What to watch on TV this week
Sense8
Netflix
The entire series of this sci-fi drama from Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, etc) is now available for streaming. English actress Tuppence Middleton stars as Riley, an Icelandic DJ who is one of eight people in different parts of the world who find they are telepathically and emotionally linked.
A mysterious stranger tries to bring these ‘sensates’ together for the first time, while an equally mysterious baddie seems intent on killing them.
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Live in Dublin 2014 Sky Arts, 9pm
A live show filmed at the Olympia last year, where the ‘rock and soul’ duo play hits such as ‘I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)’, ‘Maneater’ and ‘Out of Touch’.
Lords & Ladies
RTÉ One, 6.30pm
New series exploring yet another aspect of Ireland’s food culture. Each week, celebrity chefs Derry Clarke, Catherine Fulvio and Paul Flynn visit one of the big country houses and recreate a grand dinner from the past.
The format involves them drawing lots as to who’s going to source the ingredients, which one is going to cook and the luckiest participant who gets to eat with the guests. For this first episode, the trio are at Birr Castle, Co Offaly, where they create recipes from a hand written 17th century cookbook.
For the Love of Cars
Channel 4, 8pm
The final episode of the series has Philip Glenister and Ant Anstead looking back on the restoration of the vehicles they’ve been working on, and also giving some tips on what to do at a car auction.
Panorama BBC
One, 8.30pm
While the first wave of genetically-modified foods created controversy and panic, recent developments in the technologies have brought many people around to the possibility of using GM as part of a solution of feeding the world’s burgeoning population.
Tom Heap investigates whether the opposition to GM foods is based on outdated fears or real science.
The Met: Policing London
BBC One, 9pm
Another one of those fly-on-the-wall documentaries the BBC is so good at producing. This five-part series goes behind the scenes of parts of London’s police force. It was filmed around the time of the impending announcement of the verdict on the police killing of Mark Duggan — the man whose death sparked the riots of 2011 — and we see the preparations to prevent and prepare for fresh outbreaks of disorder.
Kevin McCloud’s Escape to the Wild
Channel 4, 9pm
Generations of westerners have dreamed of leaving behind the rat-race and settling in some remote idyll to live a life that’s supposedly simpler and more fulfilling.
Some came to West Cork, while the likes of Gaugin and Thor Heyerdahl gave it a try in the sunnier climes of the south Pacific. In this new four-part series, Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs visits a number of British families who’ve attempted to create a new life for themselves.
In this first episode, he spends time with Karyn and Boris who’ve taken their three children to a desert island that’s part of Tonga. It looks gorgeous, but they’ve no fresh water or electricity, have to face the annual threat of hurricanes, tsunamis, as well as always being treated as outsiders by the local population.
Along the way, McCloud tries to discover if the people he encounters really are happier, and whether there is anything from their existence that could be brought back to the west to improve our quality of life in this part of the world.
WB Yeats: No Country For Old Men
RTÉ One, 11.15pm
To mark the upcoming 150th anniversary of the birth of Ireland’s most famous poet, RTÉ is repeating Maurice Sweeney’s documentary on Yeats’s later work. It was a period when he moved from the more romantic notions of the pre-independence era for which he is best remembered.
We also hear about his complicated relationships with women in his later years, and how this was reflected in his work. Worryingly, there also seems to be some debate whether the body exhumed in France and repatriated to Ireland for burial in Sligo was actually the right one.
Firefighters
RTÉ One, 7pm
In the final episode of the series, the successful recruits try to put their newly-learned skills into action in a real-life situation.
An Hour to Save Your Life
BBC Two, 9pm
The superb series continues with an episode filmed in a specialist neotatal ward as the staff battle to save babies born with various complications.
A Sporting Chance
RTÉ2, 9pm
After the initial enthusiasm we see how some members of the Limerick tag rugby team are more dedicated than others as the mentors struggle to get enough people along to the training sessions.
The Interceptor
BBC One, 9pm
A promising new crime drama series in which a troubled customs agent joins an elite team of officers set up to prosecute serious career criminals.
The Tribe
Channel 4, 9pm
It isn’t quite the Ethiopian equivalent of the Kardashians, but this new documentary series underlines how people from very different cultures often share some of the same concerns and problems.
The Ayke Muko family are part of the Hamar tribe, and still live a largely traditional life in their four mud huts. Stars of the show are elderly couple Ayke and Kerri, and in the first episode we see them presiding over the difficult task of finding a partner for one of their nine children. Protracted negotiations involve guns and a large dowry of goats.
Dementiaville
Channel 4, 11.05pm
The second episode of the three-part series visits Dr David Sheard as he runs a ground-breaking workshop for three families caring for a loved one with dementia. Part of his approach involves using shared memories to reconnect with the affected person.
The Graham Norton Show
BBC One, 10.35pm
Seth MacFarlane talks about the new Ted 2 film, while actor Mark Wahlberg and 1980s singer Cyndi Lauper also make appearances.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
