Wednesday's TV Tips
Noel Fitzpatrick is a vet, yes, but he’s no ordinary vet. He and his team use their pioneering techniques to attempt to cure pets that might have otherwise been beyond saving.
This week, Noel operates on a five-month-old rabbit called Rufus with a badly broken hind leg, and diagnoses that a much-loved cocker spaniel needs major spinal surgery.
But the most heart-wrenching story of the week goes to Daphne, a three-legged dog adopted from Thailand by David and Khaya.
The canine was attacked with a machete, and Noel realises he must come up with a radical solution if Daphne is to keep her remaining front paw.
Given that in recent years he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer and has been treated for early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, it’s little surprise that funnyman Billy Connolly has turned his attentions to the value of life - and attitudes towards death.
As he wraps up a rather interesting series, Billy returns to his hometown of Glasgow and considers the end of life, right where it all began for him. He visits the Necropolis Cemetery, a Victorian burial ground filled with remarkable gravestones and grand monuments to the dead.
Billy acknowledges that while he doesn’t feel close to death, he’s definitely feeling his age lately, which leads him to reflect that death doesn’t only happen to old people – and he recounts his shock at hearing that The Who’s Keith Moon had died aged 32.
The comedian also meets artist Richard Wood, who has chronic ulcerative colitis and has a short time to live, and considers what happens to us when we die.
This new two-part TV3 documentary, recorded in Waterford, Wexford, Limerick, Galway and Dublin looks at the characters and craic at Ireland’s bingo games.
With an average of 100,000 games of bingo being played in Ireland every night, ‘Bingo Nights’ demonstrates the necessity of the game, through the entertainment of some and escapism of others.
In the first of the series, TV3 meet several heart-warming characters who share a fondness for bingo despite their age difference and rural verses urban setting.
During his spell as manager of Derby County, Brian Clough had widely criticised the tactics and playing style of then-Leeds manager Don Revie.
So it came as a major surprise that when Revie left to become England boss, Clough agreed to replace him. However, his spell proved disastrous.
Even if you’re not a football fan, there’s plenty going on here to entertain.
Michael Sheen, who’s made a name for himself playing real-life characters, is spookily Clough-like here, ably supported by Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor.
Starring: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Colm Meaney, Stephen Graham
RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 94%
In this, the first episode of series three, we catchup with the fictionalised version of Matt LeBlanc, after his affair with TV network boss Merc’s wife has just become public knowledge.
His life is in tatters, and not just because of that indiscretion. His ex-wife has discovered he slept with his stalker, and so wants to ban him from seeing their children – a situation that gets worse when he’s caught drink-driving with the boys in the car.
But what about Sean and Beverly, the English writers at the centre of the series? Have they managed to patch up their differences and get their marriage back on track?
The writing is sharp and witty, but it’s the stars we love to see. Matt LeBlanc has never been better (yes, even in ‘Friends’), while Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan are wonderful too.
Thankfully, a fourth series has already been commissioned.
In 1995, during the making of his TV series ‘Triumph of the Nerds’ about the birth of the PC, Bob Cringely did a memorable hour-long interview with Steve Jobs.
It was 10 years since Jobs had left Apple following a bruising struggle with John Sculley, the CEO he had brought into the company.
At the time of the interview Jobs was running NeXT, the niche computer company he had founded after leaving Apple.
During the interview, Jobs was at his charismatic best - witty, outspoken, visionary.
In the end, only a part of the interview was used in the series and the rest was thought lost. But a VHS copy was found in the series director's garage.
Now, cleaned up with modern technology, and put into context by Cringely, the entire interview is now gone from video tape to on-demand streaming. Which is probably what the tech visionary would have wanted.
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