Pick of the week
Born That Way
Thursday, RTÉ One, 10.15pm
In the 1960s, Bostonian Patrick Lydon was making waves as a young rock journalist, covering such big musical events as The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, and the legendary Woodstock festival. But the young idealist felt increasingly out of step with the direction the US was heading, and disillusioned by the Vietnam war, and when he travelled to Ireland, his life took an unexpected turn. Lydon discovered the Camphill Movement, a place where people with disabilities were treated as equals, and with the same spiritual integrity and human dignity as those of able body and mind. He also met and fell in love with Gladys Kinghorn, and for the next 50 years the couple were at the heart of Camphill, a self-sufficient community with its own organic farms and gardens, and a code of respect and inclusion before inclusion was a thing.
[ Born That Way review: A moving, beautiful documentary about a gentle Irish heroOpens in new window ]
This documentary, directed by Lydon’s friend, the film-maker Éamon Little, looks back at 50 years of the Camphill community, and how Lydon and Kinghorn found fulfilment by helping those on the margins of Irish life reach their potential. During the making of the documentary, Lydon was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, and this film acts as a poignant testimony to a life lived in the service of the greater good.
Highlights
Accidental Tourist
Sunday, Virgin Media One & UTV, 9pm
It’s Ant and Dec again, fresh from torturing and tormenting the stars in the latest series of I’m a Celebrity ... This time the presenting duo have just one victim in their sights: their chum Stephen Mulhern. The presenter, comedian and magician is, they reveal, “odd”. “He’s stuck in his ways,” says Dec. “He won’t even try hummus,” observes Ant. So the lads have decide to kick him out of his comfort zone and send him off on a holiday to South Korea, where he’ll have to deal with all sorts of culture shocks and also do a sort of Bushtucker Trial of his own by sampling exotic Asian foods – some of which may involve tentacles.
Irish Blood
Sunday, Sky Witness & Now, 9pm
As a nation we’re understandably wary of Hollywood stars landing in Ireland with a film or TV crew in tow. We’re still traumatised by Tom and Nicole in Far and Away, and only beginning to process the horrors of Leap Year starring Amy Adams. Our fears are not allayed when we hear Alicia Silverstone’s character intone: “You wanna know how I ended up in Eye-er-land?” in a big American touristy voice. No, she’s not in the Emerald Isle on vacation, but on a mission to find her estranged father and learn why he abandoned her and her mom 30 years ago, in this six-part murder mystery. Silverstone plays Fiona Fox, a ruthless lawyer whose motto is, unsurprisingly, “question everything; trust no one”. When a mysterious package arrives from her father, Declan (Jason O’Mara), she hightails it to the old sod, and discovers that her dad was involved in some dodgy dealings with some dangerous people, and had left his wife and daughter for their own protection. But of course the gangsters haven’t gone away, and Fiona is going to need the whole village to help her if she wants to avoid getting paddy-whacked. Somehow I suspect this series could end badly for Eye-er-land.
RM Block
The Salt Path Scandal
Monday, Sky Documentaries & Now, 9pm
When you’re writing your best-selling memoir, it’s probably wise not to exaggerate too much, because then you’ll feel very uncomfortable being interviewed by Graham Norton or Jimmy Fallon about being raised by a pack of wild dingoes, and you won’t be able to watch the Hollywood movie version without feeling a teensy bit guilty. When Raynor Winn published her memoir, The Salt Path, in 2018, detailing her and her husband Moth’s 630-mile walk along England’s southwest coast following the loss of their home and his diagnosis of a terminal illness, it became a literary sensation, sparking a whole genre of redemption-through-nature books, and even spawning a film version starring Gillian Anderson. But an Observer investigation cast doubt on Moth’s diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and claimed that Raynor had misled readers about the real reasons for the couple’s financial problems. This documentary follows on from the investigation by Observer journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou, which hit headlines in July, and digs deeper to find out what really happened on the road to The Salt Path.
Inside Legoland at Christmas
Wednesday, Channel 4, 8pm
Every December our little home is transformed into a veritable Legoland, as Santa piles the latest Lego sets under the Christmas tree to add to the stacks of Lego already delivered the year before and the year before that. Clutter? We can’t move for Millennium Falcons, Death Stars, Hogwarts and Rivendells, but at least the real Legoland, in Windsor, has a bit of space to display its spectacular brick creations. It’s no surprise to learn that Christmas is a crucial time for the resort, and this programme follows the Legoland team as they race to create a magical winter wonderland over 150 acres in time for the festive season. With up to 20,000 guests a day due to visit in December, the team will have to work fast to build some big Lego displays to dazzle the punters, including the world’s largest Lego Christmas tree. I can save them some time – and clear some clutter – if they want to borrow some Lego sets from our gaff.
