The Zoo
Sunday, RTE One, 6.30pm
Springtime is a good time to visit Dublin Zoo. Or you could just stay at home and watch the new series of The Zoo in the comfort of your own den. There are great expectations in the first week with the news that Lena the gorilla may be pregnant. Also, the meerkats' habitat gets the Dermot Bannon treatment with a makeover, and the vets examine the two-toed sloth, the slowest animal in the world (my missus would dispute that claim).
At Your Service
Sunday, RTE One, 8.30pm
The Brennan brothers are back with a new series, and their guest book is filled with more struggling hospitality businesses in need of rescue. The first programme in the new series aired on New Year's Day, so technically this is episode two. This week, the sibling hoteliers must persuade old-school guesthouse owner Mary Guerin to engage with online reviews.
Would You Believe? One Hundred Thousand Welcomes
Sunday, RTE One, 10.35pm
We like to think of ourselves as a land of welcomes, but how have we dealt with the arrival of Syrian refugees on our shores? This documentary looks at what life is like for the Syrian families who have been repatriated here. Have they settled into their new communities, and have their new neighbours made them feel at home? With Ireland committing to taking in 4,000 Syrian refugees, can we live up to our céad míle fáilte image?
Ireland's Property Crisis
Monday, RTE One, 9.35pm
We're currently in the grip of our worst-ever housing crisis, and this new documentary series looks at the reality for many families trying to claw their way out of negative equity, or hoping to stave off eviction for another week. In the first episode we meet Selena, a single mother racing against time to find rental accommodation for her and her two children; Anna, a widow who is deep in mortgage arrears; Trinity graduate Colin, who moves from hostel to hostel every night, and the Sadlier family, who are still paying off a mortgage on a one-bed apartment they bought 10 years ago. Count yourself lucky you have a livingroom to watch this programme in.
Child of Our Time
Monday, BBC One, 9pm
Remember when this series began way back in 2000? The idea was to track the lives of 25 millennials at every stage from birth to fully fledged adults, revisiting them each year to see how they are developing. You wouldn't want to be waiting around for the boxset to binge out on. The series almost got axed just as the kids hit puberty, but now presenter Prof Robert Winston (also older) is back to check on the kids as they hit the milestone age of 16. Are they lost in the Snapchat universe or can they engage with the real world? Or is life just one big reality TV show to them?
Big Week on the Farm
Monday-Friday, RTE One, 7pm
It's the busiest week of the year for farmers (next to the ploughing championships), and RTE's ground force, led by Ella McSweeney and Aine Lawlor, will be at the Shalvey family's dairy farm all week, getting in the way and sticking cameras in every corner of the farm. They'll be joined by a large studio audience, and guest presenters Ruby Walsh, Al Porter, Vogue Williams, Pat Shortt and Aoibhin Garrihy. Over the week, we'll witness a chick's embryo growing inside the egg, watch a baby buffalo calf being born, and share the heartbreak of a lonely donkey which has been separated from its partner. The celebrity guests will be mucking in too, and taking part in the milking challenge, Pull the Udder One.
Bake Off: Crème de la Crème
Tuesday, BBC Two, 8pm
The Great British Bake Off has done its own Brexit and moved to Channel 4, but the BBC still clings to its spin-off baking show, in which crack teams of professional pastry chefs battle it out to create desserts to die for. The first series was presented by Tom Kerridge, but have the BBC got news for you: the new presenter is none other than Angus Deayton, former presenter of Have I Got News for You. Hopefully his dry wit will prove the magic ingredient for the show.
How to Be a Surrealist with Philippa Parry
Tuesday, BBC Four, 9pm
How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? If you don't know the answer, maybe you need to watch this mindbending documentary. We're all familiar with the tropes of surrealism - melting clocks, lobster telephones, Trump's hair - but we often forget how radical the surrealist movement was in the 1920s. Philippa Parry (below), a psychologist with a passion for surrealism, explores the origins of the artform, and how it re-drew the map of the human mind. This is followed by Desmond Morris - The Secret Surrealist (BBC Four, 10pm), which explores the 89-year-old anthropologist's alter-ego as a painter of wildly surrealist imagery and close friend of Joan Miró and Henry Moore.
Me and My Dog - The Ultimate Contest
Wednesday, BBC Two, 8pm
So, you think your dog is a clever boy, then? Try taking on these eight determined dog-owners as they compete in a set of physical and mental challenges designed to test the unique bond between person and pooch. England's scenic Lake District is the battleground, and the series is presented by naturalist Chris Packham.
Second Chance Summer
Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm
In The Real Marigold Hotel, a group of older celebs checked out India as a possible place to retire. Now the makers of that programme are bringing 10 non-celebs on a trip to Tuscany, to see if they might like to start a new life on a communal farm in the rural Italian region. They have to get to know each other, become familiar with the local people and customs, learn farming skills and Italian, and generally try to settle into their new lives. And they won't even have to do a bushtucker trial - reality show contestants have it so easy these days.
The Trip to Spain
Thursday, Sky Atlantic, 10pm
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon (below) are back on the road for a third series of The Trip, and this time they're in sunny Spain in search of good vittles, gluggable wine and off-the-cuff conversation, under the able direction of Michael Winterbottom. As usual, they play exaggerated versions of themselves, beetling and bantering their way down the length of Spain on a culinary, cultural and comedy odyssey. The droll duo follow the footsteps of poet and novelist Laurie Lee, starting at Santander, and visiting the Cave of Altamira and the port of Getaria before stopping in for a meal and a chat at celebrated restaurant Txoko.
