TV not to miss: Bullyproof
A Halloween-themed show sees the 12 remaining couples put through their paces in a number of dances, including paso doble. Paloma Faith is the musical guest.
Historian and journalist Tim Stanley expounds his theory on how you can glimpse the ‘real’ America by watching its sitcoms. He talks to some of the people responsible for such series as The Cosby Show, Family Guy and Modern Family about how their shows reflect the culture they came from.
Simon Peg and Thandie Newton star in this 2007 comedy directed by Friends star David Schwimmer. An unfit man decides to run a marathon to win back the fiancée he jilted. Amusing rather than hilarious.
A show presented by Robert Ballard — the man who found the Titanic — includes a segment on smoking vents in the mid-Atlantic ridge that were discovered by a team from UCC.
This week’s challenge for Dermot Bannon is to turn a woodworm-infested 1930s cottage into a proper home for a Finglas couple. He has to revamp the property and put on a modern extension within a very limited budget. Early on, we hear him agreeing with the quantity surveyor that it can’t be done. As he ploughs on, however, he encounters further issues which complicate the whole project. Can Bannon provide the happy ending in time for Lisa and Gavin’s upcoming wedding?
A documentary on Tobar na nGealt (‘Well of the Mad’) in west Kerry explores the history of a place that people with mental health issues have been drawn to for centuries. Written references to the well go back to 1584, but there was a far deeper tradition of drinking the water to help cure mental illnesses. West Kerry author Dairena Ní Chinnéide talks about her own bi-polar lows, while local residents, a psychiatrist and a scientist also talk about the well’s place in the healing process, and the show also witnesses a chemical test of what the water contains.
Irish interest in Misfits waned with the departure of Robert Sheehan last year, but it still provides plenty entertainment. Series four combines the usual strange goings on with some uninhibited comedy moments.
This new comedy drama from HBO really has caused a social network stir since it debuted on this side of the pond last week.
EVERYBODY loves it, apparently. It is particularly popular among the younger female demographic whose lives it connects with. With humorous scenes dealing with such subjects as sex, STDs and abortion clinics, it does explore areas that most other TV shows haven’t quite reached yet. If you want to take part in those water-cooler conversations, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
The final part of Richard Dawkins’ look at a lifeview without religion looks at how atheists can find meaning in their existence. As well as underlining the randomness of life by meeting the survivors of a tornado in Missouri, he also encounters dedicated atheist Ricky Gervais. Dawkins also gives the show a personal angle, explaining how it is the wonder in scientific enquiry — from the human genome to the quest for the Higgs Boson — that gets him up in the morning.
In this two-part show running Monday and Tuesday, Chris Packham is among a team of presenters and scientists heading to the Arctic to trace the lifecycle of icebergs. Apparently, we know surprisingly little about them. Tonight the team are in Greenland, climbing over and through that island’s ice, and they witness a multi-million ton block of ice breaking away from a glacier. In tomorrow’s show, they actually board a huge iceberg off the coast of Canada, and experience the twin dangers of it breaking up and encountering polar bears.
Katherine Lynch can be a mixture of hit and miss, so it’ll be interesting to see how her latest series fares. A slightly twisted version of the daytime TV format, interviews will be conducted by her Singing Bernie Walsh character, with Brian Dowling onboard as trusty sidekick.
The series focusing on the developing world returns for another run. First up is the tale of two Ethiopians whose lives have been transformed for the better since their home region of Wollo hit the headlines as the epicentre of the 1984 famine.
Cork girl Jessica Feeney is up against Emily Finnegan from Navan and Chloe McMenamin from Monaghan in the attempt to impress Roz Purcell and her judges.
Documentary on a dark episode during the Civil War when four anti-Treaty prisoners were executed in Donegal in Mar 1923, a reprisal for the killing of a Free State soldier a few days previously.
It can be a deeply uncomfortable sight to see young people doing their best to convince Alan Sugar that they are the entrepreneurs of the future. But then again, a £25,000 award to kick-start their careers is a tempting prize.
The RaboDirect PRO12 features Cardiff Blues v Munster from Cardiff Arms Park.
This early slot has never felt like the right place for the excellent foreign affairs show, but it must be working as the series is back for a 24th run. First up is a focus on the US and the talk-radio hosts who may help sway the upcoming election.
¦ As series two of Homeland sucks in a whole new raft of viewers, it’s no surprise to hear that a third run of the US thriller has been arranged for next year. It’ll be interesting to see where the series will go, as the continuing shenanigans of Brody, Carrie and Saul have to stay just about believable for the dynamic of the show to work.
¦ Series five of Breaking Bad is available on Netflix from Thursday. The eight-episode run is half of the final season for the show, with the last eight instalments due next year. Season five is excellent, even if it is the darkest yet. TG4 is currently running series three.
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