TV Picks: Colin Farrell and Quentin Tarantino to appear on Graham Norton Show

Plus Brian Dowling fronts a new documentary 'Toxic Threads'

Colin Farrell is among those on the couch on The Graham Norton Show, Friday, BBC One, 10.40pm Picture: BBC/So Television/PA Media/Matt Crossick

Thu, 08 Oct, 2026 - 12:00

Aoife Barry

Aistear an Amhráin – You Raise Me Up

Saturday, RTÉ One, 8.20pm

You no doubt associate the song You Raise Me Up with acts like Josh Groban and Westlife. But did you know all about its fascinating journey?

This latest episode of Aistear an Amhráin looks at how its roots lie in a collaboration between Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer Rolf Løvland, who as the band Secret Garden fuse Irish and Nordic musical traditions. (Eurovision fans will also know that the duo won the song contest for Norway in 1995 with Nocturne.) The lyrics to You Raise Me Up were added by Irish songwriter and Eurovision supremo Brendan Graham, and the song was later made famous by a slew of musicians including Brian Kennedy, Daniel O’Donnell, and Westlife.

The documentary looks at the different meanings people get from the song, and at how part of its global success was down to music producer David Foster, who introduced Groban to the track.

The Zoo

Monday, RTÉ One, 8pm

The popular series The Zoo is back, giving us a look into life behind the scenes at Dublin Zoo. The first episode features the remarkable story of Imani, an 18-year-old hippo, who undergoes the world’s first cataract surgery on a hippopotamus. Meanwhile, the zoo’s South American house, which was originally built in the 1860s, is undergoing a full revamp in order to host new animals including a lowland paca. Other stories include the zoo vets being called in to examine a dolphin stranded on a Dublin beach, plus newcomers include a giant anteater, a tamandua, and a six-banded armadillo, alongside a new gang of meerkats.

Counter Attack

Monday, RTÉ One, 8.30am

While on holiday in Cork with his wife Anita, musician Frankie Lane collapsed from a sudden cardiac arrest.

This short documentary looks firstly at how paramedic Pat McCarthy — against all odds —was able to resuscitate Frankie using CPR and a defibrillator. Then we learn about Frankie and Anita’s journey with CÚRAM, Ireland’s leading medical research centre, and in particular the work of cardiovascular surgeon Dr Niamh Hynes. The film brings us news of cutting-edge innovations, from 3D-printed heart tissue to AI-designed stents. It’s a look at a personal story as well as at how science and technology could potentially transform how cardiovascular disease is treated globally.

Cill Stuifín

Tuesday, 9.30pm, TG4

Have you heard about Cill Stuifín, which legend has it lies off the coast of West Clare? It’s a village that it’s believed was swallowed by the sea, perhaps due to a freak wave… or maybe because of an ancient curse.

In this beautifully shot documentary, the folklorist Aindrias de Staic follows in his late father, folklorist Eddie Stack’s footsteps to examine the truth behind the legend. De Staic speaks to geologist Martina McCarthy, folklorist Ailbhe Nic Giolla Chomhaill, senior weather buoy technician Donal Kennedy, INFOMAR marine mapping specialist Felim O’Toole, and marine biologist Jack O’Donovan Trá, as well as big wave surfers Ollie O’Flaherty and Callum Curtin and artist Marie Connole about their thoughts on Cill Stuifín and the inspiration the Atlantic holds for them.

One for those who love the beauty of Ireland’s coastline as well as Irish folklore.

Fellow Travelers

Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm

If you missed it first time around, now’s your chance to catch this gorgeous American series on the small screen. Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer — two actors you can always depend on to do the most with their roles — play two men who meet while working in Washington DC in the 1950s.

Hawkins Fuller (Bomer) is a military hero who sets out to work his way up the ladder at the state department, but is also closeted and intent on hiding his private life due to societal prejudice. But then he meets Tim Laughlin (Bailey) and the pair — though different in some ways —fall in love despite the dangers. We follow their relationship through several decades and major moments in US history, from the Vietnam War to the Aids crisis.

The Case I Can’t Forget

Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35am

Back in 2010, two Irish nationals were arrested for trafficking rhino horn after being caught in a sting run by US Fish and Wildlife outside Denver, Colorado.

