Pick of the Week
Amandaland
Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm
When acclaimed comedy series Motherland ended in 2022, fans were gutted – and so was the show’s co-creator Sharon Horgan. Now, she and her team have come up with this spin-off series, following the further adventures of optics-obsessed Amanda, played once again by Lucy Punch, with Joanna Lumley returning as Amanda’s clingy mum, Felicity, and Philippa Dunne reprising her role as put-upon pal Anne. Life after divorce has not been easy for Amanda. She’s lost her alpha-mum status, and has had to downgrade from Chiswick to South Harlesden. But she is determined to keep up appearances, and when her daughter Georgie befriends the daughter of a celebrity chef, Amanda sees her chance to climb the SoHa social ladder.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: The Read with Reece Shearsmith
Sunday, BBC Four, 9pm
You’d think watching someone reading out a story on the telly would be a bit boring, but these performance readings of classic tales are a different kettle of fish altogether, drawing you deep into the story and bringing the words to life right before your eyes. In this edition of The Read, Reece Shearsmith, co-star and co-creator of Inside No 9, tackles Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Henry Jekyll has created a potion that transforms him into the sinister Edward Hyde, allowing him indulge in dreadful behaviour without guilt. But can Jekyll keep his amoral alter-ego under control, or will Hyde’s malevolent personality take over? Jackanory was never this scary.
Miss Austen
Sunday, BBC One, 9.05pm
We all know Jane Austen, author of Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion, but what do we know about her older sister Cassandra? This drama series is based on the bestselling novel by Gill Hornby, and stars Keeley Hawes as Jane’s fiercely loyal older sibling. In the years following Jane’s death, Cassandra sets out to track down and destroy a bundle of her sister’s letters, convinced that if they fall into the wrong hands, Jane’s reputation – and legacy – will be irrevocably damaged. When she finds the letters and begins reading them, however, she is brought back through the looking-glass to her and her younger sister’s wild youth.
Boyzone: No Matter What
Sunday, Sky Documentaries & Now, 9pm
Don’t believe the anodyne pop biographies and press releases: apparently the Boyzone story features more conflict, rivalry, betrayal and tragedy than an entire series of Succession. This three-part music documentary promises to tell the real story of the Irish boy band, through interviews with surviving members Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Mikey Graham, and their former svengali manager Louis Walsh. The boyz talk about the huge personal cost of sudden fame at a young age, when they became Ireland’s answer to Take That, how they eventually fell out with Walsh, and how the death of their bandmate Stephen Gately in 2009 affected each of them.
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The 2025 67th Grammy Awards
Monday, RTÉ2, 9pm
Meet The Beatles, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, Charlie XCX, Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift and Post Malone, all nominated in the Record of the Year category for the 67th Grammy Awards, held on Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles in front of a star-studded audience. The Fab Four are nominated for Now & Then, a John Lennon tune dug up from the vaults and polished up, while Beyoncé is up for her genre-bending tune Texas Hold ‘Em and Lamar is nominated for diss track Not Like Us, which landed the killer blow in the rapper’s public spat with Drake. Trevor Noah returns as the host, and this year’s gala aims to raise funds to support relief efforts in the wake of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
Go Back to Where You Came From
Monday, Channel 4, 9pm
Here’s a social experiment guaranteed to be both provocative and triggering. Six British people, all with different opinions on the issue of immigration, experience what it feels like to be an asylum seeker fleeing tyranny and oppression, as they follow the perilous migrant routes from Somalia and Syria. They’ll learn first-hand about the dangers faced by refugees as they try to make their way to freedom, including making life-threatening crossings on small, dangerously overcrowded boats. The series, based on an Australian format, has been condemned by migrant charities, which say the producers, Minnow Films, are trivialising the issue by reducing it to migrant tourism. “You can’t mimic the experience of war, torture, persecution and modern slavery through the sanitised lens of reality TV,” said one.
