What to watch on TV this week
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Netflix
Anyone with an interest in music, Nina Simone or just good documentary fare will enjoy Liz Garbus’s documentary on the late, great singer.
As well as the tale of success and mental health strife that characterised Simone’s life, we also hear harrowing accounts from her daughter Lisa of how her mother was often drunk and violent.
As Netflix’s first commissioned documentary, it also is another little milestone in the evolving relationship between TV and the online world.
The Secret of Kells
TG4, 5pm
With The Song of the Sea due for general release soon, this is a timely broadcast of Irish company Cartoon Salon’s previous feature.
Lords & Ladles
RTE One, 6.30pm
The linen industry has a long history on this island, and tonight the three celebrity chefs are off to Ballywalter Park in Co Down, home of the Mulholland family, once the biggest players in the domestic textile scene. For the period feast, the trio have to make butter and pluck turkeys.
Amazing Spaces Shed of the Year
Channel 4, 8pm
Pub sheds and budget sheds are up for appraisal tonight, including one that holds a gin distillery.
Humans
Channel 4, 9pm
Testing on creepy android Anita reveals she was created 14 years ago, which means she must have had a previous owner. So who was it, and what was their influence on the way she’s turned out?
The Kids Are All Right
RTÉ One, 9.30pm
Highly enjoyable drama from 2010 in which Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a couple who’ve had two children conceived by the same father through artificial insemination. When the kids track him down, the anonymous donor played by Mark Ruffalo enters into the lives of the family with all sorts of consequences.
Meet The Young Americans
RTÉ2, 9.55pm
At first sight, Stacey Dooley comes across as somebody who was randomly picked from the street to present a TV show.
Her everyday persona doesn’t prevent her from bringing insight to some serious stories, however, and this episode follows Dooley as she spends time with young female offenders doing a bootcamp regime named ‘Shock’ in an American prison.
Stop At Nothing
RTÉ One, 10.10pm
Just in case you’re getting all excited about the Tour de France, this documentary on Lance Armstrong may burst your bubble and remind you what a discredited sport cycling has become.
We see how its greatest star was also its biggest cheat, a position he couldn’t have sustained over so many years without the collaboration and acquiesence of fellow cyclists and many other people involved in the sport. There’s a strong Irish presence in the documentary through Paul Kimmage, David Walsh, Emma O’Reilly and Pat McQuaid.
A Deadly Warning: Srebrenica Revisited
BBC One, 10.35pm
Journalist Myriam François-Cerrah visits Srebrenica with a group of young people who were all born in 1995, the year of the infamous massacre of 8,000 people at the Bosnian town. Those events are discussed in the context of what can be learned for multicultural societies today.
Grey’s Anatomy
RTÉ2, 9pm
The second-last episode of the current series has the staff of Grey Sloane Memorial under pressure as they have to deal with a major emergency.
Natural World
BBC Four, 9pm
A film following a team of 50 scientists and others as they use underwater robots and other technology to try and film the elusive giant squid.
Penny Dreadful — And They Were Enemies
Sky Atlantic, 10pm
Series two comes to a close, but season three of a show that’s largely filmed in Dublin has already been green-lit.
Imagine
BBC One, 10.35pm
Ginger Baker has a very mixed reputation in the world of rock.
As well as a brilliant drummer with the likes of Cream and Blind Faith, he also comes with a personality that could be diplomatically described as ‘colourful’.
In this documentary, we see both sides of an icon who is still making music.
GAA Beo
TG4, 7.15pm
Live coverage of the Leinster U21 hurling final featuring Wexford v Kilkenny.
Children Of The Gaza War
BBC Two, 9pm
Last summer, the Israeli onslaught on Gaza claimed the lives of more than 500 children, while one child was also killed on the Israeli side of the border. Anybody over the age of six in Gaza has lived through at least three major conflicts.
This documentary looks at the traumatic effects this situation has on children on both sides of the border. We see 10-year-old Israeli kibbutz resident Michal and his family fleeing their homes to find refuge from Palestinian rocket fire, and then learn on their return that their four-year neighbour has been killed in an attack.
On the other side is Samar, 12, one of many Palestinians who was sheltering in a UN school when it was bombed by the Israelis. Her father was killed, her mother was badly injured and the family was left homeless.
Long Lost Family
ITV, 9pm
Alley Lofthouse’s tale is incredible. Now 48, she was abandoned on the doorstep of a block of flats in Glasgow as a baby. She’s never found out who left her there.
Grand Designs: Living the City
Channel 4, 8pm
After his series set in far-flung regions of the globe, Kevin McCloud is back on more familiar ground with four shows on building in the cramped confines of the city. He combines footage from the best of previous series’ urban builds, with expert interviews on the latest architectural thinking.
King for a Term
Sky Arts, 9pm
Idris Elba writes and directs this one-off lighthearted drama that was inspired by his own childhood in Hackney, London.
The Notorious
RTE2, 10.30pm
No matter what you think of Conor McGregor, this behind the scenes series at his life and fights over a few months last year is well worth a watch.
