Best on TV: Love/Hate
The Hot Towel is the fourth episode from series seven. Larry gets burned by a hot towel on an airplane, and on the resulting trip to the doctor gets the doc to give him his personal number. It’s something the doctor soon regrets.
The list of ‘celebrities’ for this new series doesn’t exactly sparkle with household names for Irish viewers, but that doesn’t mean the personality politics and bushtucker trials won’t provide some good viewing.
The final episode of the series is entitled Age of Extremes. It brings human history up the 20th century and the disparity between our technical brilliance and our “political idiocy”. Humans could invent airplanes and split atoms, but still managed to fight two world wars. And while the excellent series has obviously been dealing with the past, Marr uses this last show to sound a warning for the future. With seven billion people on the planet, and looming environmental catastrophes threatening our very existence, the decisions we make over the next 50 years are going to be crucial.
Documentary on the fascinating life of Paddy ‘The Cope’ Gallagher, grandfather of the current Fianna Fáil politician. Born into poverty in western Donegal, his days as a migrant potato picker in Scotland inspired him to set up a co-op in his native county in 1906. He began by organising some of his neighbours to buy manure in bulk for their farms, thus getting it at a cheaper price. From there, he went on to open a knitting factory, a bakery, a corn mill and a quarry. Along the way, such organisation threatened local vested interests, and Gallagher was branded a communist and he had to buy his own boats to import materials.
New four-part series exploring life on the island’s off Ireland. This first episode deals with the subject of school days, with a segment on secondary school teacher Niamh Ní Dhrisceoil leaving her native Cape Clear to return to her job on the mainland. We also meet the aptly-named Steve Wing, an Englishman who manages the bird observatory on the island.
This new series will unite train-spotters with those who have a more casual interest in the history of Ireland’s railways. Episode one begins, suitably enough, at the birth of a track-based mass transportation system that moved people and goods between towns.
Nearly 70 years after his death, Adolf Hitler tends to be regarded as a comic figure or an example of pure evil. This three-part documentary series looks closer at the German war leader, examining both his personal outlook that would lead to the massacre of millions in the Holocaust, and also the charisma that made him so popular. In the first episode, Laurence Rees uses archive footage and testimony from those who were in his presence to look at how Hitler formed a connection with millions of German people.
Yotam Ottolenghi is one of the more interesting chefs on the scene, and over four programmes the London-based Israeli travels the southern and eastern Mediterranean to explore its cuisine. He starts in Morocco, where local markets inspire him to create such mouth-watering dishes as a barbecued leg of lamb with almonds and orange blossom sauce; and sweet pastry ‘cigars’ with an almond and cinnamon filling.
Season finale of the period drama. Moray and Katherine’s wedding is approaching, but a troubling incident darkens the atmosphere.
Musical guests include singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding, Seattle group Band of Horses and Family Stone bassist Larry Graham. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is also in the studio to talk about the new film about the band’s brief reunion in 2007.
Michael Palin reaches the end of his journey through Brazil and along the way has copped much flak from critics in his homeland. Overall, though, the former Monty Python provided plenty enjoyable fare as he travelled through the fascinating country. He finishes in the deep south where he meets Sao Paolo’s king of waste disposal, and he also samples some of Brazil’s natural beauty at Iguazu falls and the Pantanal.
The second and final episode of the War of Independence docudrama focuses on the amazing story of Josephine Brown. As a secretary in the British army’s Cork HQ, Brown had all sorts of access to sensitive information, and agreed to spy for the IRA if they agreed to kidnap her eldest son from in Britain where she had earlier lost custody of him to her inlaws. Brown’s contact in the local insurgents was Florrie O’Donaghue, a man she later married.
Christopher Nolan wrote and directed this enjoyable sci-fi heist film, while Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the super-thief.
Part two of the political thriller based on Chris Mullin’s book has Gabriel Byrne’s character going up against a powerful group as he launches an enquiry into the blast at the chemical plant. Meanwhile, Agnes (Ruth Negga) is unhappy that her spymaster bosses aren’t taking her findings seriously.
Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver star in Ang Lee’s superb film from 1997.
The dynamic duo have had some hungry times trying to forage their way across Ireland, but the final episode of the series sees them in the Dingle peninsula preparing a meal for friends. Shellfish, seaweed and wild plants are all on the menu.
Brown’s shows have been causing quite a bit of chatter lately and the concluding part of this ‘experiment’ has the showman mentalist investigating what happens when people are given a drug that removes the feeling of fear.
¦ If you’re a fan of Family Guy and/or crass vulgarity, you’d do well to check out the 50 Shades of Peter Griffin compilation of snippets that’s been doing the rounds to mark the release of The Best Of Family Guy on DVD.
¦ Residents of Bartlemy may notice an extra-large vehicle on the streets of the east Cork town in the coming weeks. They needn’t be alarmed — according to IFTN, locally-based company TVM has just purchased Europe’s largest outside broadcast truck.
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