Gíorraíonn Beirt Bóthar
Monday, BBC Two, 10pm
This three-part series celebrates the myths and legends of Ireland in tandem with the stunning natural beauty of Northern Ireland’s eastern landscapes. Tessa Fleming and Cormac Ó hÁdhmaill set off from Dundalk to take a journey into ancient folklore, learning about the exploits of Cú Chulainn, the Tuatha de Dannan, Clann Lir, St Brigid and St Patrick, and visiting such landmarks as Slieve Gullion, Navan Fort and Cú Chulainn’s Castle.
First Communion
Monday, BBC One, 11.40pm
Every year schoolkids around the State prepare for their First Holy Communion, but so do many kids elsewhere, and this documentary film follows four families as they prepare for this important ceremony in their children’s lives. We meet Tia from west Belfast, who wants to feel like a princess on her big day, and Seren from Formby, England, whose family have bought their Communion dresses at the same shop for generations. We also meet Niall from Lurgan, whose Communion takes on a new significance following his granny’s life-changing diagnosis, and Magdalena from London, whose younger sister suffers with a life-threatening respiratory illness..
Mussolini: Son of the Century
Tuesday, Sky Atlantic & Now, 9pm
The f-word has been bandied around so much these days it’s lost its power to provoke, but this drama series goes back to the birth of fascism in Italy, chronicling the rise to power of Benito Mussolini, aka Il Duce, and the country’s descent into dictatorship. The series, based on the bestseller by Antonio Scurati, is directed by Joe Wright and stars highly respected Italian actor Luca Marinelli in the title role. From the founding of the Fasci Italiani in 1919 to his bromance with Adolf Hitler during the second World War, this series promises deeper insights into Europe’s first dictator, who used the cult of personality to set himself up as Italy’s saviour.
The Late Late Eurosong Special
Friday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
Last year’s Eurovision Song Contest confirmed what many of us already knew: you have to be daring and a bit out-there if you want to make an impression on the viewers and voters. Another What’s Another Year? won’t cut it. In Eurovision 24, Ireland’s entry Bambie Thug shrieked their way to sixth place, earning our highest placing in the final in yonks. The hope is that the big brains behind Eurosong will keep pushing the boat out and perhaps even pull a Eurovision-winning song out of the hat. Patrick Kielty hosts another Eurosong Special, and six shortlisted artists are in contention to represent Ireland in Basle, Switzerland: Bobbi Arlo with Powerplay, Adgy with Run into the Night, Emmy with Laika Party, Niyl with Growth, Reylta with Fire and veteran pop star Samantha Mumba with My Way (not that My Way) – but are any of the songs as bonkers as Bambie’s Doomsday Blue?
Streaming
The Kardashians
From February 6th, Disney+
It’s season six in the real-life saga of America’s favourite femmes fatales, and don’t worry – they’ve got lots more drama in store for this new chapter in their fashion-forward lives. “In this family there has to be drama,” says one (I can’t remember which one, but her name begins with “K”). They’ll be “doing so much more together” this season, says another (whose name also begins with “K”). There’ll be visits to Vegas, India and lots of shops and beauty parlours, and ostentatious displays of wealth, style and kleavage. But life is not all kosy and kute – the K-girls will have to deal with the increasingly komplex challenges of motherhood, relationships, family dynamics and the pressures of coming up with new storylines for this reality series.
Apple Cider Vinegar
From February 6th, Netflix
Wellness culture is under the microscope in this fictional drama based on the true story of Australian influencer Belle Gibson, who claimed to have been cured of brain cancer through healthy food and exercise. With Instagram becoming a thing, Gibson was able to build up a lucrative wellness brand, convincing her followers that they could cure cancer by simply changing their diet and lifestyle. But her pseudoscience was soon debunked, and when it was revealed that she never had cancer in the first place, Gibson’s social media empire began to crumble. American actor Kaitlyn Dever nails the Aussie accent as Gibson, with Alycia Debnam-Carey as rival influencer Milla Blake.
