TV week: hunting down the scammers plaguing our lives
TV WEEK (Wednesday 7th to Tuesday 13th)
TOP SPECIALS
Anna Haugh’s Big Irish Food Tour (BBC 2, Wednesday 7th, 6.30pm)
Celebrity chef Anna Haugh returns home for a culinary journey, exploring Irish culture and cuisine with celebrity guests. This week, Anna meets Mrs Brown’s Boys actor Eilish O’Carroll in her native Dublin, in an area of the city where traditional markets mix with global street food. Later they create a dish inspired by these diverse flavours.
Dead Man Walking: Dan Walker On Death Row (CH5, Wednesday 7th, 9pm)
Dan Walker embarks on a hard-hitting investigation to uncover the truth about capital punishment in the US, exploring the reality of life on death row, and manages to secure the access to witness exactly what is involved in carrying out a state-sanctioned execution. Reflecting on his findings, he considers whether Europe could or should ever reinstate the death penalty.
Nationwide (RTÉ 1, Wednesday 7th, 7pm)
Will Fogarty, a former construction worker based in Limerick, took a leap of faith during the economic downturn and found his true passion in chainsaw carving. Known as ‘Fear na Coillte’, he travels the country creating eye-catching sculptures for individuals, the Tidy Towns and local authorities. Will has also built up a following on social media as he documents his work of bringing new life to old wood.
Tarrac na Farraige (RTÉ 1, Thursday 8th, 7pm)
Focuses on the fishing industry in Ireland, as workers grapple with a fragile industry on the cusp of seismic change. In this series, we meet the Skippers – the men behind the boats, visiting their home ports along Ireland’s breathtaking coastline. Though the fishing community is scattered across distant harbours and remote shores, it is bound together by a deep sense of solidarity and an enduring love for the sea.
Poker Face (Sky Max, Thursday 8th, 9pm)
Season two will follow Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, gifted with the ability to determine when someone is lying and who hits the road to solve one murder mystery at a time. This pulls inspiration from 1970s TV shows like Columbo, The Rockford Files and Quantum Leap.
WATCH OF THE WEEK
Germanwings: What Happened On Flight 9525? (Sky Documentaries, Wednesday 7th, 9pm)
It’s the nightmare we all wonder about. Germanwings Flight 9525 went down on March 24, 2015, leaving no survivors among the 150 on board. The investigation concluded that a suicidal co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, purposely locked the plane’s pilot out of the cockpit and crashed the aircraft into the French Alps. Investigators, experts and relatives of victims pursue new information about the crash and their perspectives shift in surprising ways.
BEST FILMS
The Invisible Woman (BBC 4, Thursday 8th, 10.10pm)
This stylish and handsome period feature concerns Nelly Wharton Robinson (Felicity Jones) recalling a fateful time from her past when, as a young actress, she met author Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) and secretly became his mistress and muse. Slow moving but engaging.
Sea Fever (RTÉ 2, Friday 9th, 9.50pm)
Hermoine Colfield plays marine-biology student Siobhán, who endures a week on a fishing trawler off the west coast of Ireland, trying but failing to fit in among the vessel’s close-knit crew. Things take a turn for the horrific when well out to sea, a strange life-form takes control of the boat via a deadly infection.
Speak No Evil (Sky Cinema Premiere, from Friday)
A psychological thriller film remake of the 2022 Danish-Dutch film of the same name, this stars James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis as an American family invited to stay at the remote farmhouse of a charming British couple for the weekend – an experience where nothing is as it seems.
CLASSIC MOVIE
Lady Bird (Sky Cinema Drama, Wednesday 7th, 6.20pm)
Saoirse Ronan deserved her Oscar nomination for this arresting portrayal of a rebellious teen who navigates a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother over the course of an eventful and poignant senior year of high school. The turmoil of adolescence is well sketched by writer-director Greta Gerwig.
KIDS STUFF
Nerves Of Steel (RTÉ 1, Wednesday 7th, 2.30pm)
Captivating behind-the-scenes documentary offering an exclusive glimpse into the making of the Emerald Park’s highly anticipated Tír Na nÓg development, which includes two new intertwining roller coasters – part of its first fully themed and immersive land. Entitled ‘Na Fianna Force’ and ‘The Quest’, it will be the longest intertwining family and thrill coasters in Europe.
Scam Interceptors (BBC 1, Wednesday 7th, 2pm)
Rav Wilding is hunting down the scammers plaguing our lives. Working with ethical hackers to hack into the fraudsters’ illegal call centres, Rav uses cutting-edge technology to monitor the scammers’ phone calls in an effort to stop victims losing out to real-time scams.
ON DEMAND
Turning Point: the Vietnam War (Netflix)
An unfiltered look at one of the most defining and divisive conflicts in modern history and the profound, lasting impact it has had on America’s global identity and on the lives of countless people. The five episode docu-series showcases a war that was more than just a military failure; it was a political and cultural reckoning that reshaped America.
Angi: Fake Life, True Crime (Netflix)
Ana Páez was a 35-year-old fashion designer who was found dead in a tourist apartment in Barcelona on February 19, 2008, naked and with a plastic bag covering her head. How did she die? Was it a sexual crime or a sadistic game gone wrong? This documentary miniseries revisits what the media dubbed ‘The Almost Perfect Crime’.
Flintoff Looking Back (Disney+)
Legendary cricketer Andrew Flintoff recalls he thought he was dead after a car crash in 2022 while filming the hugely popular show, Top Gear, when the three-wheeler car he was driving rolled over. Despite the trauma, he ‘remembers everything about it and thought I was dead because I couldn’t see anything’.
SPORTS CENTRE
Champions League Live (RTÉ 2, Wednesday 7th, 7.30pm)
Darragh Maloney is joined by Didi Hamann for live coverage of Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal in the semi-final, second Leg from Paris. Commentary from Des Curran. KO 8pm.
URC Live (RTÉ 2, Friday 9th, 7pm)
Clare MacNamara is joined by Bernard Jackman, Darren Cave and Donncha O’Callaghan for live coverage from Thomond Park of Munster v Ulster. KO 7.35pm. You could call this the Red Army coming up against the Red Hand – a match that has much at stake for both clubs.