Here’s what’s happening on the telly this upcoming week:
Planned on celebrating St. Paddy’s Day but unsure how to go about it? Worry not. This Sunday, tune into RTÉ1 at 12.15 pm for the St Patrick’s Festival Parade. Modern day hosts – Sarah McInerney, Dáithí Ó Sé, Emer O’Neill and Thomas Crosse, will navigate you through the live events happening in Dublin, from the parade that winds through the town to the fun-filled happenings at St Patrick’s Festival Quarter, located at the National Museum in Collins Barracks. This year’s pageant is all about celebrating Dublin’s downtown areas and is set to be the biggest Paddy’s Day parade ever!
And the entertainment doesn’t stop here. Head back to RTÉ1 at 7pm for the crowning of this year’s Northern Star in ‘Dancing with the Stars’. You have been marvelling at the celebrities and their professional partners twist, tango and perform the Paso Doble in the quest to win over the judges. In last week’s nail biting semi-final, five stars ( Blu Hydrangea, David Whelan, Jason Smyth, Davy Russell and Laura Fox) danced their hearts out, driven by the fear of making a wrong move and the dread of being ousted from the floor. The grand finale sees four couples in the ultimate showdown to claim the glitterball trophy. Brainchild of Jennifer Zamparelli and Doireann Garrihy, the final stand-off is judged by Brian Redmond, Lorraine Barry and Arthur Gourounlian.
Starting your week right, tune into Hothouse Flowers: Stick Around and Laugh a While on Monday, at 6.30 pm on RTÉ1. The documentary takes us back to September 3rd, 1988, when 40,000 youngsters gathered at the RDS Showgrounds for an epic summer-ending concert. The spotlight was on local band, the Hothouse Flowers who had hit the charts with ‘Don’t Go’. The documentary recalls the year the band performed this track at Eurovision and released their first album ‘People’. Fast forward 35 years, and we see them leaving for a 2023 UK tour, continuing to spread love and positivity.
Followed by Whites Only: Ade’s Extremist Adventure.
On Monday, be sure to tune into Channel 4 at 10pm as host, Ade Adepitan, a presenter of Nigerian descent, arrives in Orania, a South African town steeped in apartheid history. It was established in the 90s as a sanctuary for white Afrikaners only, a policy that still stands today. Oddly enough, the residents argue that this is not racism but rather, a move to conserve their Afrikaner heritage.
Moving on to Tuesday, More4 is airing an interesting travelogue series at 9pm featuring Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston – a duo renowned for their roles as a married couple in popular TV series like Brookside and The Royle Family. The new series follows them as they explore meaningful locations in the UK, with their maiden journey heading straight to Liverpool – the city that marked the beginnings of their acting partnership four decades ago as Bobby and Sheila in Brookside.
Airing on BBC1 at 11.40pm, also on Tuesday, is “The Dropout”, a thrilling eight-part true crime series that first premiered on Disney+. This series centres on Elizabeth Holmes, the youthful genius behind biotech firm, Theranos. In 2019, her innovative blood-testing method requiring just a drop of blood skyrocketed her company’s value to a staggering $9 billion, and Holmes herself was hailed by Forbes as one of the youngest self-made female billionaires. However, doubt soon overwhelmed her astonishing claim, leading to her downfall. By 2022, she was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 11½ years imprisonment. The often-dramatic saga unfolds with Amanda Seyfried playing the lead role of Holmes.
From Wednesday, viewers should make a date with ‘Palm Royale’ on Apple TV+. Specific details are, however, yet to be revealed.
/”Kristen Wiig is set to play the role of an ambitious socialite named Maxine Simmons in a drama series taking place in Palm Beach of the 60s. Simmons is on a mission to secure a place in the elite Palm Royale club, which would require her to undertake a transformation of self and win over the trust of the affluent ladies who reign over Palm Beach’s upper crust society. The cast features Laura Dern, Allison Janney and Ricky Martin, alongside guest appearances by Carol Burnett and Bruce Dern from Hollywood. The show pledges to outshine Barbie with its vibrant costumes and set designs, as Simmons does whatever it takes to bridge the gap between the wealthy and the super-rich.
Big Life Fix
Airing on Wednesday on RTÉ1 at 9.35pm
The concluding instalment of this series is scheduled to air, where a team of inventive scientists, inventors and engineers collaborate to come up with creative solutions to everyday problems faced by individuals living with disabilities or illness. In this final episode, team head and rocket scientist David McKeown, along with his crew of specialists, are looking for innovative methods to assist 28-year-old Sarah, who was born with one arm and leg, in pursuing her love for outdoors. Given that her prosthetic leg can hinder her activity levels, McKeown and his skilled team are tasked with thinking creatively and helping Sarah regain her freedom.
3 Body Problem
Available from Thursday on Netflix
Get ready for a riveting thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, involving a shift from the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, to present-day Oxford and New York, and venturing into a virtual reality realm. The storyline involves a Chinese scientist from the 1960s who makes a crucial decision that wreaks havoc on humanity. When leading scientists start to die under puzzling circumstances, former-intelligence agent Da Shi, played by Benedict Wong, aligns with a group of scientists to combat this invisible new foe. Irish actor Liam Cunningham stars as high-ranking intelligence chief Wade, with Jonathan Pryce portraying the character of an environmentalist turned oil magnate Mike Evans.
A Life in Ten Pictures
Thursday on BBC2 at 9pm”/
Is it possible to narrate the chronicles of an individual’s existence with only 10 photographs? This is the challenge this series aims to undertake. Each episode unfolds the story of a renowned personality, relying solely on 10 emblematic snapshots to encapsulate their being. The first series shed light on the lives of notable personalities, ranging from Amy Winehouse and John Lennon to Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali, Tupac Shakur, and Freddie Mercury. The second series commences with Carrie Fisher, who etched her legacy in Star Wars as Princess Leia, along with visual narratives of Bruce Lee, Robin Williams, Alexander McQueen, Ella Fitzgerald and Nelson Mandela.
Beyond Paradise
On Friday, BBC1 airs at 8pm
Kris Marshall takes centre stage as investigator Humphrey Goodman in the second edition of the ‘Death in Paradise’ derivative. As you’re likely aware, Humphrey has migrated from the imaginary Caribbean Saint-Marie island, finding a new home in the fabricated village of Shipton Abbott on Devon’s coastline. Whilst thelyrically scenic location hosts ample incidents of death, Humphrey assists the local constabulary in deciphering various homicides and equivalent ominous activities. In this chapter, the nearby theatre group practice a murder mystery aboard a steam locomotive. Assigned the role of a detective, Humphrey’s skills are put to a genuine test when the actor portraying the victim is found to be authentically deceased, pushing him to utilise his ingrained detective traits to solve the enigma.
Celebrity Big Brother Live Final
Friday on UTV, 9PM description
The previous weeks kept viewers engrossed with the highly popular television show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’, where some of the globe’s leading personalities including X Factor judges Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne, TV host Fern Britton, and Kate Middleton’s relative, Gary Goldsmith, were stationed inside the Celebrity Big Brother den for an intense face-off. The drama now gears towards its climax with the imminent live final, where one celebrity will be crowned victorious as the others retreat back to their illustrious professions. Latest updates saw Gary Goldsmith, who self-identifies as the royal family’s rebel, as the most recent ousted inmate. Has he managed to persuade the audience that he may not indeed be as devious as portrayed? And most crucially, which celebrity will take the title, potentially rejuvenating their professional trajectory?