Des O’Driscoll picks the best of the box this week

Central Intelligence 3/5

Here are the best shows on TV tonight.

Check out our tips on what to watch on TV tonight.

 

Would You Believe? The Tuam Babies, Sunday, RTÉ One.

DON’T you just love a neck-and-neck election? That’s what the general election in the UK is shaping up to be. It offers all the potential excitement of our favourite spectator sport. It’s just a month away, and already it looks like it will be a really tough and bruising encounter.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has denied putting obstacles in the way of televised leaders’ debates ahead of the general election, after Labour accused him of “running scared” of a head-to-head showdown with Ed Miliband.

Jeremy Paxman has signed up to host his first new BBC show since stepping down as Newsnight anchor – a documentary marking the 50th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s state funeral.

Fashion and the economy have long been linked (although they’ll never admit to it). 

Former Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman has admitted he was approached about standing as Conservative candidate for the mayor of London but said he would not do the job for “all the eclairs in Paris”.

Sir Patrick Stewart, Helen Lederer and Hugh Bonneville are just some of the stars bringing a series of statues to life by giving them a voice.

There is a lot to be learnt from the phrases used to describe your child’s class work. Caroline Delaney asks some teachers to translate

Jeremy Paxman has announced he is quitting the flagship current affairs show Newsnight saying he wants to “go to bed at much the same time as most people”.

The pay bill for some of the BBC’s biggest screen and radio stars, including Graham Norton and Jeremy Clarkson, is to be examined in a review by the BBC Trust which will look at how the costs compare to commercial rivals.

Tune into TV3 at 7.30pm for live coverage of the Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second-leg match at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.

Kirsty Wark

AS we look back on the bailout years from the vantage point of our exit, there will be further calls for a wide-ranging enquiry as to why our banks failed us so badly.

Highlights include the return of Ear To The Ground, and Áine Lawlor's tale of her battle with breast cancer.

Russell Brand has never voted, despite becoming the editor of a political magazine.

THE internet is a funny old place. Its accessibility, combined with free social media, means that potentially everyone can have an audience.

BETWEEN a surprise wedding proposal and a heated debate on its attitude towards women, this year’s Rose of Tralee Festival was anything but dull.

Off the hook

The lifeboat station which responded to the sinking of the Lusitania has appealed for artifacts to feature in a major exhibition to commemorate the centenary of her sinking off Cork in 1915.

The subject which creates the biggest generational divide among ordinary, decent Irishmen isn’t what many people might think. Forget about the Catholic Church, contraception, abortion, and politics. Those weighty issues are for the newspapers and television. Normal men stay well clear of that type of chat.

Top BBC executives denied ever having heard about Jimmy Savile’s sex crimes despite Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman’s claim they were “common gossip”.

Top BBC executives denied ever having heard about Jimmy Savile’s sex crimes despite Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman’s claim they were “common gossip”.

Detailed accusations about Jimmy Savile’s sex crimes were censored after viewers tried to post them on a BBC tribute web page after his death.

Thousands of pages of evidence gathered during an inquiry into Newsnight’s decision to drop its Jimmy Savile investigation are set to published today, the BBC has reported.

Though I was only in my late teens when David Thornley announced that he was joining the Labour Party, I can still remember the excitement.

Britain’s BBC must undergo a radical overhaul in the wake of “shoddy” journalism which led to the resignation of its chief or its future will be in doubt, the head of the state-funded broadcaster’s governing body said yesterday.

He’s normally grilling politicians on the top news stories of the day.

Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan once told Jeremy Paxman how to access voicemail messages, the Leveson Inquiry heard today.

SATURDAY

FEW professionals attract as much sympathy as the English racing journalist.

SATURDAY

Describing the apology offered by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for Britain’s role in the Irish potato famine as a complete exercise in moral vacuousness suggests that BBC journalist/presenter Jeremy Paxman is ignorant of the difference between the failure of the potato crop and the Irish Famine.

A BOOK bought for me as a birthday present a few years ago bears an inscription which says: “I saw this and thought of you.”

Google boss Dr Eric Schmidt is expected to offer an olive branch to the television industry in a keynote speech tonight.

West Cork’s many attractions await discerning buyers, and there are signs overseas buyers are returning to the market, writes Trish Dromey.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan suffered an embarrassing slip-up at the launch of Fianna Fáil’s economics manifesto, denying remarks he made in his Budget 2010 speech that “the worst is over”.

Former daytime television favourite Richard Madeley looks set to cross the Atlantic in search of his roots in the BBC1 show 'Who Do You Think You Are?'

BBC's top-paid TV stars face having their wages revealed.

Peter Mandelson today issued a warning to straying Labour voters who are considering voting Liberal Democrat – flirt with Nick Clegg and you will end up married to David Cameron.