Pick of the Week
The Traitors Ireland
Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
It’s the biggest event at Slane Castle since Bruce Springsteen: the arrival of the hit reality TV series The Traitors on Irish shores. The show – which originated on Dutch TV under the title De Verraders – has been a huge global success, proving once and for all that lies, deception and betrayal are the magic ingredients for must-watch TV. We’re already well familiar with the hugely popular British version, presented by Claudia Winkleman, but who will be Ireland’s own Winkleman? Step forward actor Siobhán McSweeney, whose job it will be to oversee all the bamboozling and back-stabbing as contestants battle to win the grand prize of €50,000. You know the format: the players – known as the faithful – must work together carry out missions which will bring them closer to that coveted prize. But there are traitors in their midst, and they’ve got mayhem and murder on their minds. Who will be the next victim? And who will be exposed as a traitor? Each night the faithful gather at a huge round table for the latest elimination. This is a chance for the Irish to prove they can be as sly and scheming as the best of them, and a chance for Slane Castle to prove it can be as scary as any Gothic castle. The Irish version is produced by Kite Entertainment, which also brought Gogglebox to Ireland, and the series has been in the works since long before the British version was aired.
The Traitors Uncloaked
Sunday, RTÉ One, 10.35pm
No self-respecting reality TV series would be seen dead without a companion show, and The Traitors Ireland: Uncloaked will air directly after the main event, unpicking what just happened and bringing you reaction and analysis from players and celebrity guests. Helping you digest all the action, betrayal and sabotage is host Kevin McGahern, and he’ll be delving deep in to the bowels of Slane Castle to get all the behind the scenes skinny, which will include exclusive chats with “banished” and “murdered” players.
Highlights
Keys to My Life
Sunday, RTÉ One, 8.30pm
Brendan Courtney returns as our key-jangling host in a new series exploring the past lives of some of our most popular public figures. Courtney brings his guests down memory lane and into the places they lived in at different stages of their lives, from their childhood homes to their student bedsits to their current luxury pile and all crash pads in between. The idea is that going back to their former gaffs might trigger memories long-buried amid their busy celebrity lives. Courtney’s first guest this week is Dónal Óg Cusack, the hurling coach and former Cork senior hurling champion, and a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Cusack revisits his childhood home in Cloyne – which sat on a hurling pitch, so no surprise the sport has seeped into his bones. He also brings Courtney to the fab architect-designed harbourside home in east Cork where he lives with his partner, Nathan.
The Inheritance
Sunday & Monday, Channel 4, 9pm; Tuesday, Channel 4, 9.30pm
Oasis have reformed, grunge gear is all the rage and Elizabeth Hurley is back on our screens – clearly the 1990s revival is still in full swing. The woman who became a meme long before memes were a thing is starring in this new reality gameshow, playing a rich, glamorous benefactor who has died and left a fortune in her will. Thirteen wannabe beneficiaries gather in a grand old stately home and carry out daily tasks and challenges in order to win as much of the loot as they can. Overseeing the contest and ensuring that the deceased’s wishes are carried out is executor Rob Rinder. The contestants will have to be clever, cunning and completely ruthless if they are going to bag a big chunk of that inheritance, but Hurley has a few tough tasks in store for them, in what sounds like a mash-up of The Traitors and The Apprentice.
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Neven’s Ulster Food Tour
Wednesday, RTÉ One, 8.30pm
Telly chef Neven Maguire has been all around Europe and beyond as part of his culinary travels, but in this new series he stays close to home, setting out from his home in Blacklion, Co Cavan, to explore the foodie delights on offer in Ulster, and to meet interesting producers, chefs, bakers and restaurateurs. “I was so excited to get back on the road for another food adventure, and this time I explored closer to home,” says Maguire. “The people were so friendly and kind, and they’re proud of what they do and where they come from. That’s what makes it so special and unique.” In the first episode, Maguire heads to counties Fermanagh and Monaghan, where he takes boat rides on Lough Erne and through the Marble Arch caves in Enniskillen, and a carriage ride through Castle Leslie estate. He also meets top chef Glen Wheeler, who cooks up one of his signature dishes and chats about Enniskillen’s thriving food scene, and baker extraordinaire Dylan Carleton, who could show the Bake Off experts a thing or two about creating tempting cakes.
Dev: Rise and Rule
Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
The man known as the Longfellow bestrode Irish life like a colossus, playing a role in the 1916 Rising, helping to formulate Ireland’s Constitution, becoming taoiseach several times, and serving a term as Ireland’s president. Along the way he also delivered his famous vision of Ireland as a rural idyll filled with the “romping of sturdy children, the contest of athletic youths and the laughter of comely maidens”. To mark 50 years since Éamon de Valera’s death, David McCullagh presents this two-part documentary examining the rise to power and influence of one of the most significant figures in modern Irish history. While he was alive, Dev could do no wrong in many Irish eyes, but in recent years his reputation – and his legacy – have taken a bashing. McCullagh looks at all sides of the de Valera story and tries to get to the truth of who Dev really was.
The Paper
Friday, Sky Max & Now, 9pm
Domhnall Gleeson as a midwestern media equivalent of David Brent? I’m intrigued. The Paper is brought to you by the same people behind The Office, and is a sort of sequel to the US version of the classic fly-on-the-wall comedy. Having wrapped up filming at the offices of Dunder-Mifflin, the camera crew have turned their focus on a struggling local newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, titled The Truth Teller. Gleeson is the paper’s naively idealistic new editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson, whose romantic vision of journalism regularly collides with hard reality – with reality usually coming off the worst. Can he inspire his staff to reach for the headline heights and save his moribund publication? And can he convince us that this is not just an auld spin-off of The Office? We’ll be watching closely and checking the cringe factor.
Streaming
The Runarounds
From September 1st, Prime Video
The TV ashtray is overflowing with series about fictional bands, from The Partridge Family to The Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star to We Are Lady Parts. Here’s another one to add to the virtual record collection, about a group of high-school graduates from Wilmington, North Carolina, whose dream is to make it big in the music biz. Apparently this entails dressing up in cowboy boots, cut-off denims and punky T-shirts and posing around a big Cadillac. But if they are going to get to Grammy territory, the band will have to work on their chops, and the series follows these young hopefuls over a busy summer as they rehearse, record, fall in and out of love and chase their rock‘n’roll dreams. Is this a millennials’ answer to Daisy Jones & The Six, also on Prime Video? And why can’t the writers of these shows come up with better band names? The show’s USP is that the stars are not just actors playing musicians: the producers – the same crowd who made The Outer Banks – put together an actual band for the series, and they’ve already played gigs around Wilmington. The series also sets out to showcase the real bands playing the thriving local music scene in Wilmington.
