Tonight's TV tips
JIGS & WIGS is a new six part documentary series which looks at the extreme world of Irish dancing, a world that is constantly evolving.
With the global success of Riverdance – 20 years old this year – Irish dance is an art form that has been thrust onto the world stage.
The result is that there are far more Irish dancers across the globe than there are in Ireland.
JIGS AND WIGS features some of the more unusual individuals and their stories which make Irish dancing a vibrant and progressive entertainment phenomenon.
In a world where everything is make believe, male Irish dancers live their own fairy-tale in a pageant to rival anything else seen on the Vegas Strip during Gay Pride Week.
Seasoned entrepreneurs PJ Moore and Brian Browning bought their Bettystown gym three years ago.
No strangers to risks, they are about to take their biggest one yet as they stand aside for two weeks to leave their business in the hands of their gym instructors!
In true entrepreneurial form, the bosses leave their staff with a challenge… to sign up 200 new members in their absence.
With the bosses out of the way, the staff decide to overhaul the gym’s advertising, and stick it to their stock images by designing a brand new ad campaign. But are their pictures and PR stunts really the image the gym should portray?
The rest of the staff decide to look for the next big fitness craze to hit Ireland and set about redesigning the class timetable to attract more members. But with Disco Bounce added to the list, are they on the money or way off the mark?
It’s a scenario that most nervous fliers like to think only exists in Hollywood movies – a pilot is suddenly taken ill mid-flight, and a complete novice is forced to take over the controls.
Yet, in October last year, that’s exactly the situation 77-year-old grandfather John Wildey found himself in.
Following a day out in north Lincolnshire, he was being flown home by his pilot friend, who began to complain of feeling unwell, and then collapsed at the controls, while the aeroplane was 1,500 feet up in the air.
John had no experience of flying – he couldn’t even find the switch for the lights inside the cockpit, which made his ordeal even more terrifying – but had no choice but to make the landing in pitch darkness, with the help from a small team on the ground and in the air.
Using the dramatic ’talk down tapes“ from the Humberside Air Traffic Control and an RAF rescue helicopter, as well as footage from the on-board night vision, this documentary recreates John’s dramatic, hour-long ordeal as he made four attempts to land.
Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole may be coming back to The X Factor, but before any aspiring singers get ready to audition, they might want to catch up with the second series of The Big Reunion.
Like last year’s first run, it’s shown that pop stardom isn’t all screaming fans and bulging bank balances – the story of Girl Thing, the ’next Spice Girls’ who never quite cracked the big time, has been particularly sobering.
And even in this final episode, which sees the six featured groups getting ready to take the stage, there’s still plenty of backstage tension.
Girl Thing are suffering from a severe case of nerves, while supergroup 5th Story may have to consider changing their name as Kavana walks out on the eve of the gig.
At least Eternal are managing to hold it together as they receive a surprise call from an old friend.
Jack Carter isn’t a happy man. He’s not the sort you should cross either.
When his brother is killed in their home town of Newcastle, Jack journeys north to take revenge.
Vindictive, ruthless and determined to get his man, he investigates the area’s underworld, uncovering a complex case of lies, backhanders and double-dealings involving a series of unsavoury characters.
This is arguably the best British film ever made. Despite being a flop on its initial release, Get Carter is a gritty, low-budget masterpiece which continues to win new fans.
A must-see for newcomers, and even if you’ve seen it a thousand times, it’s still worth a look. At any rate, you’ll be saying its best-known lines for weeks afterwards.
Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland, Glynn Edwards, John Osborne, George Sewell, Tony Beckley, Alun Armstrong
89%
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