John Byrne's TV choices for the week ahead (Dates covered: Saturday Feb 28 – Friday Mar 06).
Moone Boy, The Consumer Show and new comedy Pompidou are in arrivals, while The Casual Vacancy, Dara and Ed's Great Big Adventure and The Gift line up in departures. It's another busy week on the box.
Pick of the week
Moone Boy, Monday, Sky1
The whimsical award-winning comedy, recently crowned best sitcom at the British Comedy Awards, returns for a third run and a new slot on Mondays. Co-written, directed by and starring Chris O'Dowd, this year sees twinkly-eyed Martin Moone (British Comedy Award nominee David Rawle) and family joined by a variety of well-known guest stars, including TV institution Terry Wogan.
In the opening episode, Liam (Peter McDonald) and Debra (Deirdre O'Kane) abandon the kids and head to the sunny south east on a romantic getaway to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. Their hopes of a peaceful retreat soon fade after a chance encounter with Liam's old flame Sharon Morgan (guest star Sharon Horgan).
Martin and Padraic (Ian O'Reilly), meanwhile, spend the weekend in Dublin and discover a hidden talent as they become successful Encyclopaedia Irelandica salesmen.
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Star of the week
Boy George
Boy George and Culture Club: Karma to Calamity, Friday, BBC4
Although he had a pretty successful solo career and reinvented himself as a DJ, Boy George will – for better and for worse – be eternally remembered as the lead singer of a band that almost defines the 1980s: Culture Club.
Directed by Mike Nicholls, this hour-long documentary will be an access-all-areas film about the band's recent revival, following the members from their initial recording sessions through to their live performances.
In the early 1980s, Culture Club was one of the biggest bands in the world, selling 150 million records worldwide. Formed in London, the band comprised Boy George on vocals, Mikey Craig on bass, Roy Hay on guitar and keyboards and Jon Moss on drums. As well as their UK success the band were huge in the USA, where they achieved ten top 40 hits.
Here's the video for Karma Chameleon:
Starting this week
The Consumer Show, Wednesday, RTÉ One
Back for a brand new ten-part run, presenter Keelin Shanley and reporters Tadhg Enright and Ella McSweeney continue to fight for consumer rights, looking at the issues that hit your pocket while also investigating complaints.
In the opening programme newcomer Ella McSweeney looks at an issue that's costing our health service more than €20 million a year, and a lot of it is down to our love of chicken. It's been called the poultry industry's dirty secret, why the levels of bacteria are still so high on our supermarket shelves.
Here's a clip from last year about the price of soft drinks in pubs:
Banished, Thursday, BBC Two
This latest period drama from the Beeb opens in New South Wales, in 1788. Dawn is breaking over a ramshackle camp where British convicts transported on the First Fleet are waking up to another sweltering hot day alongside their Royal Navy marine guards and their masters. In this fledgling penal colony anything can happen - and death stalks everybody.
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Pompidou, Sunday, BBC2
This new, all-visual comedy was created and written by Matt Lucas, Julian Dutton and Ashley Blaker. Pompidou, his butler Hove, and their Afghan Hound Marion are hungry. There's no food in their caravan and no money either. A desperate attempt to find something to eat sees Hove end up in a sticky situation. It's up to Pompidou to get him out.
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Tracks and Trails, Friday, RTÉ One
Writer and storyteller Michael Harding is walking from the historic town of Boyle in Roscommon to his home in Arigna. Harding is following the Miner's Way and Historical Trail, part of which is based on the routes miners walked over the mountains to Arigna, the site of the last underground coal mine in Ireland.
Gliondar, Monday, RTÉ One
Meet some Irish women who are passionate about power lifting and break all the stereotypes associated with this activity. PR executive Emma Scott and beautician Sharon Conroy show us how they balance their relatively glamorous jobs with gruelling training regimes and workouts.
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Ending this Week
The Casual Vacancy, Sunday, BBC One
With the parish council election imminent, tensions rise in Pagford as each side steps up their campaign. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? The battle lines are drawn and the fate of Sweetlove House hangs in the balance.
