TV & Radio

Eight TV shows to watch this week

From Ireland’s most feared pranksters to the most controversial video game in history, here are some of the best shows on TV this week

Mon Sep 14 2015 - 14:10

Vikings

Monday, RTÉ Two, 9pm

They haven’t gone away you know. More than 1,000 years after they set out to colonise Britain and Ireland, our fascination for the Vikings hasn’t waned. Which is why we’ll be tuning into the third season of Vikings to follow the latest exploits of Ragnar and his merry band of conquering Norsemen.

Daniel Radcliffe plays Sam Houser, the Englishman who led the team that designed Grand Theft Auto in Gamechangers

As series three opens, Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) has become king of Kattegat, but the crown sits uneasily on his head, as he hankers after his old life as a farmer. But there are new territories to conquer and Ragnar sets his sights on the city of Paris, rumoured to be impregnable. Can his new ally King Ecbert (Linus Roache), the ruler of Wessex, be trusted? Will Ragnar’s ex-wife Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), his brother Rollo (Clive Standen) and son Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig) face up to their own challenges? We’ve got our shields at the ready for a night in.

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The State Funeral of Thomas Kent

Friday, RTÉ One, 1.25pm

It’s taken 100 years, but finally Thomas Kent, one of the 16 men executed following the Easter Rising of 1916, is to get a State funeral. In the run-up to the 2016 commemorations, The State Funeral of Thomas Kent will be covered live from Castlelyons in Co Cork. Kent’s remains were exhumed from Cork Prison earlier this year and he will be reburied with full military honours.

Scannal – Death in a Park

Monday, RTÉ One, 7.30pm

In 1982 a young gay man, Declan Flynn, was brutally beaten in a public park and died from his injuries. The case highlighted the intolerance of homosexuality that ran deep in Irish society at the time and helped to spark support for gay rights and the changing of the law that made homosexuality a crime. Scannal – Death in a Park starts off a new series of the bilingual documentary, exploring the life of this very private individual and recalling the state of fear in which Ireland’s gay community lived in the 1980s.

F**k Cancer

Thursday, RTÉ Two, 9.30pm

Planning your wedding is hard work, but imagine what it’s like trying to organise your nuptials while undergoing treatment for cancer? This was the challenge that faced 2FM DJ Louise McSharry at the age of 31, and she tells her unique wedding story in Reality Bites: F**k Cancer. The cameras follow McSharry as she prepares for her big day with fiance Gordon Spierin while at the same time managing the effects of chemotherapy.

The Fear

Monday, RTÉ Two, 10.25pm

Ireland’s most feared pranksters, Hilary Rose, Ross Browne and Fred Cooke, are back for a new series of The Fear. This is the team’s fourth time reeling in unsuspecting members of the public, so if you’re still taken in by Irinka the Russian streetwalker, the nun, the sergeant major and Jimmy the most annoying man in Ireland, then you really have no one to blame but yourself.

An Inspector Calls

Sunday, BBC One, 8.30pm

David Thewlis stars in a new adaptation of JB Priestley’s classic detective story An Inspector Calls. Thewlis is joined by an all-star cast, including Ken Stott and Miranda Richardson for this tale of a wealthy family in the early 20th century whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious detective investigating the suicide of a young woman from the nearby town. It’s part of the BBC’s season of adaptations of classic 20th century literature and is directed by award-winning writer and director, Irish woman Aisling Walsh.

The Gamechangers

Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

It’s the most controversial video game in history, blamed for corrupting children and promoting extreme violence, but it’s also the most wildly popular game ever to hit our PlayStation screens. Grand Theft Auto has sparked a huge moral battle between gamers and concerned parents, and The Gamechangers is a dramatic reconstruction of the real-life war that has raged since the game first exploded onto the market. Daniel Radcliffe plays Sam Houser, the Englishman who led the team that designed Grand Theft Auto, and Bill Paxton plays Jack Thompson, the Christian lawyer on a mission to make it “game over” for GTA.

Ireland’s Animal Rescue

Monday, TV3, 8.30pm

When animals are sick, neglected or in need of help, who removes them from their poor conditions and restores them to health? Ireland’s Animal Rescue is a new series following the work of the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) in different parts of the country, as they go to the aid of animals in distress. Snuffling may ensue.