TV not to miss
Glee’s Extraordinary Merry Christmas
TV3, 7pm
The festive season provides the perfect excuse for New Directions to roll out the Christmas songs, with Little Drummer Boy and Let It Snow featuring alongside more-modern tunes. It’s also a big episode for exchange student Rory Flanagan, played by Derry actor Damian McGinty, who gets to perform a seasonal solo.
The Killing II
BBC Four, 9pm
The final two episodes in a series that, while it hasn’t been as gripping as the first run, has certainly been rolled out at a faster pace. Tonight’s double-bill sees Lund and Strange heading off to Afghanistan to follow up a new lead on the killer, before returning to dreary Denmark for the exciting climax.
Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties
Channel 4, 10pm
The British funny woman looks back on some of the best moments from TV comedy in the previous decade. David Walliams, Noel Fielding and Rob Brydon are among the contributors.
Francis Brennan’s Grand Tour
RTÉ One, 8.30pm
The final episode in the series has Francis Brennan bringing his charges from Tuscany to Rome. While in the Italian capital he brings them around the famous historical sites, but the most interesting bit is the big reveal at the end when both the tourists and Brennan himself get moderately candid on what they thought of each other.
Bowfinger
RTÉ Two, 9.30pm
Widely-overlooked comedy in which Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy defy their fading powers to produce a healthy heap of laughs in a film directed by Frank Oz of Muppets fame. It follows a broke filmmaker trying to get footage of a major star for his movie without having to pay him. Other familiar faces include Heather Graham and Terence Stamp.
Cogar: Hadji Beys
TG4, 9.30pm
This documentary looks at the legendary Hadji Beys sweetshop in Cork, set up by an Armenian Christian named Harutan Batmazian who fled Constantinople in 1902. His Turkish delights — whose name translates as ‘prince from the east’ — became a Christmas favourite on Leeside and were also sold in Harrods in London and Macy’s of New York. While the sweets were still manufactured for many years after Batmazian’s death, they eventually went out of production, but have since been revived by an Irish company who purchased the brand last year.
Bruno
Channel 4, 10pm
Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to the hugely successful Borat unleashed the gay Austrian fashionista on the world. The 2009 film may provide a few laughs, but be warned that it isn’t as funny as some of Cohen’s earlier work, and at times veers towards the tasteless.
Misfits
E4, 10pm
At the beginning of this series, the big question was whether it would suffer from the loss of Robert Sheehan. So, as we hit the final episode, the answer is a definite yes. The Irish actor’s character had most of the best lines, and while new boy Joseph Gilgun has done well, we’re still holding out hope for a resurrection of Nathan at some stage.
The Year the Earth Went Wild
Channel 4, 8pm
It’s been an incredible 12 months for disaster stories with killer tornadoes in the US, the tsunami in Japan, earthquakes in New Zealand and a hurricane in New York. While they are often tragic events, they are also highly photogenic and this show combines amateur and professional footage with expert accounts as it looks back on 2011.
Mali Music
Sky Arts 1, 10pm
Documentary following Damon Albarn through Mali as he explored the country’s music scene. The Blur and Gorillaz frontman also recorded with a number of local musicians that would later appear on his album Mali Music.
The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3
TV3, 9pm
No, it’s not as good as the 1974 original, but this recent remake with such impressive actors as John Travolta and James Gandolfini is a decent effort. The tension-laden plot revolves around a hijacked subway train in New York.
Jamie’s Christmas With Bells On
Channel 4, 9pm
The second part of Jamie Oliver’s show has advice on how to pull everything together for Christmas dinner. He attempts to rehabilitate of Brussels sprouts, while a bloody mary seafood platter is also on the menu.
Vincent Browne’s Political Awards 2011
TV3, 11.15pm
The outspoken broadcaster is joined by various journalists to discuss the year in politics and also to select the winner of such prestigious awards as Politician of the Year and Survivor of the Year.
Dublin Airport: Coming Home For Christmas
TV3, 8pm
One of the effects of the economic collapse has been the resumption of emotional scenes at Irish airports as families are briefly reunited for the holidays. This show has some heartwarming footage from the arrivals hall at Dublin Airport. Presumably, the equivalent scenes after Christmas in the departures hall will be too depressing for a sequel.
Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder
Channel 4, 9pm
Many of us have hoarding tendencies, a phenomenon caused by a fondness for nostalgia or other deep-rooted psychological issues. But few people reach the extremes of Richard Wallace, whose big home in Surrey is packed with newspapers and other items he can’t bring himself to throw away. There’s so much debris in his house it takes him 40 minutes to get from the front door to the chair he eats and sleeps in. His garden is also filled with tonnes of refuse. This is his story.
Rachel Allen’s Easy Meals
RTÉ One, 8.30pm
It’s official. Celebrity chefs have overtaken elves as the most important workers at Christmas. Rachel Allen gets in the mix with smoked salmon fishcakes, pan fried duck with redcurrant jelly sauce and an indulgent chocolate mascarpone mousse.
Fuil & Dúch
TG4, 7.30pm
A repeat of the documentary recounting the murder of Moss Moore in Kerry in 1959, an event immortalised by John B Keane in his play The Field and the subsequent Hollywood film starring Richard Harris. Among those taking part is the nephew of Dan Foley, the man suspected of the unsolved land-dispute killing who provided the inspiration for the Bull McCabe character. John Foley says his uncle was framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and died aged 62 after the pressures of a boycott from the local community.
Come Dine With Me: Comedians Christmas Special
Channel 4, 8pm
Irish funnyman Sean Hughes is among the four comedians putting their culinary skills to the test to win £1,000 for charity. Irish odlums are among the three dishes all made with the same ingredients by Hughes, and he also hires a Smiths tribute band for the entertainment.
The Many Lovers Of Miss Jane Austen
BBC Two, 9pm
It’s 200 years since the publication of Jane Austen’s first novel, Sense and Sensibility. Amanda Vickery marks the event by exploring the popularity of her fiction today, and questions why it has gone in and out of fashion through the decades.
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