Budget coverage
Tuesday, Live on RTE 1 12.40pm, RTE 2 2pm, and Prime Time 9.40pm
Yes, we’ve overdosed on Budget speculation about the few bob of “fiscal space” already, and yes, there’s so little difference any of it makes to real lives that it’s hardly worth all the fuss that’s made of it. But for those with a particular area of interest or concern that may be affected by the Budget for 2018, or even if you just want to see if the new-ish faces running the shop make any changes to the way they present the tweaks and slight shifts, you could tune in live to Budget 2018 and the speeches reacting to it. It’s scheduled on RTE 1 from 12.40 till 5.40pm, including studio analysis and reaction hosted by Bryan Dobson and Keelin Shanley, and on RTE 2 from 2pm-7.05pm including opposition responses. There will likely be further analysis on Prime Time at 9.40pm.
Vogue: My Anxious Life
Tuesday, RTE2, 10.05pm
Vogue Williams appears outwardly confident, but claims she has struggled with anxiety for years. Here she meets others in similar situations and tries to find out if there is a cure, or if sufferers have to find a way to manage to handle anxiety. The Irish model and media personality is presenting a three-part series on RTE (she looked at sperm donation last week, and tackles “sugar dating” next week). Says Williams about anxiety: “It was something that I wanted to investigate more and I know that a lot of people suffer from it as well, and it's sort of a brushed aside mental illness because people don't really understand it, you can't see it so it was really interesting for me to do.”
Mindhunter
From Friday, Netflix
Remember in Silence of the Lambs, when Clarice Starling visited Hannibal Lecter in prison to pick his deranged brains to help catch a serial killer on the loose? Didn't go so well. But this was nothing new – in the late 1970s, the FBI started a controversial programme of interviewing notorious killers in prison to help them solve murders, and it's dramatised in new series Mindhunter (from Friday, Netflix).It's 1979, and FBI detectives Holden Ford and Bill Tench have devised a radical new idea to help them catch serial killers – they propose talking to convicted murderers to try to gain insight into the mind of a psycho. But there's always the danger that the killers will get inside their minds. It's based on the book Mind Hunter: Inside The FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by Mark Olshaker and John E Douglas.Neven's Italian Food Trails
Neven's Italian Food Trails, Thursday, RTE 1, 7pm
Neven Maguire tours Parma in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, probably Italy’s gourmet capital. The north-central region in the fertile Po River Valley is home to an extraordinary number of products and dishes which are at the heart of Italian cooking: Parmigiano-Reggiano, balsamic vinegar, prosciutto di Parma, tortellini, and more. The chef from Blacklion, Co Cavan learns more about the area’s world-renowned local produce, and how to use it in cooking. On a related theme, later that night Jo Brand reviews the events of Italian week in The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice (Channel 4, 10pm).
Trauma
Thursday, RTÉ Two, 9.30pm
A top Irish broadcaster is rushed to hospital for an emergency operation. A young man arrives at the emergency department holding a part of his ear following a violent attack. It’s all part of a day’s (and night’s) work for emergency medical staff in Trauma. The series follows the work of medical teams in four Irish hospitals – Beaumont, Tallaght, the Mater and St Vincent’s – as they deal with a constant barrage of patients in need of immediate medical attention.
Lore
From Friday, Amazon Prime
It's one of America's most successful podcasts – and also one of the scariest. Lore (from Friday, Amazon Prime) is a new horror series based on Aaron Mahnke's hit podcast, which he launched from his home in 2015 and which now has five million monthly subscribers. Amazon has taken six of Mahnke's most popular – and creepiest – tales and turned them into televised episodes guaranteed to have you hiding behind the sofa or whatever piece of furniture hasn't been moved by a poltergeist. The series promises werewolves, vampires, changelings and possessed dolls, but beware – you may be afraid to turn on your mobile phone again.
The Graham Norton Show
Friday BBC 1, 10.35pm
Norton’s chatshow continues the season with this week’s guests, Hollywood legend Jane Fonda, plus Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Bryan Cranston and Matt Lucas, while Niall Horan will perform his latest single.