A Mary Berry Christmas
Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm
The schedules are packed with telly chefs cooking up their seasonal recipes, but now they must stand aside for the culinary queen of Christmas, Mary Berry. No one knows more about Christmas traditions than Berry, and she’s back for another one-hour festive special in which she shows how to magic up the perfect Christmas and celebrate the season in style. Her celebrity guests this year are actor Alison Steadman, Olympian and Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and broadcaster Zoe Ball. “I’ve had so much fun this year cooking with old and new friends for my series, and this Christmas special is the icing on the cake,” says Berry, who celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this year. Among the festive treats she has in store are a creative take on traditional pigs in blankets, roast king mushrooms with chestnut stuffing, a cherry and lemon mille feuille, and a pear and ginger steamed pudding.
Inside Baileys at Christmas
Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm
The Irish-made drink has become a real Christmas tradition, with a bottle of Baileys sold every two seconds during the season. Well, no surprise there – that bloody eggnog just had to go. But what goes on behind the scenes at the creamy beverage company during this busy time of the year? This is when the company really has to milk it for all it’s worth, and this one-off documentary brings us exclusive access as production is ramped up to meet the extra demand. We also go behind the scenes as Bailey’s joins forces with Terry’s Chocolate Orange to create a yummy new blend. We also visit the dairy farm in Ireland that supplies the cream for Baileys, where the cows are kept calm with special Christmas playlists. Dairy Tale of New York? All I Want for Christmas is Moo?
Never Mind the Xmas Buzzcocks
Thursday, Sky Max & Now, 9pm
Never mind the Trivial Pursuit – it’s time for the family to gather round the telly for a festive round of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and see if they can outdo the celebrity panels in answering musical trivia questions. Greg Davies presents this seasonal edition of the pop quiz show, with team captains Noel Fielding and Sophie Willan, and regular panellist Jamali Maddix in their usual spots. Their guests for this festive feast of seasonal stinkers are popstar Jessie J, 1980s boy band heart-throb Matt Goss and comedian Guz Khan. Christmas will be all around as the teams rock through a series of festive-themed rounds, including a round played like a Christmas panto, and featuring some star guests. It all wraps up with a big closing musical number that aims to rival Band Aid for sheer Christmas star power (and of course completely misses).
Streaming
Fallout
Prime Video, from Wednesday, December 17th
Postapocalyptic thrillers based on video games are having a moment. The Last of Us was a big hit with viewers and critics, although the second season kind of lost the plot. Let’s hope Fallout fares better as it returns, once again starring Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan and Walton Goggins as denizens of a desolate wasteland 200 years after a nuclear apocalypse. Purnell is the idealistic Vault dweller Lucy, who is forced to leave her fallout shelter deep underground to rescue her father, and discovers a mad-to-the-max world on the surface. Walton Goggins is the Ghoul, a disfigured bounty hunter prominently lacking a nose. As Macaulay Culkin and Kumail Nanjiani join the cast, Lucy embarks on a journey through the badlands of the Mojave to reach New Vegas, where the main thing you can gamble with is your life.
Emily in Paris
Netflix, from Thursday, December 18th
It seems like ages since Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) moved to Paris to get a dream job in marketing, in the popular series created by Darren Star. Four seasons – and several romances – later, the American girl has conquered the French capital, and now she’s heading to Italy as the head of the marketing agency’s Rome office. So, yes, it’s now Emily in Rome (where she progresses her relationship with Marcello, the Italian stallion played by Eugenio Franceschini). And Venice. But just because she’s moved to Rome, that doesn’t mean Emily won’t be in Paris, Star says, reassuringly. Joining the cast for season five are Bryan Greenberg as an American expat, Jake, and Minnie Driver as the glamorous Princess Jane.
Born to Be Wild
From Friday, December 19th, Apple TV+
How better to spend Christmas evenings than by watching impossibly cute baby animals doing impossibly cute things? Born to Be Wild is a new six-part wildlife series featuring endangered animals that have been orphaned, rescued or born through a conservation programme. The whole family will be going “awwww” as we follow the nurturing of Iberian lynx kittens, cheetah cubs, a ring-tailed lemur pup, African penguin chicks, an elephant calf and a moon-bear cub, before, eventually, they’re returned to the wilds of the animal kingdom.
