Watch Of The Week – Leonard and Hungry Paul
TV WEEK (Wednesday 25th to Tuesday 31st)
TOP SPECIALS
The Comeback (Sky Comedy, Wednesday 25th, 9pm)
Twenty years after the first season debuted in 2005, and 10 years after season two, Valerie Cherish has found her way back to the current television landscape. The Comeback, created by Michael Patrick King of And Just Like That fame, the series stars Lisa Kudrow from Friends as sitcom actress Valerie Cherish in modern-day Los Angeles, in a satirical look at the entertainment industry.
Moors Murders: The Witness (CH4, Wednesday 25th, 10pm)
The story of Britain’s most infamous child murders – 1960s serial killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. The three-part series is built around previously unseen prison letters from Brady and Hindley, written over the five decades after their capture. The letters provide new insight into the killers’ backgrounds, deranged thinking and motivation – and asks why both murderers, especially Hindley – remain the most notorious embodiments of evil.
Sarah Millican: Control Enthusiast (CH4, Friday 27th, 11.05pm)
Sarah Millican is a control enthusiast, not a control freak. In her hilarious show, everyone’s favourite potty mouth talks about her road rage, her IBS, her favourite word, and how she lets her husband know ‘tonight’s the night’. There’s an education in learning about rescue men, farting in hospital pants and what can happen at a bra fitting.
Cheap European Homes (RTÉ 1, Sunday 29th, 6.30pm)
Join Maggie Molloy, Kevin McGahern and James Kavanagh on a journey across Europe as they help aspiring homeowners find stunning properties at unbeatable prices. From sun-soaked villas to charming countryside retreats, this series proves that your dream home doesn’t have to break the bank to find the lifestyles of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy as Maggie guides house-hunters through affordable property options.
WATCH OF THE WEEK
Leonard and Hungry Paul (RTÉ 1, Sunday 29th, 10.30pm)
Two board-gaming friends in their 30s – Leonard, a ghost writer of children’s encyclopaedias, and Hungry Paul, a part-time postal worker who still lives at home – meander through leafy suburban life finding solace in their quiet routines. The unexpected death of Leonard’s mother and a possible romance, added to by the approaching wedding of Hungry Paul’s sister, prompts both to meet a world that is suddenly wider and full of unfamiliar possibilities.
BEST FILMS
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (RTÉ 2, Wednesday 25th, 9pm)
Tom Cruise has a second shot at a character twice his size playing ex-US Army investigator Jack Reacher, who springs into action after the arrest of an old military buddy accused of treason. Digging deeper, Reacher uncovers a major government conspiracy involving the death of US soldiers.
Superman (Sky Cinema Premiere, from Thursday)
When Superman gets drawn into conflicts at home and abroad, his actions are questioned, giving tech billionaire Lex Luthor the opportunity to get the Man of Steel out of the way for good. Will intrepid reporter Lois Lane and Superman’s four-legged companion, Krypto, be able to help him before it’s too late?
Licorice Pizza (BBC 2, Friday 27th, 12am)
Los Angeles 1973. Aimless 20-something Alana is drawn into the quirky world of 15-year-old Gary, a child actor and would-be entrepreneur, though Hollywood glamour is in short supply. Comic drama of crushes and immaturity at any age from the director of Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood. Bradley Cooper and Sean Penn star.
Pretty Lethal (Amazon Prime)
Uma Thurma is back in killer form in this survival action-thriller in which a group of elite ballerinas fight their way out of a remote inn run by an unhinged former dance prodigy. When their bus breaks down in a forest, the friendly looking hostelry appears like a life saver – but turns out to be the opposite.
CLASSIC MOVIE
One Battle After Another (Sky Cinema Premiere, from Thursday)
Bob is a washed-up revolutionary who lives in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her as both father and daughter battle the consequences of their pasts. Multi-award nominated adventure from Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor.
KIDS STUFF
Billy Idol Should be Dead (Sky Arts, Friday 27th, 9pm)
An intimate, no-holds-barred portrait of the legendary punk musician, told by those who know him best, including himself. Directed by Grammy Award-winner Jonas Åkerlund, the film weaves never-before-seen archival footage with raw, revealing interviews – featuring Idol, his bandmates, family and fellow music artists such as Miley Cyrus and Green Day lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong.
Heartbreak High (Netflix)
For Hartley High’s graduating class it’s goodbye school, hello adulthood! Yet when a revenge prank goes horribly wrong, Amerie and her friends cover up their secret or risk losing everything.
ON DEMAND
Detective Hole (Netflix)
Mega-selling crime author Jo Nesbø’s creation Harry Hole is a brilliant but tormented detective chasing wickedly clever villains, including a healthy crop of serial killers. Throughout the series, Harry struggles with his demons and his long-time adversary and corrupt detective, Tom Waaler.
For All Mankind (Apple TV)
Season five picks up in the years since the Goldilocks asteroid heist. Happy Valley has grown into a thriving colony with thousands of residents and a base for new missions that will travel even further into the solar system. But with the nations of Earth now demanding law and order on the Red Planet, friction continues to build between the people who live on Mars and their former home.
53 Sundays (Netflix)
Three siblings get together to decide what to do with their 86-year-old father, who has started behaving in a peculiar way. Should they move him into a nursing home? Have him live with one of them? What begins as a polite family meeting quickly spirals into a wildly funny and unexpected situation that soon gets completely out of control.
The Predator Of Seville (Netflix)
For years, Manuel Blanco was known among international students as ‘Manu White’, a friendly guide who organised cheap trips across Spain. But behind that image lay a far darker story. The case came to light when several young women began to connect experiences of abuse that had previously seemed unrelated.
SPORTS CENTRE
FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off: Czechia v Republic of Ireland (RTÉ 2, Thursday 26th, 7pm)
‘A nation holds its breath’; 36 years after George Hamilton’s immortal words as Dave O’Leary prepared to take what turned out to be Ireland’s winning penalty against Romania at Italia 90, and a generation since Ireland last qualified for the World Cup in 2002, a nation holds its breath once again. Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson takes his Republic of Ireland side to Prague to face Czechia in a FIFA World Cup 2026 play-off in Ireland’s biggest game since those heady days decades ago. The winners will face Denmark or North Macedonia in a play-off final at home on Tuesday 31 March.