Pick of the week
Anorexia, My Family and Me
Monday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
Eating disorders are on the rise in Ireland, and social media has added fuel to the fire as young people are fed unrealistic standards of beauty and body shape. But it’s not just teenagers who are susceptible: in this documentary, we meet three Irish families dealing with anorexia, and learn how very complex mental health condition can have people of all ages in its grip. The programme is made by the same team that created the compassionate documentary Patrick: A Young Traveller Lost, so expect the fraught subject of anorexia to be handled with care and sensitivity. Even the choice of Angela Scanlon as narrator has been thought through: Scanlon has herself battled to overcome an eating disorder. The programme highlights the difficulty parents face in getting treatment for their children, such as Wicklow mother Jenny, whose 16-year-old son Josh is rapidly losing weight. Meanwhile, 42-year-old Seán, a father for four, has been struggling with anorexia for the past 10 years, and realised his obsession with running was part of the problem; while 36-year-old Amanda is living with the constant threat of hospitalisation. Leading experts Dr Kielty Oberlin and Harriet Parsons from BodyWhys give their insights into condition, which can be fatal, but the programme also brings hope that families can make it through.
Highlights
The Unreal
Sunday, RTÉ One, 5.10pm
What do you get when you mix Bosco with Stranger Things? When 12-year-old Kevin is dragged off on a woodland staycation with his family, he’s expecting to be bored to death. In fact, he’s so bored that when he finds a an old 1980s videotape in the holiday cabin where the family are staying, even that looks interesting. But when he presses play, he inadvertently unleashes a strange creature known as the Pooka into this world, and when weird and creepy things start happening around the holiday camp, everyone blames Kevin. This spooky comedy drama series is aimed at the entire family: not too scary for smallies, but it also tackles some grown-up issues.
Mr Loverman
Monday, BBC One, 9pm
Barrington Jedidiah Walker is a dapper dad in his 70s, an Antiguan-born immigrant whose irrepressible personality and retro fashion style has made him a well-known face around his neighbourhood of Hackney, London. His wife, Carmel, however, suspects the suave and charming Barry has other women in his life, but what she doesn’t realise is that he’s been in a long-term gay relationship with his best mate, Morris. Now, however, with Barrington facing into his twilight years, is it time for him to bring his secret out into the open? The series is based on the 2013 novel by Bernardine Evaristo and stars Line of Duty’s Lennie James and Holby City’s Sharon D Clarke.
Heated
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 7pm
The second series of Heated looks at Irish-based efforts to reduce waste, use energy efficiently and find alternatives to fossil fuels. Once again, farmer and journalist Hannah Quinn Mulligan, environmental scientist Dr Michelle McKeown and social activist Rónán Ó Dálaigh will bring stories of people who are coming up with innovative ideas to help turn the tide of global warming. In this first episode we meet a Co Clare farmer who is turning plastic waste into fence posts, and see how “pocket forests” can make a supersize difference to air quality. And we learn how an entire community came together to bring down the costs of installing solar panels.
Life and Death in Gaza
Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm
As we pass the grim one-year anniversary of the war in Gaza, another documentary details the devastation and despair that now permeates the region, with no end to the conflict in sight, and a wider escalation now a very real prospect. In this programme, four ordinary Gazans document their daily lives amid the chaos, and there’s nothing everyday about this footage, as Khalid, Aya, Adam and Aseel and their respective families endure bombing raids, evacuations, separations and, inevitably, deaths. The self-shot films are interspersed with personal archives detailing life before the war, and local film-makers contribute their own scenes to build up the human stories behind the never-ending newsreel.
Naíonra
Wednesday, TG4, 9.30pm
This new series gives an insight into the world of naíonraí – Irish-language playgroups for preschool children. Here, kids will get immersed in the language, learn how to understand and communicate, and make lots of friends. The series follows the activities at two naíonraí – in Tallaght, Dublin and Mallow, Co Cork – over a year, as kids take their first steps to becoming fluent in a second language, and learn vital skills that will stand to them through their lives.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Wednesday, Sky Max, 9pm
Time once more to test your musical knowledge as the comedy quiz show returns for another crazy, chaotic run, featuring celebrity guests grappling with some tricky pop trivia questions. Host Greg Davies is back, along with regular team captains Noel Fielding and Jamali Maddix, plus a host of pop stars, punk veterans and rock legends joining in the fun. This is the fourth series since Sky revived the format in 2021, and to make things more interesting, there will be four themed specials among the regular shows. Tonight’s series opener is the first special, Buzzcocks Does Rock, and features guest captain Courtney Love.
