TV Picks: At Your Service returns with John and Francis Brennan
John and Francis Brennan return for a 14th season of At Your Service, Sunday, RTÉ One, 6.30am
Not content with running a podcast empire — Goalhanger, behind hits like The Rest is History — former footballer and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has a new telly job. He’s the presenter of celebrity game show The Box, which has quite an interesting premise and is based on a programme that was a massive hit in Norway.
Each of the famous contestants will be shut in a yellow box and placed in a location around the UK. When they emerge they won’t know where they are, or what ‘physical, mental, or logical’ challenge awaits them. They’ll be given basic instructions and have to figure out what to do next.
Celebrities including Sara Davies of Dragon’s Den, former Liverpool player Graeme Souness, and reality star Joey Essex have signed up to take part.
Should be a bit of craic.
The past few years have seen an explosion in interest in Irish traditional music among young people in particular, opening the door for further exploration of what different musical instruments and their history means for the country. This new documentary was produced by the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA), and has its roots in the ITMA’s Shared Island Flute Series. It looks specifically at the story of the flute and fife across the island of Ireland, so we’ll meet instrument-makers and musicians from loyalist traditions, and learn about flute playing during The Troubles in what looks like a nuanced and wide-ranging exploration of cultural history. Expect performances from Fife and Lambeg bands, marching bands, and traditional musicians as well as appearances from well-known flute players including Conor McDonagh, Aoife Granville, and Tara Diamond.
Hotelier brothers Francis and John Brennan are back for a new season of At Your Service, where they make it their mission to help new and struggling hospitality businesses. This is the 14th season of the show, and it’ll reach its 100th episode this year. In their first episode they have to deal out some tough love to Ray and Veronica Vere Hunt, who run the hospitality business, Hill House in Cashel.
They’re dairy farmers who want to diversify by turning their Georgian country house into a high-end, boutique B&B. When a devastating fire occurs, the Brennans advise them to stay closed until everything is sorted. Not the advice the Vere Hunts wanted to hear.
One of the most fun parts of watching The Traitors is staying in situ to enjoy the always entertaining comedian and presenter Kevin McGahern talk to former contestants and celebrity fans of the show in The Traitors Ireland Uncloaked. On Sunday night, a new week of The Traitors kicks off, and on the Uncloaked coach afterwards will be comedian Kyla Cobbler and radio presenter Crossy. No doubt they won’t be backwards in coming forwards about what they think.
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 this year means fresh documentaries aiming to glean new information about what occurred on that devastating day. This programme sees award-winning documentary-maker and journalist Jane McMullen look into newly- released documents which give more insight into the claim that the Saudi government had connections to those behind the 2001 attacks. She explains in this programme that she wants to investigate the role of one particular individual, who helped the first two hijackers.
This much-loved Australian sitcom is back, but the bad news is that it’s the final season of the show. Created by real-life couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, the series has charted the relationship of Gordon and Ashley, who were brought together in season one by a car crash and an injured dog.
By the end of season two, the pair had broken up after an ill-fated proposal. Now in the third season, we revisit them three years on, when both have moved on to new partners. But when they bump into each other at a GP clinic, they’re forced to take a closer look at what went wrong.
The first season of this Liverpool-set crime drama was an exercise in tension, and there’s another season on the way. To prepare, catch up with season one as it’s broadcast for the first time on RTÉ.
Sean Bean plays crime boss Ronnie Phelan, whose potential retirement kicks off a tug-of-war between his son Jamie and his right-hand man, Michael.
When Michael falls in love with Diana, a new layer of complication is added to his circumstances. In the first episode, Michael and Diana are trying for a baby, but out in the crime world a shocking betrayal over a cocaine shipment awaits.
The Anam Sessions brings live music to stunning OPW heritage sites, meaning a fusion of gorgeous sounds and visuals. The first episode is at Barryscourt Castle, Co Cork, one of Ireland’s finest surviving medieval tower houses. Performing are Joshua Burnside, Mick O’Brien, and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Cliffords, and Girl in the Year Above. You can’t beat a bit of live music — and you don’t even have to leave the house.
Domhnall Gleeson is able to apply his skills to dramas, thrillers, romances, and comedies. He’s certainly appealing as the nervy Ned in The Paper, set in the same world as the US version of The Office. It focuses on a failing newspaper, the Toledo Truth Teller.
Season one was shaky at times, with the mockumentary’s humour not exactly stapled together correctly. Hopefully season two can improve things. When we return to its HQ, Ned is looking for a new journalism project while juggling his budding relationship with colleague Mare. Plenty of japes are sure to ensue.
This new TG4 series aims to find out. At its helm is broadcaster Cormac Ó hEadhra, and while — sorry Cormac — he isn’t one of the young folks himself, anyone who’s heard him on radio will know he’s not afraid to ask tough questions. Across 15 episodes, he will bring together young people and Irish politicians and decision-makers to have conversations about the future of Ireland for the next generation.
