1. 10 Things to Know About
Monday, RTÉ One, 8.30pm
This is a new series that sets out to answer those niggling little questions you never thought to ask. Presented by Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Jonathan McCrae and Kathriona Devereux, the show examines the science behind our physical and mental functions. In the first episode, Ní Shúilleabháin learns all about what causes us to have phobias and attempts to cure her own arachnophobia by getting up-close to some big hairy fellas. Meanwhile, McCrae willingly subjects himself to a waterboarding to find out how the brain deals with the ultimate stress of torture.
2. The Joy
Monday, TV3, 10pm
What is life like inside Mountjoy Prison? Hopefully, we’ll never find out first-hand (we’ve paid our TV licence), but we can get a peek into the inner workings of Ireland’s largest correctional facility in The Joy. This four-part observational series examines the culture of drugs and violence that characterises prison life, and finds out just what the prison staff and governors have to face in their jobs every day. One thing is for certain – this ain’t The Shelbourne.
3. Live at the Apollo
Monday, BBC Two, 11.45pm
Some of the world's biggest stars of stand-up comedy will be setting up their mics in a new home when Live at the Apollo (Monday, BBC Two, 11.45pm) kicks off its 11th series in the cosy embrace of Auntie Beeb. Among the featured acts over seven side-splitting episodes are Dara O'Briain, Noel Fielding, Nina Conti, Katharine Ryan, Russell Kane, Josh Widdicombe and Al Porter.
4. Peep Show
Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm
They have become household names – that is, if your household is a grubby student flat littered with pizza crusts, empty beer cans and dirty socks. Now, the hapless duo of Jez and Mark are back in the ninth and final series of Peep Show, and they’ve grown from gormless graduates to middle-aged losers in the space of 12 hilarious years. The show that redefined cringe and sparked mass toe-curling among TV viewers is having one last hurrah – though it’s unlikely Jez and Mark (Robert Webb and David Mitchell) will have much to cheer about as their lives continue to go nowhere fast.
“They’ve been allowed to age, but they haven’t been allowed to move on,” says Mitchell of his and Webb’s characters. As usual, we’re privy to all the petty, self-serving thoughts in their heads, and we see the world from their particularly lop-sided angles.
5. You Should Really See a Doctor
Wednesday, RTÉ One, 8.30pm
Are you a hypochondriac? Then you need to call Dr Pixie McKenna and Dr Phil Kieran. The two medics are taking their travelling medicine show around the country in a new series, You Should Really See a Doctor .
Setting up their pop-up clinic at various festivals and events, the docs will be checking the health of the nation, from those who are sick but think they’re absolutely fine, it’s just a little twinge, to those who are perfectly healthy but are convinced they’ve been stricken by a terminal illness. The internet has given rise a new illness, “cyberchondria”, suffered by people who self-diagnose on the web, and the medics try to bring some common sense to some of those who have overdosed on Google.
National newspapers are having to adapt to changing technologies, but for many small local newspapers, competing against online news sites and social media is an even tougher challenge.
6. The Last Panthers
Thursday, Sky Atlantic, 9pm
A multinational crime drama with a starry cast, a heavyweight scriptwriter and director – the odds are loaded in favour of The Last Panthers, a stylish series that takes us into the murky underworld of European criminal networks. Samantha Morton stars as loss adjuster Naomi, and John Hurt plays her boss Tom. Both are on a quest to recover €15 million worth of diamonds stolen from a Marseilles jewellery store, apparently by the notorious jewel gang known as The Pink Panthers. And who better to write and record the theme tune for this trans-European drama than David Bowie?
7. The Local Eye
Thursday, RTÉ One, 7pm
This new series examines the role of traditional, family-run newspapers in the community, and how the journalists source stories that are relevant to the people in the immediate area. From parish-pump politics to GAA glory, all the local news is here. Among the newspapers profiled in episode one are The Mayo News, which has been nominated for European Local Newspaper of the Year, The Munster Express and The Clare Champion.
