TV guide: 12 of the best new shows to watch this week

The Responder

Sunday, BBC1, 9pm

Martin Freeman returns in what’s shaping up to be his most iconic role, as deeply flawed cop Chris Carson, in the second series of the hard-hitting, highly acclaimed drama based on the real-life experiences of former policeman Tony Schumacher. Chris is working the night-time beat in Liverpool, responding to 999 calls, but the job is taking its toll on his mental health, and on his family. It doesn’t help that he’s got a penchant for violence, and a habit of crossing the line into dodgy legal territory. In series two, Chris is seeking redemption – as a cop, as a dad and as a human being – and in search of the Holy Grail: a daytime work shift. MyAnna Buring returns as his wife, Kate, who is threatening to take their daughter Tilly away, while Adelayo Adedayo reprises her role as Chris’s policing partner Rachel.

The Incredibly Talented Lucy

Sunday, Channel 4, 10.05pm

It takes some talent to blow away the judges in the Channel 4 series The Piano, but when you’re just 13, blind and neurodivergent, it seems like an almost superhuman achievement. Lucy, from Yorkshire, was crowned the “unofficial” winner of the TV competition last year, after a stunning performance of Debussy’s Arabesque No 1 in the final at the Royal Festival Hall, and since then has performed at King Charles’s coronation concert at Windsor Castle. This documentary tells the story of how Lucy honed her talent under the tutelage of Daniel Bath, who taught her to play everything from Mozart to Miles Davis – and how working together over the years has transformed both their lives.

Bush Kids

Monday, RTÉ2, 12pm

Sounds like some Aussie series about a gang of kids solving mysteries in the outback, but Bush Kids is actually a survival contest featuring young adventurers aged six to 12 and their parents, taking place in wild locations around Ireland. Four families don their backpacks and head out to the wilderness, where their survival skills will be put to the test, but don’t worry: bushcraft guru Tom Bán will be on hand to teach the families how to build makeshift shelters, light fires without matches or lighters, and forage for delicious food. First up for the challenge are youngsters Paddy and Shay from Armagh, their mum Gráinne and their fearless cousin Meabh.

Marcus Wareing Simply Provence

Monday, BBC2, 6.30pm

Marcus Wareing's Tales From A Kitchen Garden. Photograph: Simon Arnold/Plimsoll Productions Ltd

Brexit has freed Britons from ever having to visit smelly old France again, and knocked all that “year in Provence” malarkey on the head. But troubling news has come in: apparently the French still believe their produce is superior to British food, so Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing has volunteered to parachute in to Provence to check out the local cuisine and gain the trust of the locals so he can uncover the secrets of great traditional French cooking. Wareing is a self-confessed lover of French food, so it’s not long before he’s gone native, meeting producers, chefs and farmers and rustling up his own delicious classic French dishes (with a British twist, of course – he’s not a complete turncoat).

Tuesday, BBC1 & RTÉ1, 8pm

Fans of Bambie Thug will be biting their talons with the tension as Ireland’s Eurovision entry swoops on to the stage at Malmo in Sweden to perform their tune Doomsday Blue in the first of two semi-finals in advance of the big day on Saturday. It’s been six long years since Ireland last qualified for a Eurovision final, and this year we’re throwing caution to the wind with a bonkers mash-up of Shakespears Sister, Marilyn Manson and Wednesday Addams. At least it’s not another cookie-cutter Eurovision pop confection, but Bambie will have stiff competition tonight from 1990s throwback Windows95Man and Croatian favourite Baby Lasagna. The second semi-final is on Thursday at 8pm, but by then it won’t matter – we’ll either be in or out.

Salman Rushdie: Through a Glass Darkly

Tuesday, BBC2, 9pm

The author Salman Rushdie talks to Alan Yentob about the horrific knife attack he suffered in 2022, the lasting effect it has had on his own and his family’s lives, as recounted in his new book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. Rushdie was stabbed multiple times as he was about to give a lecture in Chautauqua, Pennsylvania, about protecting writers’ freedom, and this interview is interspersed with archive footage and AI-generated material to bring viewers right into the moment Rushdie was confronted by his attacker. Rushdie has lived under a fatwa since the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses in 1988, and the attack was a devastating reminder that, 34 years later, the threat is still all too real.

