This week: a snapshot into how a general election is staged
Election (RTÉ 1, Thursday 23rd, 10.15pm)
A snapshot into how an Irish general election is staged – a peek behind the curtain of how Ireland’s democracy runs fair and free votes, observing how citizens engage with the process and make their decisions at the ballot box. Kildare Street is where the documentary’s story starts and ends – and when all the votes have been counted and 174 Dáil seats filled, the cameras return to Leinster House to meet the deputies, old and new, on the first day of the new Dáil.
De Valera San Fhasach (TG4, Wednesday 2nd, 9.30pm)
The story of de Valera’s wilderness years from 1924 to 1926 when he was imprisoned, in poor mental health and stripped of his political power. It’s the story of the radical, revolutionary women activists who supported him during this difficult time – Countess Markiewicz who fought in 1916, Mary MacSwiney, sister of Terence MacSwiney who died on hunger strike in 1919, and Kathleen Clarke, wife of the executed 1916 leader, Tom Clarke.
Dragon’s Den (BBC 1, Thursday 23rd, 8pm)
Standing by in the Den and ready to assess a fresh batch of investment-hungry entrepreneurs are Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman. The hopefuls include a Ukrainian fashion business, two London café owners serving up their bubble tea business, and a doggie swimming club that might just be barking.
The Traitors (BBC 1, Friday 24th, 8.30pm)
It’s the final day of the ultimate game of deception and trust in the castle as the minutes tick down to the end. They’ve survived every banishment and murder, but it all comes down to today. Will the Faithful weed out all the Traitors and be victorious, or will the Traitors remain undetected, and take the life changing sum of money all for themselves?
Bloody Mary: Lucy Worsley Investigates (BBC 2, Friday 24th, 9pm)
Does Bloody Mary, England’s first crowned Queen, deserve her reputation – should she be remembered as a pioneer or a tyrant? Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, came to the throne in 1553 and became infamous as one of the bloodiest queens in history as her reign became defined by her staunch Catholicism.
Scéalta na Lochanna (RTÉ 1, Monday 27th, 8.30pm)
Celebrating the unique beauty, history, culture and wildlife of Ireland’s two great lakes, Lough Neagh and Lough Corrib, and reflecting on the impact humans are having on their ecology. Both of these great lakes have played important parts in Ireland’s culture and history – steeped in faith, folklore and religion for thousands of years – from Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Nine Years’ War to fishermen’s blessings.
BEST FILMS
Never Grow Old (Film4, Wednesday 22nd, 9pm)
John Cusack and Emile Hirsch star in this Western set in a once-peaceful frontier town that is turned into a den of vice after vicious outlaw Dutch Albert and his gang begin gunning down all opposition. The local Irish undertaker has to choose between the blood money he makes burying the dead and the threats his family face as the death toll rises.
The Killer (Sky Cinema Premiere, from Friday)
Legendary action director John Woo returns with a radical re-imagining of his 1989 Hong Kong classic, The Killer. When Zee, an infamous assassin feared in the Parisian underworld as the Queen of the Dead, refuses to kill a young blind woman, it plunges her into a sinister criminal conspiracy on a collision course with her own past.
The Equaliser 3 (Sky Cinema Action, Friday 24th, 8pm)
Denzil Washington is once again avenger at large Robert McCall, who has set up in a new home in a pleasant town in southern Italy – only to discover all of the townsfolk are under the control of brutal local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall does what he does best – takes on the Mafia on behalf of the little people.
CLASSIC MOVIE
The Queen Versus Patrick O’Donnell (TG4, Friday 24th, 11.45pm)
The true story behind one of the most compelling murder plots in Irish history, a tale of violence, courtroom drama and political intrigue. British files kept secret for 100 years reveal how the quiet-spoken Donegal man killed the infamous informer James Carey in 1883, and why both the US president and the French writer Victor Hugo pleaded that O’Donnell not be hanged.
KIDS STUFF
Dawson’s Creek (RTÉ Player)
Four friends in a small coastal town help each other cope with adolescence and the various trials and tribulations of growing up. Long established as an iconic teen drama, it worked as a springboard for permanent acting careers for many of the cast, including starring Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and James Van Der Beek.
The Dumping Ground (CBBC, Friday 24th, 6pm)
Bonnie is desperate to visit her brother Fraser, but she’s going to need some help from her friends to escape the DG. Jimi and Wes get into trouble trying to win some cash at an arcade!
ON DEMAND
Molly Mae: Behind It All (Amazon Prime)
Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague takes fans behind-the-scenes of her personal and professional life behind the vlog camera. It will delve into her break-up with Tommy Fury, the challenges of motherhood, and the launch of her latest business enterprise.
Whiskey On The Rocks (Disney+)
In the early hours of October 28, 1981, a Soviet nuclear Whiskey class submarine was spotted aground inside a restricted Swedish military area. With global superpowers on edge, the eyes of the world turned to Sweden’s calm and collected prime minister, a former sheep farmer, who faced the challenge of keeping peace between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and US President Ronald Reagan.
Prime Target (Apple TV)
A young mathematician is on the verge of a breakthrough whose research into prime numbers could unlock any code on the planet. Then he realises an unseen enemy is trying to destroy his idea; so together with a government agent who’s been tracking him, he begins to unravel a conspiracy.
SPORTS CENTRE
Live UEFA Champions League (Virgin Media Two, Wednesday 22nd, 7.45pm)
Manchester City meet Paris Saint-Germain in Paris – a stern challenge facing the UK side which has already experienced a bumpy patch in the Premier League. Expect plenty of goals in a fixture where both teams will want nothing less than a victory.