TV guide: 12 of the best shows to watch this week, beginning tonight

Ten Pound Poms

Sunday, BBC One, 9pm

In the economic doldrums of postwar Britain, many young Brits emigrated to Australia, believing they could get a fine new house, a great job and an enviable lifestyle for as little as a tenner, earning themselves the titular nickname. This drama series is created by Danny Brocklehurst and stars Michelle Keegan, Faye Marsay and Warren Brown as Kate, Annie and Terry, three Britons arriving Down Under in hopes of creating better lives for themselves. They soon find, however, it’ll take more than a tenner to get used to this change.

Clean Sweep

Sunday, RTÉ One, 9.30pm

Shelly Mohan is a tiger mom who can multitask while she’s multitasking, magicking up a happy home life for her husband, Galway detective Jason Mohan, and their three kids. She does it all: the cooking, the cleaning, the chauffeuring - but also the concealing. Because underneath the perfect parent exterior, Shelley is harbouring a dark secret: she’s a killer hiding in plain sight. Haunted by a murder committed 20 years ago, Shelley is trying to keep the truth buried, but when a ghost from her past shows up, her carefully constructed home life is suddenly threatened. Charlene McKenna stars as Shelley, with Barry Ward as Jason in this family crime series.

Steeltown Murders

Monday, BBC One, 9pm

Philip Glenister from Life on Mars and Steffan Rhodri from Gavin and Stacey star in this new crime drama series based on real-life events in the Welsh industrial town of Port Talbot in 1973. When three young women are murdered in the area, police are baffled; 30 years later, DCI Paul Bethell (Glenister) revisits the case, using advances in forensic science to finally track down the killer. The series follows two timelines, with Scott Arthur playing the younger Bethell, and examines two very contrasting styles of policing.

Without Sin

Monday-Thursday, UTV, 9pm

Vicky McClure from Line of Duty stars as grieving mum Stella Tomlinson in this four-part thriller running over four consecutive nights. Three years have passed since Stella’s teenage daughter, Maisy, was murdered and she is still unable to get past her grief. Her marriage has ended, and she has retreated into a twilight world. But when she is offered restorative justice, Stella agrees to come face to face with Charles Stone (Johnny Harris), the man convicted of Maisy’s murder. But rather than bring closure, this meeting opens up a whole can of worms.

Hospital Live

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, RTÉ One, 7pm

Anna Daly and Philip Boucher-Hayes don their proverbial scrubs once again in this second series of live programmes, broadcast over three nights from a purpose-built studio in the Mater hospital. There is no need for a script: this series promises high drama, heartbreak, life-changing challenges, tears and triumphs as medical staff work hard to look after their patients at a hugely difficult time for Ireland’s health service. The series will also focus on the pioneering breakthroughs in medicine being made by Irish medics.

Waterloo Road

Tuesday, BBC One, 8pm

The rebooted school drama returns for a second series, with new faces, new relationships and new conflicts to deal with, but also some all-too-familiar issues to navigate, including sexuality, mental health, racism and the cost-of-living crisis. Angela Griffin stars once again as head teacher Kim Campbell, and Jamie Glover returns to the show as Kim’s old flame, former deputy head Andrew Treneman. Osian Morgan also joins as new guy Myles, who’s been dropped from football academy and is trying to find his feet.

Gaelic in the Joy

Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm

Can a stand-up comedian and a GAA legend turn a group of prisoners into a crack Gaelic football team? We’re about to find out in this three-part documentary series focusing on a unique sports programme in Mountjoy Prison. Comic Rory O’Connor and former Dublin football star Philly McMahon are tasked with running a unique sports training programme, taking a handpicked team of prisoners under their wing and mentoring them as they prepare for a unique derby at Croke Park – playing against a team of prison officers.

11 Minutes: America’s Deadliest Mass Shooting

Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

The absolute insanity of the US’s liberal gun laws is laid bare in this documentary series about the massacre of 60 people at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas in October 2017. It stands as the biggest mass shooting in modern US history, but for every mass shooting, the levels of fear, terror and tragedy are immeasurable. Using footage from mobile phones, and eyewitness accounts from survivors, the series captures the chaos and carnage as a gunman opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 country music fans just as the festival’s headliner, Jason Aldean, began his set.

Junk Kouture Dublin city Final Highlights 2023

Thursday, RTÉ2, 7pm

Junk Kouture is all about sustainable fashion, making clothes out of 100 per cent recyclable materials and bucking the environmentally damaging trend of fast fashion. It’s also a complete hoot, and a chance for budding young designers to let loose their talent and creativity. Earlier this month, 80 design teams showcased their outrageous ideas, with 10 winners chosen to take part in the world final in London on October 12th. Enjoy the colour and spectacle of this haute highlights reel.

Last King of the Cross

Thursday, Sky Max and Now, 9pm

The mean streets of Sydney, Australia, are the setting of this new crime drama series following two brothers as they rise to the top of the city’s nightclub scene – and soon fall into feuding, betrayal and vengeance. It’s inspired by the autobiography of John Ibraham, an immigrant who started out with no money, education or prospects, and – mentored by his older brother Sam – became kingpin of Sydney’s King’s Cross district, where hedonism, gambling and criminality are rife.

White Men Can’t Jump

Friday, Disney+

Why remake a classic comedy film when you can spin it out into an entire TV series? This new series is based on the 1992 movie starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes as a pair of street basketball hustlers who team up with hilarious results. This “remix” stars rap superstar Jack Harlow as Jeremy and Sinqua Walls as Kamal, two promising basketball players whose careers were derailed, but find common ground in LA’s street ball hustling culture. Will this be a slam dunk with viewers?

John Torode’s Ireland

Friday, RTÉ2, 8.30pm

Masterchef judge John Torode is usually seen casting a cold eye over contestants’ dishes, but here he’s got nothing but warm, fuzzy feelings as he takes a culinary trip around Ireland, following his taste buds to find the best food made from the freshest produce. In the first episode, he’s taking in Dublin and Wicklow, sampling coddle in the Gravediggers pub; trying out boxty at Gallagher’s Boxty House; taking a food tour of Dublin with Ketty Quigley; and visiting a luxury foodie retreat in the Wicklow Mountains. Full marks!