Pick of the Week
The Late Late Toy Show
Friday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
Now that the election is done and dusted, the entire country is on a Christmas footing, and it’s time for Patrick Kielty to host his second Late Late Toy Show – we’re sure he’ll do a cracker of a job in the holiday hot seat once again. For those of us who groan when we hear Christmas songs blaring out of supermarket PA systems in November, it’s music to our ears that the Toy Show has waited until December to kick off the festive season. And in an election shock, the children of Ireland have successfully petitioned for an official Toy Show Day, when kids can wear PJs all day, eat only sweets, have no homework and stay up as late as they want (it’s all in the Toy Show preview video from RTÉ). That’s the law now, parents, so suck it up. True to form, RTÉ are keeping details of the show under Christmas wraps, so at this stage we can only hazard a guess as to what this year’s theme might be, but we can say for sure that last year’s Elf-themed Toy Show was watched by 1.7 million people across the weekend and generated 26.2 million video views, while the Toy Show appeal raised €3.6 million for good causes. We also know that another bunch of super-talented kids will be joining Kielty to test out the latest toys for 2024, and there will definitely be a few surprises in store – and lots of heartwarming moments, we’re sure.
Paris 2024: Medals and Memories
Monday, BBC One, 8.30pm
Ireland had a good haul of medals at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, and six of our winning athletes hailed from Northern Ireland: swimmers Daniel Wiffen and Jack McMillan, rowers Rebecca Shorten, Hannah Scott and Philip Doyle and gymnast Rhys McClenaghan. In this special documentary, these winners look back on their Paris experience, and unseen footage shows their preparations for the biggest competition of their lives, the standout moments from the games, and the feeling of standing there on the winners’ podium as one of the world’s best. “When I felt that gold medal go round my neck, the weight of it felt like the weight of my entire life’s work,” says McClenaghan.
Renaissance – The Blood and the Beauty
Monday, BBC Two, 9pm
It was a rivalry to put Blur vs Oasis and The Beatles vs The Stones in the hapenny place. In Italy in the early 16th century, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci emerged during a time of violent, bloody upheaval to create some of the greatest works of art the world has ever known. This three-part docudrama charts the rise of Michelangelo and Leonardo, and the emergence of a third rival, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael. It’s paintbrushes at dawn as the artists battle to find a patron, Michelangelo getting backing from the powerful Medici family in Florence, and Leonardo moving to Milan and getting commissions from the ruthless Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. As the artists’ reputations grow, each pushes himself to create ever-greater masterpieces; the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper. Charles Dance stars as an older Michelangelo.
Scannal: Savita
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 7pm
In this two-part edition of Scannal, reporter Caoimhe Ní Laighin looks back at the circumstances surrounding the death of 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar in University Hospital Galway in 2012, and how her death sparked a national movement that culminated in the 2018 vote to abolish the eighth amendment to the Constitution. Savita was 17 weeks pregnant and was admitted to the hospital with an impending miscarriage, and requested a medical abortion, but by the time doctors made the final decision to terminate, she had died of septic shock. To what extent did Ireland’s laws against abortion contribute to her death? Among those interviewed by Ní Laighin is Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland, who was named National Journalist of the Year in 2013 for her coverage of the story.
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Neven’s Christmas at Cashel
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 8.30pm
Santa gets to every town in Ireland at Christmas, but chef Neven Maguire doesn’t have a sleigh, so he has to pick just one place to camp out and create some delicious seasonal dishes. This year he’s chosen the Cashel Palace Hotel in Co Tipperary to set up his kitchen away from home – at the hotel’s Bishop’s Buttery restaurant. There he’ll team up with the Michelin-starred restaurant’s head chef – and former chef at Maguire’s own MacNean House – Stefan McEnteer, to rustle up a lovely duck dish for the season that’s in it. Maguire will also magic up such festive fare as salmon and trout wreath, traditional baked ham and a ham terrine, but will also find time to share afternoon tea with the hotel’s general manager, Adriaan Bartels, prepare a cheeseboard from two of Tipp’s best-known cheesemakers, Cooleeney Farm and Cashel, and be treated to a musical performance atop the Rock of Cashel.
Sirius: An Apocalyptic Order
Tuesday, BBC Four, 10pm
In October 1994, a gruesome discovery was made in Switzerland: the corpses of 48 people in farm building in a remote village, and in chalets in a nearby town. Police are shocked to find children among the dead in this horrific scene. This is how the world learned of the existence of a bizarre death cult known as the Order of the Solar Temple. Was this a ritual suicide or mass murder? This four-part series follows the investigation into the sect and its two gurus, Dr Luc Jouret and Jo Di Mambro, which becomes even more macabre after more bodies are found 4,000 miles away in Canada. Investigators soon learn they are dealing with a huge network of more than 600 followers, who were willing to give their money, obedience and their lives to serve this fraudulent cult.
Why Bridges Collapse: The Baltimore Disaster
Thursday, BBC One, 9pm
What caused a giant cargo ship to veer off course and crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland earlier this year? And why did the entire bridge collapse, and not just the section that had been hit? These were the questions investigators were asking in the aftermath of the disaster in March 26th, in which six people lost their lives after the 1,000-tonne MV Dali ploughed into one of the bridge’s main supports. This documentary blends reportage with science and warns that the Key bridge is not the only one in the US that is vulnerable to catastrophic collapse.
Lena Zavaroni: The Forgotten Child Star
Friday, BBC Two, 9pm
Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni was a 10-year-old entertainment titan, winning talent show Opportunity Knocks five weeks in a row, becoming the youngest person to have a Top 10 album, singing with Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball, and performing for US president Gerald Ford at the White House. She went on to present her own TV shows and star in stage musicals, but the pressures of fame took their toll, and by the time she was 13, Zavaroni was suffering from anorexia nervosa. She died aged 35 following controversial treatment for depression. In this documentary, Zavaroni’s father, Victor, now aged 84, talks about his regrets putting his beloved, brilliantly talented daughter on the stage so young, and how he has come to terms with her untimely death.
Streaming
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
From Wednesday, December 4th, Disney+
“Noooooooooooooo!” I hear the universe cry. Not another bloody Star Wars spin-off series – we’ve had it up to here with desert planets, moody Jedi masters and Stormtroopers who can’t shoot straight. But wait: what if someone came up with a Star Wars adventure as seen through the childlike eyes of Steven Spielberg? A Lucasfilm joint that played like an Amblin Entertainment epic? Skeleton Crew centres on four kids (one of whom looks like a cute baby pachyderm) who dream of swashbuckling like Skywalker, but who are unlikely to ever see lightsaber action on their seemingly safe planet. But then they make a strange discovery and are suddenly thrust through hyperspace into intrigue and peril. As they try to find their way home they encounter the mysterious Jod Na Nawood, played by Jude Law. He knows how to use the force, but is he a Jedi or a Sith?
The Sticky
From Friday, December 6th, Prime Video
What’s a Canadian maple syrup farmer to do when their livelihood comes unstuck? Get stuck in to some serious crime, of course. This comedy drama is based on a true story, and stars Emmy-winning actor Margo Martindale as Ruth Landry, a tough-as-nails middle-aged woman trying to keep her maple syrup business going. But when the bureaucrats rock up and shut down her farm, she decides to pull off a daring heist. Her target? Quebec’s maple syrup surplus. She’ll need help for this caper, but choosing an easily triggered mobster from Boston and a laid-back French-Canadian security guard may not have been wise. Executive producer Jamie Lee Curtis makes a typically brash guest appearance.
