Clean Break (Watch now on RTÉ Player)
You're a used-up car dealer facing financial ruin and the bank is about to close your business and take your home. What do you do? For Frank Mallon there's only one solution: kidnap the family of his unsympathetic bank manager. Naturally, the tiger kidnapping goes horribly wrong and Mallon's world spins out of control. Clean Break is written by playwright Billy Roche (his first TV gig) and made by Octagon Films, the people behind Love/Hate, so expectations are high for this four-part drama set in the mean streets of Wexford. A fine cast is headed by Adam Fergus as Mallon, and includes Aidan McArdle, Kelly Thornton, Damien Molony, Ned Dennehy and Seán McGinley.
You, Me and the Apocalypse (Wednesday, Sky 1, 9pm)
Trouble of a more global kind is on the horizon in You, Me and the Apocalypse , a comedy drama set around doomsday. Timid bank manager Jamie, grieving for his missing wife, is brought back to earth by the announcement that a comet is about to hit the planet and bring about the end of the world as we know it. Kinda puts your petty marital and money problems into perspective. A cast of seemingly unconnected characters (including Rob Lowe as a maverick priest and Megan Mullally as a deranged white supremacist) are thrown together as humankind desperately tries to find a way to survive this cataclysm – with hilarious results.
The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne (Watch now on RTÉ Player)
At the age of 80, he's the wise old elf of broadcasting, casting an avuncular spell on his interviewees and sometimes even creating telly magic. The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne is back for a new series, with Hozier first into the hotseat. Byrne grills him about music, spirituality and his lyrical blend of the sacred and profane, as exemplified in his worldwide hit Take Me to Church. Hozier wrote the song as a celebration of shame-free sex, and the video highlights the persecution of the LGBT community in Russia.
The Ray D'Arcy Show (Saturday, RTÉ One, 9.45pm)
Ray D'Arcy makes his much-talked about return to RTÉ screens with The Ray D'Arcy Show. Ryan Tubridy needn't worry about D'Arcy muscling in on his Friday-night territory – according to former Late Late host Pat Kenny, Tubs has many more years ahead of him at the helm of RTÉ's flagship chat show, so D'Arcy will just have to create his own Saturday-night niche. With The Rose of Tralee and The Den on his CV, it shouldn't be a problem.
Danger Mouse (Monday, CBBC, 6pm)
The world's number one secret agent is back – and we're not talking about 007. Danger Mouse returns to our screens after an absence of more than two decades (who knows what that is in mouse years?). This reboot is animated by Irish studio Boulder Media and stars Alexander Armstrong as the voice of Danger Mouse (he was originally voiced by David Jason), with Kevin Eldon as DM's sidekick Penfold. Once again, the duo battle with the evil Baron Greenback to protect the earth and various parallel universes from utter destruction. Surreal, psychedelic and completely bonkers, Danger Mouse is licensed to thrill a whole new generation of spy kids.
Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie (Friday, BBC Four, 10pm)
Are you, or have you ever been, at any stage in your life, a fan of indie music? If you've owned records by Echo & the Bunnymen, Orange Juice, The Smiths, New Order or Belle & Sebastian, then you'll immediately identify with Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie, a three-part series exploring the music that soundtracked many a student union disco. Beginning with the DIY ethos of post-punk bands such as The Buzzcocks, the programme tracks the rise of the independent labels in late 1970s and early 1980s, such as Factory, Rough Trade, Postcard, 2-Tone and Mute, which released records by Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Joy Division and The Specials. The series will feature a great selection of indie music as well as interviews with movers, shakers and shoegazers on the indie scene. Now where is my old Jesus and Mary Chain cassette?
Hollywood in Éirinn (Watch now on TG4 Player)
In Hollywood in Éirinn, actor Denis Conway looks at what happened in local communities when international film-makers rumble into town. For the first in the four-part series, Conway heads to west Cork and the Gaelacht village of Cúil Aodha, which was taken over by director Ken Loach for The Wind That Shakes the Barley in the summer of 2005.
