The Warship: Tour of Duty
Sunday, BBC Two, 9pm
In May 2021, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s biggest-ever warship, set off on her first operational mission, and the cameras were there as the £3.5 billion craft undertook a seven-month journey through the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean and into the South China Sea, where international tensions have ratcheted up. The ship is well equipped for the task, with 18 super-lethal F35 stealth fighters and a fleet of Merlin anti-submarine helicopters. The series will focus on some of the 1,600 crew who are heading into the unknown.
Snugcheol
Sunday, TG4, 10.45pm
Nothing beats sliding into the snug at your local pub, a pint of the black stuff in front of you, and listening to musicians and storytellers delivering some ceol and craic. The new series is a sort of nationwide snug crawl, visiting some of the country’s cosiest snugs, including Michael Fawl’s in Clare, Lenehan’s in Kilkenny, Mooney’s in Na Déise and Slattery’s in Dublin, and sampling some of the traditional music and homespun tales on offer. Shift over a bit there – I’m squeezing in too.
SAS: Who Dares Wins - Jungle Hell
Monday, Channel 4, 9pm
So, you think you’ve got what it takes to be in the SAS? You’ve done Hell & Back, so Jungle Hell should be a doddle. You’re about to discover a whole new world of fear and pain, as 20 recruits are put through the most gruelling test of strength and endurance and sheer nerve they’ll ever experience. This is the benchmark for being a Special Forces soldier, and it’s a dizzyingly high benchmark, including the 50ft high “Trainasium”, and a heartstopping abseil down a raging 215ft waterfall.
Everyone Else Burns
Monday, Channel 4, 10pm
Meet the Lewises: they’re a nice Mancunian family of four who just happen to belong to a ultra-puritanical Christian cult that believes the world is going to end any day now, and all unbelievers are going to be engulfed in flaming hellfire, probably by next Tuesday. So, another sitcom about family values. Simon Bird from The Inbetweeners and Friday Night Dinner is overbearing patriarch David, who is trying to keep his family away from the temptations of the real world and save as many souls as possible before the apocalypse.
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High Road, Low Road
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 7pm
In this week’s episode of the travel series, actor Clelia Murphy and actor and author Claudia Carroll, who are best mates, head off on an incredible holiday to Tokyo. Only problem is, one of them will get to do Tokyo in style, complete with helicopter trip over the city and sushi at a top restaurant, while the other will have to do it all on the cheap, browsing the markets and subsisting on street food. Will this unequal division of leisure test their friendship?
The Case I Can’t Forget
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
When Co Carlow father Sanjeev Chada disappeared with his two young sons in July 2013, gardaí knew they had to race against time to find them. With a financial scandal looming, Chada was a desperate man, and gardaí issued a Child Rescue Ireland alert, instigating a nationwide search for the two boys. Supt Martin Walker and Supt Gary Walsh recall the frantic attempts to find Chada and his sons, and the grim discovery near Westport in Co Mayo that told them they were too late.
Extraordinary
From Wednesday, Disney+
The superhero space is getting so overcrowded, everyone’s scrambling to find a new twist on the genre, and here’s the elevator pitch for this new UK comedy series written by Emma Moran: imagine everyone in the world had a superpower – except you. In the Extraordinary world, everyone gets a superpower when they turn 18 – except for Jen (Máiréad Tyers), who is about to turn 25 but still unable to fly, bend time or channel the dead. Can this caterpillar survive in a world of butterflies? Siobhán McSweeney (Sr Michael from Derry Girls) co-stars as Jen’s mum.
Sort Your Life Out
Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm
Move over Marie Kondo: tidying up guru Stacey Solomon and her crack declutter team are ready to descend on families’ homes and help them get back control of their living space – and their lives. Solomon and her team – Dilly (organiser), Rob (carpenter) and Iwan (cleaner) – are travelling the length and breadth of the UK to challenge families to clean up their act in just seven days and get rid of all that stuff that they no longer need but still, somehow, can’t let go of.
Eco Eye
Thursday, RTÉ One, 8pm
If the health of a country can be measured by its transport system, then it looks like Ireland is about to take its last gasp. Bad planning, neglected infrastructure and a chronically underfunded public transport system means we’re stuck in an endless cycle of car dependency, congestion and pollution, with no end of the long road in sight. In this episode of Eco Eye, Dr Clare Kambamettu looks at the radical changes we will have to make to our transport system if we’re to have any hope of functioning as a sustainable modern society.
Grayson Perry’s Full English
Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm
I’m sure you’ve often stopped in the middle of a cricket match or a stroll by the Thames and asked yourself, what is the essence of Englishness? Well, wonder no more, because the artist Grayson Perry has taken it upon himself to find out just what makes something quintessentially English. In this three-part series, Perry embarks on a personal journey around England in search of objects, artworks, trinkets, memorabilia and family heirlooms that somehow capture that elusive quality of Englishness. But he’s not stopping there: Perry will put all these items on display in a special exhibition which will also feature many of his own creations.
Fantasy Football League
Friday, Sky Max & Now, 10pm
It’s our favourite sport: sitting comfortably on the sidelines (ie the sofa) and spouting our opinions on everything from Ronaldo’s Manchester United exit to Tottenham’s trophy quest. Now, as the Premiership season resumes, Matt Lucas and Elis James are back on the FFL couch for another round of the rebooted 1990s cult favourite, and they’ll be joined by a squad of celebrity guest managers who will outline their dream lineout, with lots of chats, bants and hilarious clips.
Lockwood & Co
From Friday, Netflix
We’ve had Buffy the Vampire Slayer – now here’s Lucy the Ghost Hunter, a teenager with the psychic power necessary to conquer the nasty ghosts who are plaguing the world. It’s Ghostbusters meets Fate: The Winx Saga in this new supernatural series set in a world where ghosts are running rampant, and teenage psychics suddenly find themselves in demand by big corporations trying to eradicate this spectral scourge. But young entrepreneur Anthony Lockwood is determined to stay independent, and, with help from his brilliant sidekick George and gifted psychic Lucy, set out into the unknown.