Trailer Time: CONTAINS ADULT HUMOUR
At Your Service, Sunday, RTÉ One
An Grianán is a 17th century house and grounds with 53 bedrooms, a 120-seat dining room, function room, bar, six self-catering cottages and a small shop. To keep it alive as a business it needs new members and upgraded facilities. Can the Brennans make a difference?
The Meaning of Life, Sunday, RTÉ One
This Sunday - St David's Day - Gay Byrne's guest is, appropriately enough, a Welshman, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, Dr Rowan Williams.
The Gift, Tuesday, BBC One
The final episode features Peter Miles, who served six years in jail for his part in a series of aggressive armed robberies across Bristol. He's now been out of prison for nearly three years and is determined to turn his back on a lifetime of crime and apologise to his victims.
Dara and Ed's Great Big Adventure, Thursday, RTÉ One
The lads travel south through the mountains of Costa Rica to Panama where they visit the El Camino ranch before visiting the Centro de Rescate Las Pumas animal rehabilitation centre. Travelling on to San Jose, they drive through Cerro de la Muerte and the Panama Canal before the final stop, Yaviza.
Drama of the week
Vegas, Monday, RTÉ One
Although it only lasted a season, there's much to enjoy in this cinematic drama starring Dennis Quaid, Michael Chiklis, Carrie-Ann Moss and Dubliner Jason O'Mara.
Vegas is inspired by the true story of former Las Vegas Sheriff Ralph Lamb, a fourth-generation rancher tasked with bringing order to Las Vegas in the 1960s, a gambling and entertainment mecca emerging from the tumbleweeds and desert.
Lamb (Quaid) wants to be left in peace to run his ranch, but Vegas is swelling with outsiders and corruption, both of which are intruding on his simple life. Recalling Lamb's command as a military police officer during World War II, the Mayor appeals to his sense of duty to look into a murder of a casino worker - and so begins Lamb's clash with Vincent Savino (Chiklis), a ruthless Chicago gangster who plans to make Vegas his own.
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Comedy of the week
Girls, Monday, Sky Atlantic
Heroes, American Horror Story and Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto guest stars this week on Lena Dunham's zeitgeisty comedy-drama. Not much is known about Quinto's character, Ace, other than he's a friend of Mimi-Rose's, he winds up Adam (easy, that) and at some point he and Hannah wear matching aprons. Meanwhile, Hannah hangs out with her new co-worker Fran before attending an unusual art show, while Shoshana helps Ray with his community board election campaign.
Here the cast talk about Girls' current season:
On Demand
House of Cards, Netflix
After two cracking seasons this is the one show that really put Netflix on the map in this part of the world. The great coupling of Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright as ruthless, cunning US Congressman Francis Underwood and his ambitious, and equally conniving wife Claire head this delightfully cynical, Emmy Award-winning thriller. This time, Underwood is in the White House but success has become much more elusive for him. And then there's the increasingly independent political role that First Lady Claire is carving out for herself. Sound like trouble? You betcha!
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Documentary of the week
James Brown – Mr Dynamite, Friday, BBC Two
Pioneering the journey from rhythm and blues to funk, James Brown forever changed the face of American music. Mr. Dynamite follows the journey of Brown as he escaped his impoverished Southern roots to become the biggest name in soul music, and one of the most important music talents of the 20th Century. The film utilizes never-before seen concert footage and photographs, interviews of Brown from a variety of sources, as well as recent insights from band members and others who knew and were influenced by the singer, to tell the remarkable story of this supremely gifted and enormously influential American musical icon.
Here's a selection of James Brown dance moves:
Film of the Week
Phone Booth, Friday, RTÉ2
A little treat after live coverage of Friday's Rovers-Pats' game in Tallaght, Colin Farrell - son of ex-Shamrock Rovers' player Eamon Farrell - stars in this gripping and utterly claustrophobic thriller. Directed by Joel Schumacher, shot over ten days and costing a relatively minor $10 million, Farreller plays a man trapped in a phone booth by a sniper, superbly voiced by a very creepy Kiefer Sutherland. Popcorn essential.
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