The evidence all pointed back to Rathkeale, Co Limerick, and soon Irish authorities and Europol began to join the dots regarding other rhino horn thefts in Europe, believing there was an organised crime group behind them all. In this episode, we meet John Reid, former head of the Europol Irish desk, and hear how he launched a coordinated effort across 19 countries to dismantle the gang targeting rhino horn in Europe’s museums. We also meet Cyril Claffey from Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau, who helped to discover more about those involved in the trafficking and where the rhino horns were being sold to. The gang also began targeting jade and antiquities collections in museums, leading to Adrian Greene and Rebecca Tipping of the Metropolitan Police becoming involved.

Adultery

Friday, Virgin Media One, 9pm

If you’re looking for a juicy new series, give this one from writer Danny Brocklehurst (who was also behind the Netflix hit Fool Me Once) a go. This is one for fans of shows like War (now on Sky) and the series The Affair, and stars Dominic Cooper and Romola Garai as two married people who start a passionate affair.

This naturally throws their lives into turmoil. But adding even more drama into the mix is that their own teenage children also start their own relationship.

The Graham Norton Show

Friday, BBC One, 10.40pm

On the couch and ready to chat to Graham Norton this week is the Oscar-winning Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs director Quentin Tarantino, who’s there to talk about his new West End farce The Popinjay Cavalier, starring Sacha Baron Cohen. He’ll be joined by Colin Farrell, there to chat about the documentary The Slightest Touch about skin condition epidermolysis bullosa campaigner Emma Fogarty, with whom he has a long friendship. Comedian and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres will also be there, as will Gemma Chan to talk about the new thriller Josephine. An A-list line-up as usual.

Treasure Island

From Monday, Paramount+

Robert Louis Stevenson’s maritime romp has stirred the imaginations of many film-makers and TV producers in their search for box-office and ratings treasure, and this new six-part series hopes to follow in the wake of Pirates of the Caribbean and strike streaming TV gold, with help from stars Hayley Atwell, David Oyelowo, and Tom Sweet.

David Oyelowo as Long John Silver, Tom Sweet as Jim Hawkins and Jack Huston as Aaron Graham in Treasure Island. Picture: Amazon Content Services

Although it’s been billed as a “reimagining” of the classic tale, it looks like the series hasn’t been updated for the TikTok age, thank goodness, so the treasure map will be on parchment and not Google, and the muskets, galleons, swords, and swashbuckling will be strictly analogue. Atwell is Bess Hawkins, a tiger mom who has found the legendary map, and sets off with her son Jim Hawkins (Sweet) on the Hispaniola to find the treasure. But there’s mutiny in the air as the charismatic and ambitious Long John Silver (Oyelowo) puts Jim’s loyalties to the test. With more Pirates of the Caribbean films coming over the horizon soon, it looks like a big screen battle ahead for dominance of the high seas.

The Diplomat

From Thursday, Netflix

It’s hard enough to keep a marriage together when your husband is having an affair, or gambling away the family’s fortune. But what happens when you discover he’s helped to steal an apocalypse weapon from Russia, threatening to plunge the US into an all-out war with its superpower ally? He’ll just have to sleep on the couch, I suppose. Keri Russell returns as ambassador Kate Wyler, with Rufus Sewell as her husband, US vice-president Hal Wyler, in series four of the political thriller that double jobs as a relationship drama in the rarefied atmosphere of Capitol Hill.

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler in The Diplomat Picture: Netflix, Inc./Erika Kuenka.

Alison Janney is the reckless and capricious US president Grace Penn, whose marriage to first gentleman Todd Penn (Bradley Whitford) is also on shaky ground. It’s an awkward blend of high-stakes political intrigue and marital strife — you can’t tell which is more urgent, preventing nuclear armageddon or serving the divorce papers on time.

Pick of the Week

Toxic Threads

Monday, Virgin Media One, 9pm

In 2001, Kildare man Brian Dowling (now Dowling Gourounlian, after his marriage to dancer Arthur Gourounlian in 2015) became a household name after a successful stint on the reality TV show Big Brother. Since then he’s lived in the glare of the public eye, and in the past number of years that has meant being visible on social media too.

Once he and Arthur’s first child Blake was born in 2022, with his sister Aoife as surrogate, Dowling Gourounlian and his family became the target of vile online commentary and trolling.

In this new documentary, the Six O’Clock Show presenter looks at the realities of online bullying and harassment, not just through his own experience but by speaking to others who have gone through similar. Plus, he talks to a private investigator to find out if anonymous commenters are really anonymous.

It’s a “vulnerable, uncomfortable” watch he tells us, and will likely shed light on the gaps in how equipped the legal world is to deal with this behaviour.

TV picks: New crime-drama with a trove of Irish talent and secret buried treasure

more film & tv articles