TV not to miss

The Itch Of The Golden Nit

9am, BBC Two

Created as part of the Cultural Olympiad, this cartoon features some of the heavyweights of the British entertainment industry. Aardman had a hand in the animation, while David Walliams is the Golden Nit, and Catherine Tate is Evil Stella.

Horton Hears A Who

RTÉ One, 6.35pm

Adults always complain that these animated adaptations are never as good as the original Dr Seuss books. The main demographic for this film — the children — gave it the thumbs up, however, and plenty of grown-ups. Jim Carrey and Steve Carell provide the principal voices.

Mildred Pierce

Sky Atlantic, 9pm

Episode two of the superb six-part series starring Kate Winslet and Irish actor Brian F O’Byrne. Mildred is doing well as a waitress, but her daughter’s snobbery about the job inspires her into bigger plans. But just as life takes a few giant steps in the right direction, she’s knocked on the head with some terrible news.

SUNDAY

Creedon’s Retro Roadtrip

RTÉ One, 6.30pm

The final show of John Creedon’s series has him back in his home county of Cork, taking in areas such as Allihies and Inchigeela, as well as parts of Kerry.

Top Gear

BBC Two, 8pm

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are in Italy on a quest to find the world’s best hot hatchback: Citroen DS3 Racing, Fiat 500C Abarth or Renaultsport Clio Cup. Comedian Ross Noble is the star in the reasonably priced car.

Traffic Blues

RTÉ One, 8.30pm

As sort of an antidote to Top Gear, this is a new series of the show looking at the work of the Garda Traffic Corps in Dublin, Cork, Donegal and Naas as they try to enforce the rules of the road. Obviously there aren’t enough of the corps to wipe out dangerous behaviour on the roads, but presumably the hope is that this show will be a reminder to drivers that they will occasionally be nabbed.

MONDAY

Mamo

RTÉ One, 8.30pm

New series has Belfast grandmother Máire ‘Mamo’ Andrews visiting families offering advice on everything from learning Irish to how to get the kids to bed on time. It eschews the ‘expert’ approach of psychologist David Coleman and other childcare gurus, instead employing common sense techniques gleaned from her own experiences. For instance, in her first visit to a family with a father from Mayo and a mother from Bulgaria, Andrews shows how a card game can improve the children’s Irish vocabulary, and arranges driving lessons for mum.

Strangeways

TV3, 9pm

Final episode in the revealing documentary series made inside the infamous Manchester prison. Riots at the prison in 1990 forced a rethink on how inmates were treated, and we see how the old-school ‘treat ‘em mean’ approach has been replaced by a combination of carrot and stick. Behave well and you’ll get certain privileges. Tonight we follow the aftermath of model prisoner Adrian Fielding’s recent marriage, where he is expecting to be moved to a low security prison, and become entitled to home visits.

Sirens

Channel 4, 10pm

Second episode of the enjoyable comedy drama following the fortunes of an ambulance crew in Leeds. Based on a real-life autobiography.

Ford’s Dagenham Dream

BBC Four, 11pm

Documentary on the famous Ford Motor Company factory in Dagenham, east London. It drew many Irish workers across the water as it produced a peak of 3,000 cars a day. We see how Ford was initially hugely successful in Britain as its products struck a chord with family car drivers and other motorists through the decades. We also see the cars from the perspective of the workers at the plant, whose memories of happy times are also tempered with thoughts of monotonous jobs on the assembly line.

TUESDAY

Falling Skies

FX, 9pm

Be warned about the premiere of this new big-budget science fiction series from the Dreamworks stable. It’s got Steven Spielberg as producer, along with Saving Private Ryan scriptwriter Robert Rodat as the main creator of the series, and even has top TV actor Noah Wyle (Carter in ER) in the starring role. But, on the evidence of the opening episode, there’s still something missing. Perhaps we just don’t have the patience for a slow build-up of characters and plot, and we will be rewarded as the series develops, but this pilot lacked the punch of a similarly post-apocalyptic tale, The Living Dead. This time around, it’s not the zombies who’ve taken over the earth, but a bunch of familiar-looking aliens. They’re the bad guys, and are enslaving humans, so it’s up to Wyle’s character, Tom Mason, and his Massachusetts Militia to negotiate a safe passage out of Boston, and take part in the liberation fight against these alien invaders. Give it a chance and perhaps it’ll work.

Perfume — Bottling The Memory

BBC Four, 9pm

Excellent ongoing series presenting a behind-the-scenes look at the perfume industry. Tonight’s episode follows three different types of perfumer to see how they work their scented magic.

The View Presents Villagers

RTÉ One, 11.15pm

One of the most interesting Irish acts for quite some time, Villagers main man Conor O’Brien, right, chats to John Kelly about their highly-rated debut, Becoming A Jackal, and also performs some tracks from the album.

WEDNESDAY

Health Of The Nation

RTÉ One, 8pm

Can’t find the will to quit smoking? Perhaps this show from the Parkway Shopping Centre in Limerick will inspire. As well as examining the health issues caused by the evil weed, a skin-scanning clinic allows people to check the damage they’ve caused by too much sun exposure.

THURSDAY

The Good Wife

RTÉ Two, 9pm

Season two of American legal drama begins with a double bill. Julianna Margulies still stars as the put-upon defence attorney.

True Blood

TG4, 10pm

Like many shows, the second season of this vampire tale dropped a few rungs down the entertainment ladder after its superb opening series. For this third season, however, Alan Ball got things back on track, not least by an increase in the focus on the undead characters, and a welcome reduction in the time devoted to Jason Stackhouse. Much of the season revolves around some serious vampire shenanigans as their penchant for lust and power shows that perhaps they’re not that different from humans after all. The love-hate triangle involving Bill, Eric and Sookie also gets more complicated. Incidentally, season four debuted in the US last week, complete with a role featuring Irish actress Fiona Shaw.

FRIDAY

Pale Rider

TG4, 9.30pm

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this 1985 western, the highest-grossing film in the genre in that decade. One of his only films to have religious overtones, Eastwood plays a mysterious preacher helping to protect a village from a greedy mining company.

Saturday Night Fever

RTÉ Two, 11.45pm

The 1977 film that simultaneously marked disco’s high point, and its death. John Travolta is Tony Manero, right, the guy from Brooklyn who struck a chord with young men around the world as he escaped the mundanity of his life by taking to the dance floor. The Bee Gees-led soundtrack still works as well. “Well you can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man.”

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