What to watch on TV this week

Leech therapy is among the alternative medicine practices featured on Inside Harley Street, Monday.

Sat, 25 Apr, 2015 - 01:00

SATURDAY

Gallipoli: When Murdoch Went To War

BBC Two, 8.30pm

Rupert Murdoch isn’t the first member of his family to have a major influence on world events through the media. This documentary focuses on the Australian mogul’s father, Keith Murdoch, whose 1915 letter to British cabinet ministers about their army top brass’s disastrous campaign at Gallipoli — where he was working as a young reporter — had widespread repercussions.

No Country For Old Men

RTÉ2, 9pm

Hoorah — a decent film on Saturday night! The Coen brothers’ superb offering from 2007 has Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem in the tale of a relentless assassin chasing the man who found $2m belonging to a drug gang.

SUNDAY

Fair City

RTÉ One, 8.30pm

Dolores finds out that Orla and Wayne have been telling her lies, while Kerri-Ann and Decco finally get it together. Unfortunately, for the latter couple, a burst tyre will put their relationship under strain later in the week, and Jo’s opening day for the new launderette is fraught with difficulty. Of course, the launderette isn’t the only new facility opening in Carrigstown recently; last week you may have noticed the new branded hardware store, part of a sponsorship deal as RTE tries to draw in more revenues.

Poldark

BBC One, 9pm

It isn’t just Irish actor Aidan Turner’s smouldering good looks that have been responsible for the huge success of this inaugural series. The tale about the struggles of life across the classes in 18th century Cornwall has been perfect Sunday night fare and, which means tonight’s season finale will be followed next year by a second series.

Hunters Of The South Seas

Channel 4, 9pm

The second episode of the enjoyable series on human life in parts of the western Pacific looks at the whale hunters of Lamalera, where villagers are the last people on Earth still using hand-thrown harpoons to hunt sperm whales and other cetaceans.

Irish Pictorial Weekly

RTE One, 9.30pm

The final episode in the current run of a series that has had some magic moments, but too many dud sketches.

Other Voices

RTÉ2, 10.50pm

Dingle band Walking On Cars are on home ground for tonight’s show, while there are also performances from French-Cuban twins, Ibeyi, and Join Me In The Pines.

MONDAY

The Secrets of Sports Direct

Channel 4, 8pm

Some sections of Newcastle United’s support mightn’t be too enamoured with their chairman Mike Ashley, but through his main business, Sports Direct, he has made a fortune selling sports goods. Presumably, the 2,000 full-time staff who recently got about £70,000 in a bonus share scheme speak highly of the company, while the many workers on zero-hour contracts will have more mixed feelings about their employer. This Dispatches special looks at how Sports Direct has managed to be so successful during a period of struggle for many of its rivals.

Inside Harley Street

BBC Two, 9pm

Alternative medicine features strongly in the final episode of the series. We hear how unconventional cures offered by practitioners on the famous London street stretch back to to the 1820s. These days, as well as the elite conventional doctors who practice in the area, we see Chinese medicine being used for fertility issues, a kinesiologist trying to boost energy levels of people exhausted by young kids, and a company offering a health management system for busy executives, for the sum of £10,000 a year.

Himmler: The Decent One

BBC Four, 9pm

Even by the standards of German leaders of the 1930s, Heinrich Himmler was a particularly repulsive and idiotic indivdual. Not that he quite realised it himself. This documentary in the Storyville strand uses letters, photographs and diaries found at his home in 1945 to get inside the mind of the SS leader who genuinely seemed to believe he was both virtuous and superior.

TUESDAY

Living The Wildlife

RTÉ One, 7pm

A departure from the usual format of the show has Colin Stafford Johnson showing some of the filming techniques and technology he uses to capture images of wildlife.

Super Garden

RTE One, 8.30pm

Brian Burke attempts to create a wheelchair-friendly garden for a family in Co Kildare, as the youngest child, Eddie, has spina bifida. As well as the wheelchair-compatible paths, he tries to create a water feature, vegetable planters and an insect colony at a suitable height for young Eddie to use.

The Peter Mark VIP Style Awards

TV3, 9pm

Irish celebrities of varying levels of prominence will be out in force for this event recorded at Friday’s event at the Marker Hotel in Dublin. Categories in the awards include look of the year, most stylish woman and man, etc.

Later Live With Jools Holland

BBC Two, 10.30pm

Florence and the Machine play the Electric Picnic later this year, and will play songs from their new album on tonight’s show. Other performers include James Taylor, the Charlatans and Mini Mansions.

WEDNESDAY

Tom Barry - Guerilla days in Ireland

TG4, 9.30pm

A repeat of the documentary on the former British Army soldier who became the scourge of Crown forces in West Cork during the War of Independence.

Newzoids

ITV, 9pm

A sort of Spitting Image for the 21st century, this show uses a combination of puppetry and animation to send up celebrities and politicians.

THURSDAY

Home Of The Year

RTÉ One, 8.30pm

The judges visit a thatched stone cottage in Tipperary, a beachside bungalow in south Dublin, and a 1930s terraced house.

FRIDAY