While Britain edges cautiously out of recession, Now we are two: if John Smith had lived (Channel 4, Saturday, 7.25 p.m.) speculates the direction it would have taken if Tony Blair had not take over at the helm. Political commentator Andrew Marr asks whether under Mr Smith the issue of equality, in which he passionately believed, would have been at the centre of Labour's policy.
In The Trial of Margaret Thatcher (Channel 4, Saturday, 7.55 p.m.) Jon Snow puts Mrs Thatcher in the dock. John Redwood for her defence and Gerald Kaufman for the prosecution call witnesses including business man Eddie Shah and comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. The studio audience will vote on Mrs Thatcher's fate.
While nuclear energy can provide a short-term cheap solution to energy problems, the long-term costs are not fully known. The Money Programme (BBC2, Sunday, 6.40 p.m.) examines what can be done with the waste that is too dangerous to leave lying around, but politically too hot to handle.
Ireland has come a long way since Mici Macgowen took The Hard Road to Klondike (BBC1, Sunday, 10.50 p.m.) towards the end of the last century. Grinding poverty and mass unemployment forced him to the US where conditions were not much better, but at least he could get some work however bad the conditions and poor the pay. This lyrical film documentary includes footage from Ireland, Scotland and the US.
Stealing cars is a major source of income for thieves and a large cost for the insurance industry, Car Wars: Out of Control (BBC1, Monday, 8.30 p.m.) - part one of six - tracks the Operation Impact police team in Avon and Somerset which has cut vehicle crime by 50 per cent.
Does Irish language and culture have any relevance in the marketplace? asks the third programme in Treo (RTE 1, Tuesday, 7.30 p.m.). The bilingual programme presents views from commentators that include Declan Kiberd and Joe Lee.
As Europe becomes more economically unified Eire Neodrach: Coir agus Eagoir (TnaG, Wednesday, 10.02 p.m.) examines the Irish concept of neutrality and its implications in contemporary Europe. The programme begins with eyewitness accounts of the bombing of Germany in 1945.