Ar Iarraidh

Wednesday, TG4, 9.30pm

Episode two of the missing-persons series tells the story of 19-year-old Columba McVeigh, who went to the shops for cigarettes on Halloween night in Dublin in 1975, and never came home. McVeigh had grown up in Donaghmore in south Tyrone, and had become embroiled in the Troubles, spending time in the political wing of Crumlin Road Prison. More than 20 years after his disappearance, the Provisional IRA admitted abducting and murdering McVeigh, claiming he was a British army agent who had been sent to infiltrate the IRA. Despite numerous searches and inquiries, McVeigh’s remains have never been found.

Inside No 9

Wednesday, BBC1, 10pm

Don’t say you haven’t been warned. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, the creators of the acclaimed macabre anthology series, announced in 2022 that the ninth series would be their last, and here it is: their final collection of fiendishly clever and often shocking tales of murder and madness, each linked in some way to the ninth digit. In episode one, Boo to a Goose, a group of passengers are trapped when their late-night train gets stuck in a tunnel – with the inevitable breakdown of the social order. Expect a gaggle of well-known guests over this final series, including Katherine Kelly, Siobhan Finneran, Mark Bonnar, Matthew Kelly, Eddie Marsan and Vinette Robinson, but don’t be surprised if Shearsmith and Pemberton revisit the number for the odd one-off special.

Double the Money

Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

Double the Money – not to be confused with Double Your Money, a quizshow from medieval times hosted by Hughie Green – is an entrepreneurial challenge hosted by Sue Perkins in which pairs of contestants from around the UK have to keep multiplying their pot of cash by two in order to stay in the game. Each team is given £250 and just 36 hours to turn it into £500, using all their resourcefulness and a little bit of daring. Which idea will pull in the required wedge – washing cars, selling picnic boxes or offering an immigration-themed walking tour of London’s East End?

Home Rescue: The Big Fix

Thursday, RTÉ2, 10.10pm

Airing at a later time due to the second Eurovision semi-final, this episode of The Big Fix poses a unique challenge for our residential rescue squad: what to do with a huge collection of African artefacts that is completely cluttering up a three-bed semi-d in Cabinteely, Co Dublin? Jessie and Peter Kelly met in Kenya and have been married for more than 40 years, and during that time Jessie has been home to Kenya many times and returned with another bunch of souvenirs to add to the collection. The couple have seven children and seven grandchildren, but entertaining family at home is tricky because the place is like a museum filled from floor to ceiling with exotic exhibits. Can Dee Coleman and Peter Finn bring some much-needed cultural balance back into the Kelly household?

Nerves of Steel

Friday, RTÉ1, 8.10pm

This month, Emerald Park in Ashbourne, Co Meath, is unveiling its latest attraction, a themed, immersive area called Tír na nÓg spread over a 6½-acre site and bringing visitors into a land of myths and legends. The centrepiece of Tír na nÓg is Europe’s longest intertwining rollercoasters, called Na Fianna Force and The Quest, which promise the ultimate adrenaline rush for thrill-seeking visitors to the place formerly known as Tayto Park. This series brings us behind the scenes over a two-year period at the park as the rollercoasters are built and the themed area takes shape, under the watchful eye of general manager Charles Coyle, whose father, Ray Coyle, founded the park and came up with the vision for Tír na nÓg, investing €22 million in the project.

The Young Offenders

Friday, BBC1, 9.30pm

It seems like they’ve been gone for ages, but those loveable Cork delinquents Conor and Jock (Alex Murphy and Chris Walley) are back for a fourth series of the acclaimed comedy, and we can look forward to more madcap misadventures and – inevitably – close brushes with the law. The lads are getting older, but they’re not getting any wiser, and when they’re offered a free trip to Colombia to bring back two rather heavy parka jackets, they jump at the chance before you can say “drug mule”. It’s left to the lads’ mum/guardian Mairead (Hilary Rose) to get them out of trouble again and try to get them to give up their aul’ sins. PJ Gallagher returns as former school principal Barry Walsh, Dominick MacHale reprises his role as Sergeant Healy, and Shane Casey is back as the fearsome Billy Murphy.