A House Through Time: Two Cities At War
Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm
Two apartment blocks 600 miles away from each other are the setting for this story of the second World War. Historian David Olusoga delves into the history of Montagu Mansions in London and 72 Pfalzburger Strasse in Berlin to see the war through the eyes of their residents. In the first episode, Olusoga takes us back to the 1920s, when anti-German sentiment in Britain is at its highest following the losses of the first World War. Meanwhile, in Berlin, impoverished Germans are looking for someone to blame for their woes, and one Adolf Hitler, leader of the fringe Nazi party, offers them an easy scapegoat: the Jewish people.
Everyone Else Burns
Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm
The ultra-religious Lewis family are back for a second series, and the prophesied end of the world can’t come soon enough, as the world is still out to shake the family’s fundamental Christian faith. Simon Bird stars as dad David, and in this series he battles temptations of the flesh as the rift between him and Fiona widens, and another woman takes an interest in him. Meanwhile, daughter Rachel faces an obstacle on the rocky road to independence: the threat of an arranged marriage.
The Man Who Definitely Didn’t Steal Hollywood
Friday, BBC Two, 9pm
In 1990, flamboyant Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti bought MGM film studios for $1.3 billion. Few people in the business knew much about this former waiter, or where he got the mountain of cash to cut one of the biggest deals in the history of Hollywood. It was rumoured that media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi (who later became Italy’s prime minister) was one of Parretti’s backers, but no sooner had the contracts been signed than cheques to big stars such as Dustin Hoffman were bouncing, and production on the next James Bond film ground to a halt as the FBI stepped in to investigate. But, like the movies, this story has a few plot twists, and director John Dower interviews insiders, investigators – and Parretti himself – to unspool the whole saga.
Streaming
The Lincoln Lawyer
From Thursday, October 17th, Netflix
The iconoclastic lawyer Mickey Haller is back in driving seat in the third series of the drama based on the bestselling crime novels by Michael Connelly. Haller is still using the back seat of his Lincoln as an office, and he’s still getting up the wrong people’s noses – but in this series he’s on a personal crusade to bring the killer of his client Gloria Dayton, aka Glory Days, to justice. It’s based on the fifth novel in Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series, The Gods of Guilt.
Rivals
From Friday, October 18th, Disney+
The classic Jilly Cooper bonkbuster finally comes to our screens, so gird your loins for a saucy romp in the Cotswolds starring David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, Alex Hassell, Emily Atack, Nafessa Williams and Victoria Smurfit, in a story set in the world of independent television in the 1980s. Smoothie TV presenter Declan O’Hara (Turner) is recruited by crooked TV mogul Lord Baddingham (Tennant) to work at his ailing Corinium television studios. Meanwhile, Baddingham’s arch-rival, oily showjumper turned Tory MP Rupert Campbell-Black (Hassell), has his eye on O’Hara’s gorgeous daughter Taggie (Bella Maclean). This is the second in Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles series – Disney would be mad not to mine this rich seam of steamy material for future TV series.
The Office (Australia)
From Friday, October 18th, Prime Video
Welcome to Flinley Craddick, a distant cousin of Wernham Hogg, in the Aussie version of the hit TV mockumentary created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. If you’re wondering what David Brent would be like if he were a woman and from Down Under, meet managing director Hannah Howard, played to the cringey hilt by the comedian and actor Felicity Ward. When Hannah learns from head office that her branch will be shut down and her staff will be WHF, she makes it her crusade to keep everyone coming in to the office. Surely no one would prefer working from home to spending the day in her scintillating company?
The Devil’s Hour
From Friday, October 18th, Prime Video
Jessica Raine and Peter Capaldi go head to head once more in the second series of this nightmarish, time-twisting and mind-melting psychological thriller. You can be sure series two will pile on more puzzles and conundrums to keep you awake at night. As this series begins, Lucy (Raine) is having difficulty keeping track of her multiple realities. Might be time to team up again with Gideon (Capaldi), the man who can “remember” the future.
