TV not to miss
Voices From A Hidden People
RTÉ One, 12.50pm
Final episode of the repeats of the 1971 series comes from Limerick and north Cork and explores the literary heritage of the area around Croom. We hear about the gatherings of poets at Seán Ó Tuama’s tavern, and also at Bruree and Charleville.
Nanny McPhee
RTÉ One, 6.35pm
Emma Thompson goes all Mary Poppins as her character charms a bunch of unruly children with her magic powers.
Date Night
Channel 4, 9pm
American comedy giants Tina Fey and Steve Carell join forces for a tale of a long-attached couple who try to freshen up their marriage by going out on a date together.
It’s Not The Taking Part
Setanta Ireland, 9pm
Third and final part of the series following Irish athletes as they prepare for the Olympic Games.
Sport
One of the great feats of sports investigation would be to uncover the level of drug-taking in the Tour de France or the Olympics. Even with the roll-call of disgraced champions, however, both events can still capture our imagination, as will be seen on Tour de France Beo (TG4, 12.55pm) when the great cycle race rolls into Paris. In football, it’s Donegal v Down (TV3, throw-in 2pm) in the Ulster final, followed by Dublin v Meath (RTÉ Two, throw-in 4pm) in the Leinster final.
From Here To Maternity
RTÉ One, 8.30pm
The second series has been excellent so far, and in episode three we follow student midwife Ericka Bautista on her first day at CUMH. After months of study, it all suddenly gets a bit real as she experiences her first birth. Student doctor Tony Lynch is in the hospital for a different reason — his junior doctor wife Meenakshi is expecting twins and her consultant indicates that it may be time to perform the caesarean. We’ll also see the progress of Anita’s pregnancy, and the tough calls her consultant Keelin O’Donoghue has to make, considering she has had five miscarriages.
A Week In The Life Of A Football Club
RTÉ One, 12.15am
As part of a week of programming marking RTÉ’s 50th anniversary, this 1975 documentary on Shelbourne FC gets a repeat. It follows the players and their manager in the lead-up to the FAI Cup final against Home Farm.
Ruby Wax’s Mad Confessions
Channel 4, 10pm
Part of the 4 Goes Mad season which hopes to help break down the stigma attached to mental health issues. In this programme, Wax follows three successful business people as they disclose their mental illnesses to their employers and friends. Excerpts from the American comedienne’s show also deal with her ongoing battle with depression, complete with contributions from her husband and three grown-up children.
A Running Jump
Channel 4, 11.05pm
Mike Leigh was commissioned to make this comedy short as part of the London 2012 Festival, and his tale of a man’s difficult attempt to buy a second-hand car has plenty of sporting references.
Self Portrait: John B Keane
RTÉ One, 11.35pm
This interview with John B Keane, shown as part of RTÉ’s TV50 celebrations, was recorded in 1963. Though he had some success with Sive and Sharon’s Grave by then, he was still a relative newcomer to the Irish arts scene. He talks about his early life in Listowel and how his poor background meant his plans to become a writer were met with contempt. As ever, the interview also has plenty of Keane’s legendary wit as he talks about emigration and his eventual return to Kerry.
Truckers
RTÉ One, 8.30pm
Tonight’s episode focuses on delivery drivers, including Wexford-based courier Jenny Barr, and Rory Ormond, who ensures that flowers from Holland get to his various florist customers around Dublin.
Networks of Power
Sky Atlantic, 9pm
Christopher Meyer continues his look at bastions of real power by visiting New York. He meets opinion-formers in fashion, and also moneyed tycoons such as current mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Ford’s Dagenham Dream
BBC 4, 10pm
There are plenty of Irish families with connections to the Ford motor company’s famous factory in Dagenham in the East End of London. This documentary looks back to the plant’s heyday and the classic models that rolled off its production line — Zephyr, Cortina, Capri, etc.
History Of The World In Three Colours
BBC Four, 9pm
First in a series of three documentaries showing how three colours have influenced our world. Dr James Fox begins with gold, tracing its lure from early sun worship and the Pharaohs to Renaissance art right up to the colour’s significance today.
TV50: The Border
RTÉ One, 11.40pm
A repeat of Bernard Loughlin’s 1989 documentary in which he walked the roads of the border when the Troubles were still in full swing. He meets a diverse array of people whose lives have been linked to the border, from a lord whose estate is divided between north and south, to Eilish McAnespie, whose brother Aidan was shot by a British soldier as he crossed the border heading to a GAA game.
Animal Clinic
RTÉ One, 7pm
A puppy suffers when somebody tries to dock its tail using fishing line. We also see the Dublin SPCA’s investigations into badgers being hunted for sport.
The Churchills
Channel 4, 8pm
David Starkey looks at how Winston Churchill’s work on a biography of his 17th century ancestor John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, helped shape his outlook during the Second World War.
7 Days: It’s A Hard Oul Station
RTÉ One, 7.30pm
Documentary from 1975 on the people of Sheriff Street. They talk about the prejudice against them because of their accents and infamous address. We also hear about the loss of jobs in the Dublin shipyards in the 1970s as global trends sent the business elsewhere.
TV50: Rural Portrait
RTÉ One, 8.30pm
In 1968, Odran Walsh set out to make documentaries on the wonders of ordinary people. For this film, the director’s subject was Tony Walsh, a man whose job was making tea-towels in a factory, but who also had powers as a dowser/water diviner. His skills are even employed by the county engineer in Louth. We also get a glimpse of his family, with his wife knitting in the garden, his father tending his vegetables and his bees, and his mother cooking and baking.
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