as they try to keep Lionel Messi and co from scoring.

The White Ribbon

RTÉ Two, 11.40pm

This film from German director Michael Haneke won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2009 for its portrayal of the events surrounding a puritanical pastor in a village before the First World War.

THURSDAY

Comhrá

TG4, 7.30pm

Bríd Cranitch of the cultural centre in Baile Bhúirne in the Muskerry Gaeltacht in north-west Cork talks about her music and other areas of her life.

Louis Theroux

BBC Two, 9pm

The documentary-maker’s latest film is entitled Extreme Love: Autism and is set in DLC Warren in New Jersey — a highly regarded centre for dealing with the condition. He meets a number of the people attending the school, as well as their parents, and hears about how autism affects them, and how they are trying to overcome it. Among the participants is 20-year-old Brian, whose past behaviour has included attacking his mother and setting fire to the family home. Now in residential care, the school is trying to prepare him for life as an adult. At the other end of the programme is 19-year-old Nicky, who has made good progress at Warren and is nearly finished at the school. He is surrounded by a loving family who say they wouldn’t have him any other way.

The Good Wife

RTÉ Two, 9.30pm

Season three of the legal drama begins with an episode entitled A New Day. Alicia has the usual storm brewing in her personal life, but must put that aside to focus on a difficult case in which a Muslim student is accused of murdering his Jewish classmate.

Extreme A&E

Channel 4, 10pm

Dr Kevin Fong introduces a new series in which he follows medical personnel in different parts of the world as they deal with the results of terrible accidents. First up is the city of Melbourne, home to one of the best trauma centres on the planet.

Éagóir

TG4,10.30pm

Tonight’s episode on miscarriages of justice in Ireland looks at the case of Charlie McMenamin, who was convicted in 1980 in a non-jury Diplock court in the North of conspiracy to murder British soldiers and jailed for three years. He alleged that his admission to the crimes was only to end the mistreatment he had been subjected to while in custody, and this was eventually upheld in an appeal in 2008.

The Works

RTÉ One, 11.10pm

Kevin Barry has been enjoying huge success with his City Of Bohane novel, but this show follows the Limerick writer to his home in Sligo to talk about new short story collection.

The Wrestler

Film4, 11.20pm

Back in 2008 when we heard that Mickey Rourke would be making his comeback in a film about an ageing wrestler, many of us scoffed and made a mental note to self about never watching it. How wrong we were. Rourke was the perfect choice to play Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson and Darren Aronofsky’s tale of the burnt-out bum with a good heart is nicely executed.

FRIDAY

Ray

ITV, 10.35pm

Jamie Foxx (where is he now?) plays the great Ray Charles in a biopic that traces the blind singer’s rise from childhood poverty to international star, with plenty of sex and drugs mixed in among the rock ‘n’roll.

The Ronnie Wood Show

Sky Arts, 11pm

The Rolling Stones guitarist meets up with reggae legend Toots Hibbert to talk about such tracks as Monkey Man, and the duo also jam together on a number of classic tunes.