Our Lives in Property: Oxmantown Road
Monday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
If only those redbrick walls could talk . . . there's a lot of history in the houses on Oxmantown Road, a picturesque street in Dublin's hipster-friendly suburb of Stoneybatter. The 200 houses have probably changed hands thousands of times over the past century, and over the past few years prices have risen dramatically. This programme is for, well, I don't know what it's for exactly, but it features interviews with several residents of the street, including the Stone siblings, who grew up on Oxmantown Road, and whose father worked in nearby Dublin Zoo; Jaco Swanepoel from South Africa, who is renovating his property using YouTube as his guide; Irish Times journalist Conor Pope and his partner Sonia Harris; and 92-year-old Grace Scott, who has rented her house for the 88 years. The idea, presumably, is to get a pen-picture of the Irish property market from the perspective of one neighbourhood, but it's also a good excuse to have a nose around in other people's gaffs.
Married to a Paedophile
Monday, C4, 9pm
Due to advances in detection, the police are charging more men – many of them ostensibly happily married – than ever before for possession of images of child sex abuse. Tracing the impact over 12 months, this documentary captures two families (wives, children and offenders themselves) as they navigate fraught relationships, deal with the shame and the stigma of the offence, and make difficult decisions about their futures. First made as an audio documentary, it was then shot as a drama with the cast lip-syncing.
The Joy of AI
Tuesday, BBC4, 9pm
Whether you're worried about a Westworld-style robot uprising or losing your job to a self-driving car, for some people the idea of artificial intelligence is deeply concerning. But in this documentary, Pro Jim al-Khalili takes a more optimistic approach as he explains why we shouldn't be spooked by machines that simulate or even outperform the human mind. In the process, he learns how spam filters keep dodgy emails out of your inbox, how to fool a computer into thinking it's looking at a trombone rather than a dog, and the surprising role that a 1980s Atari game has played in the development of AI technology.
Wanderlust
Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm
Therapist Joy Richards (Toni Collette) is not a happy bunny. She and her husband Alan (Steven Mackintosh) are no longer going at it like rabbits, due to a cycling accident that has put their sex lives on hold. How to get back in the saddle? Both Joy and Alan find themselves tempted to stray outside their marriage vows, so Joy comes up with a crazy, audacious plan to put the spark back into their relationship. What could it be? You'll have to tune into this six-part series to find out. Wanderlust is scripted by award-winning playwright Nick Payne, making his first foray into screenwriting. Sounds like a guilty pleasure is in store.
Killer in Our Classroom: Never Again
Tuesday, BBC1, 10:45pm
On Valentine’s Day this year, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, hit the headlines when it became the site for America’s latest mass shooting. Former pupil Nicholas Cruz returned to the campus and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, killing 14 pupils and three members of staff, and injuring many more. The crime shocked the world and led surviving students to organise what has become a global, youth-led movement campaigning for stricter gun laws. Filming began on this documentary shortly after the shooting took place and reveals how some of the pupils, including 17-year-old British-born senior Lewis Mizen, coped during the aftermath – and how it has changed their lives.
Citizen Lane
Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor ably switched from playing whacko gangleader Nidge in Love/Hate to Charlie Haughey yes-man PJ Mara in Charlie. Now he's portraying philanthropist, art collector and socialite Hugh Lane in this feature-length docudrama written by Mark O'Halloran and directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan. Citizen Lane centres on the controversy surrounding Lane's will, in which he bequeathed his valuable collection of Impressionist paintings to the people of Dublin. Thanks, Hugh! Although key moments of Lane's life are dramatised, don't expect much in the way of sex and high society – but there's plenty for the armchair art historian to get excited about. And the supporting cast of Michael Gambon, Derbhle Crotty and Bosco Hogan adds to the palette.
Coronation Street's DNA Secrets
Wednesday, UTV, 9pm
Nicky Campbell investigates the ancestry of Corrie's best loved actors, including Sally Ann Matthews, who discovers she has a famous Weatherfield cousin. Plus, Kym Marsh finds a mysterious link to the Iberian Peninsula, and Bill Roache is reunited with a long-lost cousin. Other familiar faces taking part include Simon Gregson, Cherylee Houston, Nicola Thorp, Katie McGlynn, Connie Hyde, Melanie Hill and Peter Gunn. Discoveries made within the programme could make the cast change the way they understand their own lives.
Cover Story
Wednesday C4, 10.35pm
In this drama from Iceland, Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir stars as Laura, a journalist who is on maternity leave – and in deep trouble. She faces personal and financial difficulties after losing a defamation case. She’s also a single mum because she has chosen not to move abroad with the father of her newborn child. Laura hopes to get back on track by re-establishing her career as investigative reporter, but with two kids, no assignments and a mountain of debt, that’s not going to be easy. But then a notorious businessman is linked to the death of a young woman and offers Laura big money to help clear his name. The job could solve her financial troubles, but at what cost?
Underdogs
Thursday, TG4, 9.30pm
TG4's GAA series is back: 10 years on from the last series of Underdogs, the search is on for a new team of footballing hopefuls. This year a fresh management line-up of iconic footballers will step up from the playing field to the sideline: former Galway Captain Ray Silke, former Cork Ladies Footballer Valerie Mulcahy, and previous footballer of the year and Kerry legend Paul Galvin.
Press
Thursday, BBC One, 9pm
It had to happen. With growing attacks on press freedom, and increasing polarisation of left- and right-wing press, the time seems right for a drama that exploring the ups and downs of newspaper publishing in the fake news age. This series centres around two rival newspapers – a struggling left-leaning broadsheet and a thriving populist tabloid – who are also neighbours in the same square. Both newspapers have completely different approaches to getting the story, and there’s the inevitable clash of ideas and ideologies. One thing’s for sure, this ain’t Drop the Dead Donkey.
Spying on My Family
Thursday, C4, 9pm
One-off documentary in which a family volunteers to give up privacy for an entire week. The Kirks from Essex will see into every corner of one another’s lives, using cutting-edge smartphones allowing them to track each move the others are making, and also delving into each other’s online lives. Proud dad Chris soon gets a shock when he logs onto his 11-year-old son’s phone, but the experiment also gives him a chance to question the years of mutual misunderstanding between him and 17-year-old daughter Chloe.
Ancient Invisible Cities
Friday, BBC Two, 9pm
In this new three-part series, professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Warwick Michael Scott goes deep underground, using the latest laser-scanning technology and virtual reality to reveal the historical secrets of three great cities: Cairo, Athens and Istanbul. He and his team begin in the Egyptian capital, as they attempt to help us us see this city as no human eye ever could. The film goes beneath the first pyramid ever built at Saqqara, near the entrance of the Nile Delta, which was one of the largest burial grounds in Egypt and in use for more than 3,000 years. Here Scott finds out how this necropolis, which remains mostly unexcavated helped inspire the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Gogglebox
Friday, C4, 9pm
The fly-on-the-wall series turning the cameras on TV’s most vocal armchair critics returns, as the show’s regular gaggle of families, friends and viewing party acquaintances settle down to share their thoughts on what they have been watching during the week from the comfort of their own sofas. As usual, the programmes considered can range across any genre – comedy, drama, news and sport, while personalities in the firing line often include politicians such as Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump.
The Late Late Show
Friday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
The national institution returns for the 57th year – making it one of the world’s longest-running chats – with it’s usual mix of entertainment, controversy, discussion, music and comedy. Tubridy himself will celebrate 10 years at the helm of the show, which has big plans for the season including bringing the Late Late to London for a special broadcast to explore the shared cultural and political ties between Ireland and Britain and the role of the Irish in the UK. – Additional reporting: PA
