TV not to miss
Saturday Night With Miriam
RTE One, 9.45pm
Somebody had the bright idea last week to get Miriam O’Callaghan to perform live interviews outside the studio while holding onto a foal and standing next to a live beehive. It should be a more relaxed affair this time around for the final episode of the series, with the guest list including Sonia O’Sullivan and recently-insulted TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor.
Dragons’ Den
BBC Two, 8pm
More entrepreneurs seek the backing of the cashed-up panel. Tim and Meena Kalia and their business partner, Tricia Tierney, are seeking investment in their innovative new litter trays for dogs. Peter and Michelle Hart bring five of their children along as part of the pitch for a fancy dress business, and the George brothers want backing for their fence preservation company.
Ocean Giants
BBC One, 9pm
Superb documentary on the lives of dolphins and whales. Two renowned underwater cameramen — Doug Allan, Planet Earth’s polar specialist, and Didier Noirot, who worked with Jacques Cousteau’s — get up close to fighting humpback whales and feeding blue whales. Topics covered include why southern right whales have a pair of one-ton testicles, and why the arctic bowhead can live to more than 200 years old.
O’Gorman
RTÉ One, 8.30pm
New series has Paddy O’Gorman travelling around Ireland. For this first episode he’s talking to the locals in west Cork and trying his hand at road bowling.
Rapairí
TG4, 11.40pm
New series on characters in Irish history who fought against the system from the 17th to 19th centuries. First up is Dudley Costello who lost his lands in Mayo in the middle of the 17th century, and ended up becoming a colonel in the Spanish army. When he returned to Ireland, Costello spent a lot of energy fighting against the Dillon family who now controlled his land.
Paul Flynn: Irish Food
RTE One, 7pm
Final episode in the series has the chef going fishing on the Blackwater and cooking up a trout that he catches. He also offers three salads for any picnic and prepares for the Dungarvan Food Festival.
The Sex Education Show
Channel 4, 8pm
Anna Richardson continues her excellent educational series with a focus on attraction. Three couples — gay, straight and lesbian — reveal what it is that attracted them to each other, and the science of it all is also explored. The pupils at this week’s school are taught about contraception, while their parents learn about the dangers of the teenage trend for ‘sexting’, sexually explicit texts.
A Little Bit Eurovision
RTE One, 8.30pm
While much of this series has been flogging very well-known stories, tonight’s episode looks at a less familiar angle on Ireland’s Eurovision history. In 1995, Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry teamed up with Rolf Løvland under the Secret Garden banner to win the Eurovision for Norway with the largely instrumental tune, Nocturne. Here she tells how the win brought its own problems, with the pressure taking its toll.
The Hour
BBC Two, 9pm
This series has never lived up to its pre-broadcast hype, but by now we know what to expect, and have accepted its status as a moderately decent drama.
Seven Dwarves
Channel 4, 9pm
New observational documentary follows the lives of seven real dwarves. Even in these politically correct times, such low-sized people are fair game for ridicule. This group live together during a production of Snow White, but the show aims to get beyond the panto stereotypes with in-depth portrayals of each person. First up is 4’ 2” Max, who also works as a telemarketer. His twin sister, Hannah, who doesn’t share his condition, talks about their relationship and how she’s not enthused by Sam taking classic dwarf roles.
Twilight
Channel 4, 8pm
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson star in the 2008 adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s novels of love and vampirism.
Fág an Bealach
TG4, 9.30pm
Documentary on the Irish Brigade in the American Civil War whose ‘Clear the way’ cry gives the show its name. Dramatising several events, Don Wycherly plays Waterford-born brigade general Thomas Francis Meagher.
The Tenements
TV3, 10pm
Third episode looks at tenement life away from the home. From pubs, schools and the labour market to the Monto area that was one of the biggest red-light districts in Europe. Former tenement dweller Annie Winston, 87, also visits the house in which her children and grandchildren are recreating the conditions of the time, and talks about her experiences.
Monty Halls’ Great Irish Escape
BBC Two, 8pm
The British biologist and broadcaster continues his exploration of the west coast of Ireland by joining a basking shark tagging project.
Jaycee: My 18 Years In Captivity
Channel 4, 10pm
Documentary on Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped as an 11-year-old in California by Phillip Garrido and only released after 18 years, despite numerous opportunities for the police to uncover the crime. During her time in captivity Dugard had two children, and talks here about her experiences.
Gardeners’ World
BBC Two, 8.30pm
Monty Don anticipates the end of summer and plants crocuses and cyclamen for the months ahead. Joe Swift and Carol Klein also visit inspirational gardens.
The Butcher Boy
RTE Two, 9pm
Neil Jordan’s fairly decent adaptation of Patrick McCabe’s magnificent novel stars Eamonn Owens and Stephen Rea, while Sinéad O’Connor plays a foul-mouthed Virgin Mary.
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