TV guide: 12 of the best new shows to watch

Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year Special

New Year’s Eve, RTÉ One, 9.40pm

You’ve already gorged out on the MBB Christmas special, and now it’s time to see out the old year with telly’s favourite foul-mouthed old dear in the second of two seasonal romps to leave you laughing all the way to 2024. New Year, New Mammy sees Agnes and the gang making a new year’s resolution to get fit, so they embark on their own operation transformation in the hope of getting a Baywatch body in time for summer. That means getting on the colourful spandex and getting down to sweaty business. But then a mysterious visitor arrives in Finglas, and Agnes and Winnie are forced to face up to some home truths about their past. Janey mack!

Jools’ Annual Hootenanny

New Year’s Eve, BBC Two, 11.30pm

It’s the usual New Year’s Eve dilemma – which station should you tune into for the countdown to 2024? You could watch the special edition of The Late Late Show, in which Patrick Kielty looks back on the year in the company of many familiar guests (RTÉ One, 10.15pm) followed by the NYE Countdown Concert featuring Picture This (RTÉ One, 11.45pm). Or you could watch in awe as Rick Astley rickrolls the old year in Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve (BBC One, 11.30pm). Me, I’ll be going for Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, in which the Later... presenter is joined by Rod Stewart, Ruby Turner, Joss Stone, Paul Jones, Sugababes and our very own Mary Wallopers. And that’s not all from Ireland – the show will also feature 17-year-old blues guitarist and singer Muireann Bradley from Co Donegal, whose debut album I Kept These Old Blues impressed Jools Holland so much he had to have her on the Hootenanny.

Mr Bates vs the Post Office

New Year’s Day, Virgin Media One & UTV, 9pm

Toby Jones stars as real-life postmaster Alan Bates in this drama about a notorious miscarriage of justice and how those affected by it fought back to clear their good names. In the early 2000s Britain’s Post Office installed a new computer system but when local post office tills start showing up irregularities, the Post Office wrongly accuses hundreds of sub-postmasters in small towns and villages of theft, fraud and false accounting. Bates is told he is the only postmaster whose tills don’t add up, but he soon learns that many other postmasters using the new computer system are experiencing the same glitch. Soon the Post Office is prosecuting innocent postmasters and postmistresses around the country, spurring Bates and others to begin a fightback that took decades.

The Tourist

New Year’s Day, BBC One, 9pm

Jamie Dornan is back as amnesiac Elliot for a second series of this hit thriller written by Harry and Jack Williams, and his memory is still a bit shaky. In series one Elliot woke up in Australia with no idea who he was or how he got there. He soon remembered how to run, though, as shadowy figures chased him across the Australian outback. In series two Elliot heads to Ireland to uncover some clues about his family history – and the baddies are not too far behind.

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The Tourist

Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

The second episode of the second series finds Elliot (Jamie Dornan) back in Ireland seeking answers to so many questions from series one. With help from Helen (Danielle McDonald), Elliot is hoping to unlock secrets from his past, but he ends up opening a whole new can of worms, and is reacquainted with old friends and confronted by old foes, and becomes embroiled in a deadly family feud that sees him getting brutally kidnapped. Not quite the homecoming he was hoping for. Conor McNeil stars as Detective Ruairi Slater and Olwen Fouéré as Niamh Cassidy.

Taskmaster’s New Year Treat

Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

There’s no rest for the wicked as taskmaster Greg Davies and his sidekick Little Jack Horne bring another hapless group of celebrities into the “colosseum of nonsense” to carry out a series of bizarre tasks that will toy with their very sense of reality. Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden, music artist Kojey Radical, actor Lenny Rush, wildlife adventurer Steve Blackshall and presenter Zoe Ball are ready to take up the challenge, including popping poppadoms while dropping letters of the alphabet from their speech and creating self-portraits without using their hands.

Operation Transformation

Wednesday RTÉ One, Jan 3rd, 9.30pm

We all make new year’s resolutions we never keep, but once again five leaders have to stick to their commitment to starting a new, healthier chapter in their lives. And with the whole nation watching they’re not going to be able to back out. Kathryn Thomas presents RTÉ's latest drive to revive, with people from all over the country rowing in to get healthy.

The Traitors

Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm

Claudia Winkleman is back to host a second series of the fiendish role-playing gameshow where contestants must uncover the traitors in their midst in order to survive. The first series was a big hit for the Beeb so clearly viewers enjoy lots of betrayal and backstabbing, so we’re promised more of the same in series two. Once again 22 strangers are brought to a castle in the Scottish Highlands, but some of them are “traitors” whose job is to “murder” their fellow contestants one by one. The “faithful” players will have to unmask and banish the traitors if they want a chance to reach the final and win the £120,000 prize.

Dragons’ Den

Thursday, BBC One, 8pm

It’s series 21 of the British business series, and another bunch of hopeful entrepreneurs will be quaking in front of the dragons as they try to convince them to invest in their business idea. Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Sarah Davies and Steven Bartlett will be checking out the ideas on offer to see if they’re worth backing, with Manchester United football star turner hotelier and property developer Gary Neville and fashion and retail boss Emma Grede sitting in as guest dragons. What will loosen their purse-strings, a family sock business, a second-hand luxury clothes business or a fashion eyewear business?

First Dates Ireland

Thursday, RTÉ2, Jan 4th, 9.35pm

The staff of the First Dates restaurant return for another series of the dining and dating show, with maitre d’ Mateo, wait staff Alice and Pete, and friendly barman Neil ready to welcome a new batch of singletons. Episode one features the show’s first double date, with Stephen and James going all Top Gun in the hope of impressing their dates Jade and Siobhan. Will their Maverick and Iceman routine take the girls’ breath away, or will the ejector seat button get pressed?

Amanda and Alan’s Italian Job

Friday, BBC One, 8.30pm

Fresh from the success of their first series, Amanda Holden and Alan Carr are back in Italy and hoping to bag another palatial house for the princely sum of one euro. This time they’re in the beautiful region of Tuscany, where Alan finds a 17th-century house in the village of Fornovolasco going for a song – and soon learns why. The house is completely dilapidated, with everything damp, rotted and cracked, including the medieval watchtower. Can Alan and Amanda restore this rundown relic to its former glory? Nothing for it but to get on the boiler suits and start the renovations.

Would I Lie to You?

Friday, BBC One, 8pm

WILTY’s back for another fab series in which celeb contestants spin tall tales while the other celeb contestants have to guess whether they’re telling the truth or just making the whole thing up. Rob Brydon is once again your very capable host as the two teams weave their web of lies – or truths – led by captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell. Tonight’s celebrity fibbers – or truth-tellers – are Alex Jones, Chris McCausland, Su Pollard and Rav Wilding, who will tell incredible stories about themselves, leaving everyone wondering did that really happen or is it just a great big porkie-pie?