‘Stolen’ – ‘part of our history that deserves to be seen’
TV WEEK (Wednesday 21st to Tuesday 27th)
TOP SPECIALS
The Walking Dead: Dead City (Sky Max, Thursday 22nd, 9pm)
While the years might have passed between old enemies Maggie and Negan, the former foes now form a tenuous alliance in order to carry out a dangerous mission travelling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long cut off from the mainland. Can the pair now work together to save the future?
Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me (BBC 2, Friday 23rd, 9pm)
An outspoken critic of the practice of culling the badger population in the UK, which is aimed at stopping the spread of bovine TB, ex-Queen guitarist Brian May believes badgers are not the cause of the spread of infection, and has spent years sponsoring a research programme into the causes of the disease.
Marilyn: The Movie Star Who Changed The World (CH5, Friday 23rd, 10pm)
With rarely seen video and audio interviews with the star, this programme reassesses the life and career of Marilyn Monroe to reveal how she was systematically underestimated by sexist studio bosses who refused to recognise the intelligence and creative contribution of this tragic trailblazer.
Manchán’s Europe By Train (RTÉ 1, Sunday 25th, 6.30pm)
Manchán Magan embraces the ethos of slow travel, taking the time to get to know people and places, and experiencing local customs and traditions. Using the vast rail network to travel clockwise around the continent of Europe, he visits a range of destinations including Wales, London, Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, Lake Bled, Genoa, Monaco, Toulouse and San Sebastian.
WATCH OF THE WEEK
Stolen (RTÉ 1, Monday 26th, 9.35pm)
We may still be punch drunk after the recent harrowing Bishop Casey revelations, but this documentary is a part of our history that deserves to be seen. Women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant ‘out of wedlock’ in an Ireland dominated by the Catholic Church between 1922 and 1998 numbered more than 80,000 – a vast section of society cruelly separated from their babies after birth, their children adopted abroad and rendered untraceable while the women themselves were often condemned to slave labour confinement in brutal institutions across the nation.
BEST FILMS
Bliss (RTÉ 1, Friday 25th, 12.45am)
Owen Wilson plays Greg, recently divorced and fired from his job, who meets the mysterious Isabel (Salma Hayek), a woman living on the streets who believes they’re in a computer simulation. Doubtful at first, Greg eventually discovers there may well be truth to her notions.
The Godfather 2 (RTÉ 2, Friday 23rd, 9.35pm)
Many consider this an even better film than the first, as it details the young Vito Corleone’s life, beginning as a penniless emigrant and who slowly assembles one of America’s greatest crime families. Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino lead an all star cast in an enthralling film.
Barber (Sky Cinema Premiere, from Sunday)
Aidan Gillen plays a private investigator hired by a wealthy widow to find her missing granddaughter – a search that quickly delves into dark territory when secrets start surfacing around a cabal of powerful men who are determined to thwart his investigation.
CLASSIC MOVIE
Something’s Gotta Give (RTÉ 1, Sunday 25th, 9.30pm)
When ageing womaniser Jack Nicholson and his much younger girlfriend arrive at her family’s beach house in the Hamptons, things take an unexpected turn when he finds himself falling for her dramatist mother, Diane Keaton. Things get more complicated when a young doctor adds more spice to the affair and presents the amorous Jack with a tough rival. A classic comedy with great actors at the top of their game.
KIDS STUFF
Orangutan Jungle School (Sky Nature, Friday 23rd, 8pm)
Follow a gang of orphan orangutans from a unique rehab school in Borneo, first as cute preschoolers, and then adventurous toddlers and naughty teens learn to navigate life in the wild. As the new term starts, newbie Bumi struggles to focus and star student Valentino experiences a bumpy start to college.
Migration (Sky Cinema Premiere, from Friday)
From the creators of Despicable Me comes an adventure-filled new comedy about overcoming your fears and opening yourself up to the world. The Mallard family embark on a journey south for the winter to Jamaica via New York City, only for their well laid plans to go awry, leading to new friends and unknown horizons.
ON DEMAND
The Union (Netflix)
Mark Wahlberg plays a down-to earth construction worker who is thrust into the world of super spies and secret agents when his high school sweetheart, Roxanne, played by Halle Berry, recruits him on a high stakes US intelligence mission. Comedy thriller with some decent action moments in the hands of two acting veterans.
Grand Cayman: Secrets in Paradise (Disney+)
With the school run already upon us, the arrival of a trashy soap might be just the thing to relieve those autumnal blues. Described as ‘the messiness of The Real Housewives meets the escapism of Amazing Hotels’, the series follows a group of ex-pats as they live, work and most importantly, party in paradise. The plotlines are predictable – but made bearable in those stunning tropical locations.
Horizon: An American Saga – Part 1 (Apple TV)
A passion project for co-writer, director and actor Kevin Costner, this got a critical bashing during its brief stay in cinemas last month. Chronicling a multi-storied span of the pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west, it remains a slow but engaging tale, buttressed by good acting talent including Danny Huston, Sienna Miller and Sam Worthington. Part 2 is already complete.
Pachinko Season 2 (Apple TV)
Epic in scope and intimate in tone, this story begins with a forbidden love and develops into a sweeping family saga that journeys between Korea, Japan and America to unfold an unforgettable story of war and peace, love and loss, triumph and reckoning, as different stories intersect and then spin out in different life directions.
Only Murders In The Building – Season 4 (Disney+)
When stunt double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch) gets shot and killed in the apartment of Charles (Steve Martin), the question is – might the bullet have been meant for him? Season four will see Charles, plus Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Oliver (Martin Short) searching for answers in that now familiar precinct of Manhattan.
SPORTS CENTRE
The Runner (TG4, Wednesday 21st, 10.30pm)
If you’re having withdrawal symptoms from the Olympics, then this documentary concerning one of the great sporting rivalries will perk you up. The expectations were sky high for American distance runner Mary Decker as she lined up to make her Olympic debut in the 3,000 metres at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. She was supposed to obliterate the field… but sport often has a way of upsetting plans.