What to watch on TV this week
As we wait for the next instalment of John Lasseter’s series in 2018, the second film from 1999 can act as a reminder as to how good they are. Here, Woody is stolen by a toy collector, so the gang embark on a mission to rescue him.
If Christina Noble’s incredible life story had been written as a work of fiction, you’d probably consider it too far-fetched.
In this film, Deirdre O’Kane plays the inspirational Irish woman who experienced the most awful childhood traumas, but ended up caring for thousands of poor children in Vietnam.
Paul is in for another unhappy few days, and in tonight’s episode, Rachel reveals a few home truths. Later in the week, we’ll see Zumo reacting when the Brennans attempt to pull a fast one on him.
The scandals of Irish society through the decades provide fodder for another series.
First up is an episode entitled ‘Thundering Disgrace’, recalling the resignation of president Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh in 1976 after Fine Gael TD Paddy Donegan went unpunished for remarks he made.
The third episode of the series spends time in Cork, where smoker John Lambe undergoes surgery in the South Infirmary to remove tumours from his tongue and throat.
We also see the work of bed manager Sonya Cotter at CUH as she begins her day by trying to sort the almost 20 patients who are waiting on trolleys.
Elsewhere, a woman undergoes a C-section in Holles Street, and a 49-year-old sufferer of Parkinson’s Disease attends her local support group.
Earlier in the week, we had a film on Christina Noble; this unfortunately late documentary looks at the equally inspirational Malala Yousafzai.
Shot by the Taliban at the age of 15 for defying the Islamists’ ban on females going to school, she survived to campaign for girls’ education around the world.
The final episode of the excellent series on the ultimate city comes from Central Park, where it goes behind the scenes with the teams of workers who look after the 843 acres it encompasses.
They also visit Harlem an area that’s beginning to lose its reputation as being an area for poor, black people.
The insane price of property in Manhattan has helped push gentrification towards Harlem, with the usual benefits and drawbacks of such trends.
Episode two of the series from the vets in Togher, Cork, includes an elderly labrador who undergoes risky surgery to try to sort its voicebox.
We meet Waterford native Rosie Nolan, 27, who joined the Brisbane police after coming to Australia as a backpacker. She’s now well settled in the country. There’s also more from Bantry trucker Con O’Sullivan who has to do a repair job on the monster cattle truck he drives.
Though jaguars are faring better than some of their other big cat cousins, loss of habitat and hunting have contributed to their decline in the Americas. This documentary follows a team of researchers in Brazil who are trying to return a pair of orphaned cubs to the wild.
The broadcaster looks at the case of Irish teenager Amy Fitzpatrick, who went missing in Malaga on New Year’s Day 2008 and hasn’t been seen since.
Her family has suffered further since, with her brother being stabbed to death by her mother’s partner Dave Mahon, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for the manslaughter.
The five celebs continue their weight loss and fitness programmes, with varying degrees of success.
Melvyn Bragg looks back on two shows he did in the 1990s: a trip to Havana in 1998 to meet the Afro-Cuban All Stars orchestra; and a 1997 journey to Reykjavik to meet Bjork.
One of the well-publicised traits of the current Irish property market is how the lack of supply has meant rents spiralling upwards to prices beyond Celtic Tiger levels.
Tonight’s episode looks at this from the perspective of a Dublin estate agent, who must find the right tenant for a three-bed house that costs €1,750 a month. We also see a not uncommon situation in Dublin where many pre-1963 dwellings are now lying vacant because it doesn’t pay to bring them up to compliance with regulations introduced in 2012.
Chris van Tulleken has a concern that many common illnesses are better treated without drugs, so he takes over part of a GP practice and tries other other solutions.
He gets a woman suffering from depression to swim in a cold lake, and a person suffering from shoulder pain has her tablets unknowingly replaced with placebos.
Trying to guess the winner of the Mercury Prize is harder than picking the horse who’ll win the Grand National.
However, could the mysterious panel of judges really overlook David Bowie’s Blackstar?
The bookies seem to think the late great singer is a sure thing, but then again they said the same last year about Jamie XX, and the prize ended up going to the still little-known Benjamin Clementine.
Other big names nominated this year include Radiohead and Laura Mvula.
Specialised subjects on tonight’s show include musician Nick Drake, TV series Band of Brothers and the great runner Emil Zatopek.
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