Six television shows to watch this week

River
Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

He sees dead people. Detective John River has a talent – or curse. He is haunted by visions of murder victims and killers.

They appear to him, pleading with him and taunting him. They are not ghosts, but “manifests” created by his own troubled mind.

River is a new drama series by Abi Morgan, writer of The Hours, that is sure to send a chill down your spine these cold evenings.

Stellan Skarsgård stars as the eponymous detective, tormented by voices and apparitions, yet able to glean clues and insights from them to help him solve murders.

River relies on his unique insight and empathy to crack murder cases, but his increasingly fragile state of mind puts his job in jeopardy. Nicola Walker plays DS Jackie Stevenson, River’s friend and colleague who also happens to be a “manifest”.

Eddie Marsan is 19th-century serial killer Thomas Cream, who represents the darker side of River's psyche. Will River be a worthy successor to Wallander? With Skarsgard's brooding presence, we're quietly confident.

Death of a Son – The Killing of Michael Dwyer
Monday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm

Caroline Dwyer is a woman haunted by the killing of her son Michael in 2009. The young man from Tipperary was shot dead by secret police in Bolivia who claimed he was part of a plot to assassinate the country’s president. In Death of a Son – The Killing of Michael Dwyer, she retraces the last months of his life, travelling to Bolivia, Brazil, Washington DC and Brussels to get to the bottom of this mystery. She may not like what she finds out, but she is determined to learn the truth no matter how painful.

Outsider art has divided opinion among critics and collectors. Made by people with little or no formal training, who often are dealing with mental health issues, outsider art can be challenging and even disturbing. Rugby pundit Brent Pope knows where he stands on the debate.

Brent Pope: Inside Out
Thursday, RTÉ One, 10.15pm

In Brent Pope: Inside Out the New Zealander reveals his “obsession” with this disruptive art form as he sets out to stage Ireland’s largest exhibition of homegrown outsider art. The artists include Ailbhe Barrett, who has Down syndrome, Alan Doyle, who finds that painting helps him deal with anxiety, and Lisa Butterly, diagnosed with schizophrenia, whose pursuit of art and education has been central to her recovery. “I’m not an art critic or expert,” says Pope. “I just have a passion for this kind of art and the talented people that create it.”

Ireland's Sulky Racers: Reality Bites
Thursday, RTÉ Two, 9.30pm

Every year at Ballinasloe horse fair, Travellers have raced their “sulkies” on the Fair Green, but this year the races have been cancelled for health and safety reasons. Who are the people who race these traps at high speed? Why is winning such a matter of honour? Ireland’s Sulky Racers: Reality Bites, directed by Martin Danneels for Midas Productions, promises to offer a fascinating insight into a different equestrian world.

Cogar – Jeremy agus Judi ar Bhruach na Siúire
TG4 player, tg4.ie

Down with that sort of thing! In 1978, locals in Kilkenny were scandalised by the antics of two young visitors to the area: Jeremy Irons and Judi Dench. The up-and-coming British actors were there to shoot scenes for their film, Langrishe, Go Down, but the flagrant nudity was too much for the Irish censor who banned the film. In Cogar – Jeremy agus Judi ar Bhruach na Siúire, author and broadcaster Catherine Foley revisits the location and chats to Irons about the movie, which was finally screened last year in the village where it was shot.

The Returned
Channel 4, Friday

It kept viewers hooked right until the final episode, when it ended, unsatisfactorily, with a biblical flood. But maybe the second series of The Returned (Channel 4, Friday), the French supernatural thriller, will finally give some answers about who is alive, dead and in between.