Gerry Adams: War, Peace and Politics
(Monday, TV3, 10pm)
Gerry Adams is a complex and controversial figure in Irish life, in the thick of the political action during the Troubles, but also at the forefront of the peace process. Gerry Adams: War, Peace and Politics is a three-part series exploring all facets of the Sinn Féin leader. Vincent Browne looks at Adams's part in the IRA's war, how he helped to bring the IRA to the negotiating table and how he has repositioned himself as a champion of ordinary people of the Republic and North.
Tested on Humans
(Monday, RTÉ Two, 9pm)
Imagine being asked to come on TV and think of ever more creative ways of putting your fellow humans through suffering and torture. Sounds great, doesn't it? Breakfast Republic presenter Keith Walsh and model Claire Treacy are the willing guinea pigs in Tested on Humans. Over this two-part series, Keith and Claire will be subjected to situations that will test them to their limits – and beyond. They'll endure a simulated labour to see who is better at coping with childbirth, be force-fed the world's smelliest fish and the hottest chillies, and be abducted by a ruthless gang of tiger kidnappers. Fifty ways to kill your hosts? Sounds good to me.
That's So Last Century
(Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm)
Hey, remember the 20th century? You know, the one where the years began with a 19 and social media was the gossip column in your local paper? Three celebrities take a trip back to the dark ages before the new millennium in That's So Last Century. Vic Reeves, Dom Joly and Will Mellor can well recall a time when mobile phones were the size of a packet of Cornflakes and computers were little more than lighty-up typewriters. To pay millennials back for all the pain of trying to learn how to use smartphones and tablets, our celebrities challenge their kids to figure out how to work a range of old-school gadgets. Let's see them try to get their heads around a fax machine.
The BBC Music Awards
(Thursday, BBC One, 8pm)
We'll all be cheering for Hozier and Niall Horan at the second annual BBC Music Awards, a glitzy gala that brings out the great and good of the music industry in the hope of bagging a gong. Hozier will be performing at the ceremony this year alongside Ellie Goulding, Little Mix and Mumford and Sons, and Niall will be singing with his band One Direction. Awards will be handed out for British and International Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Live Performance of the Year.
The Fighting Irish: Reality Bites
(Thursday, RTÉ Two, 10pm)
One of the most influential Irish people of 2015 has to be Conor McGregor. He has inspired many young men to grow beards, wear dapper suits and beat the living bejaysus out of their opponents in the ring. The Fighting Irish: Reality Bites is made by the crew behind the recent McGregor documentary Notorious and looks at the huge surge in popularity for mixed martial arts (MMA) in the wake of McGregor's success.
No longer confined to back alleys and vacant lots, MMA has come in out of the cold and is now selling out venues around the country. This documentary follows some of the sport’s rising stars who are hoping to hit McGregor levels of fame and fortune.
Hunderby
(Thursday, Sky Atlantic, 10pm)
Julia Davis is back as horrid housekeeper Dorothy in two new episodes of Hunderby . This is the anti-Downton Abbey, an award-winning period comedy with an all-star cast and plotlines that would be frowned upon in polite society. As we revisit Hunderby, Dorothy is still scheming her way to the top of the social ladder, while master of the house pastor Edmund is looking to replace his young wife Helene who has run off with Dr Foggarty. But consternation is caused all round by the news that homosexual men in the area are being rounded up and hanged.
