Pick of the week
The Traitors
New Year’s Day & Thursday, BBC One, 8pm; Friday, BBC One, 9pm
Intrigue, conspiracy, deceit, betrayal: The Traitors has it all, including a prize pot of £120,000, so it’s no surprise that a third series is going ahead, with Claudia Winkleman presenting once again. A new batch of Faithfuls will arrive at Andross Castle, in the Scottish Highlands, but among them are hidden Traitors out to sabotage the Faithfuls and nab the prize for themselves. In October RTÉ announced it will begin filming an Irish version of Traitors, to air later in 2025, and has been auditioning participants. “We’re confident that Traitors Ireland will be just as thrilling,” says RTÉ commissioning editor Gráinne McAleer. “We’re looking for dynamic contestants who can outwit, out-schmooze, and outplay the others.” The show will be hosted by Derry Girls star Siobhán McSweeney.
Highlights
What Daire Did Next
Sunday, RTÉ One 6.30pm
Liverpool fan Daire Gorman had lot to process over the past year: moving up to secondary school, becoming a teenager, and dealing with the bombshell news that Jürgen Klopp was stepping down as manager of his beloved team. Daire has a rare condition called Crommelin Syndrome, which affects the growth of his upper limbs and the femurs in his legs, and this year he also underwent difficult surgery and was fitted out with a robotic arm. This uplifting documentary follows Daire as he and his family visited Anfield last Christmas at Klopp’s invitation, the video of Daire meeting the players clocking up more than 120 million views. We also see Daire compete in an international powerchair football tournament in Paris.
Taskmaster’s New Year Treat 2025
Sunday, Channel 4, 9pm
Who dares take on the bizarre and surreal tasks set by Greg Davies and “Little” Alex Horne in their annual new year extravaganza? Five brave celebrities have signed up for the job: money expert Martin Lewis; football legend David James; veteran TV actor Sue Johnston, 1990s pop star Melanie Blatt and mathematician and TV presenter Prof Hannah Fry. The hit show has just finished its 18th season, and as long as Davies and Horne can keep coming up with crazy tasks, the celebs will be lining up to carry them out.
Maria Callas: The Final Act
Sunday, BBC Two, 9pm
She was considered the greatest of all the modern classical divas, with supermodel good looks, expensive tastes, a fiery temper and an incredible voice. With a new biopic about her life starring Angelina Jolie about to be released, this Arena film looks back on Maria Callas’s life and her extraordinary impact on classical music in the mid-20th century. It will also look at her relationship with tycoon Aristotle Onassis, who left her for Jackie Kennedy, and examines the tragic decline of her voice, which caused her to cancel shows – leading to accusations of diva behaviour – and eventually retire from public performance.
Dancing with the Stars 2025: Who are the contestants, when is it on and more
Nanci Griffith: From a Distance review – harrowing account of the country music star’s life that ended in isolation and alcoholism
Three sporting events to watch this week: Your handy guide to sport on television
TV guide: the best new shows to watch this week
Archie
Sunday, ITV, 9pm; Monday, ITV, 10pm
Archibald Alexander Leach found global fame as Hollywood star Cary Grant, and this four-part drama tells the story of how a poor boy from a broken home in Bristol went on to become a leading man in top movie blockbusters. Jason Isaacs stars as Leach, and the action jumps between his troubled childhood, when showbiz offered him a way out of poverty, to the height of his success in the early 1960s, when he was regularly smashing box-office records. But his private life was a mess, and following two divorces, he set his sights on young actress Dyan Cannon, 33 years his junior, using all his charm and sophistication – and his famous friends – to persuade her to marry him.
Cunk on Life
Monday, BBC Two, 9pm
Philomena Cunk is not one to shy away from the big questions that we as humans must grapple with, and in this one-off special, she’s set her sights really high, hoping to unravel the very secrets of life itself. Where do we come from? Where are we going? And will there be motorway services along the way? Cunk will explore every aspect of life from the Big Bang to AI, and interrogate thinkers, scientists and philosophers to learn what’s going on with all this existence malarkey. Diane Morgan plays Cunk with a fine blend of overconfidence and cluelessness.
Callan Kicks the Year
Monday, RTÉ One, 9.30pm
Oliver Callan turns his satirical eye on the year just gone, and really, it’s like shooting sedated fish in a very small barrel. This year has seen such scandals as the “dynamic pricing” of Oasis tickets, the Dublin portal that left us all scarleh, the three-hundred-grand bike shed and the Lazarus-like return of Trump. All your favourite Callan impressions will be present and correct, including Mary Lou, Micheál, Simon, Francis Brennan, Louis Walsh, Marty Morrissey and Taylor Swift.
Cloch Le Carn – Micheál
New Year’s Eve, RTÉ One, 6.30pm
Legendary GAA commentator Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh died in June aged 93, and this programme pays tribute to the great man, highlighting his lust for life and his love of home and community. Ó Muircheartaigh made the most of every day God generously gave him, and even after he retired, he actively promoted his beloved Gaelic games both at home and abroad. This intimate portrait features contributions from family, friends, a host of GAA stars and former president Mary McAleese.
Mrs Brown’s Boys – New Year’s Special
New Year’s Eve, RTÉ One, 9.15pm; BBC One, 10.30pm
Brendan O’Carroll and the gang are ready to ring in the new year in the second of two festive specials following the sweary Finglas matriarch and her bonkers brood. Agnes has decided to turn the spare bedroom into a B&B and make a few extra bob, but her first customer turns out to be a dangerous escaped criminal known as Slasher Sam, who takes over the whole gaff and takes everyone hostage. Hollywood actor Steve Speirs stars as the fugitive felon.
The Late Late NYE Show
New Year’s Eve, RTÉ One, 10.20pm
Patrick Kielty is ready to ring in the new year and he’s got a host of stars to help him set off the studio fireworks, including English pop star James Blunt, who is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album Back to Bedlam. Will Blunty sing his saccharine 2004 chart-topper You’re Beautiful? He’d better. Also joining Patrick to welcome in 2025 are Irish Olympians Mona McSharry and Sharlene Mawdsley and Paralympian Orla Comerford, and there’ll be music from The Undertones and Picture This, plus a few surprises (Blunty duetting with The Undertones on Teenage Kicks, maybe?).
Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s NYE Disco
New Year’s Eve, BBC One, 11.30pm
If you’re planning to stay home on New Year’s Eve, then no better woman than Sophie Ellis-Bextor to get your house party started. The Murder on the Dancefloor singer kept us all entertained during lockdown with her fab Kitchen Disco videos on Instagram, and now she’s hosting her own New Year’s Eve disco on the big telly, only this time she’s joined by a gang of star guests under the glitterball to help her zing in the new year.
Jools’ Annual Hootenanny
New Year’s Eve, BBC Two, 11.30pm
Jools Holland hosts another star-studded countdown to 2025, and he’s got two big Irish names on his list this year: CMAT and The Boomtown Rats. No doubt Geldof and the gang will be running through some of their biggest hits, while CMAT will draw from her Choice Music Prize-winning debut album If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, and its Mercury and Novello Prize-nominated follow-up, Crazymad, For Me. Also keeping the sparks flying are Jade, Jungle, Marc Almond, Paul Carrack, Roger Taylor of Queen and Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge fame.
Vera
New Year’s Day & Thursday, ITV, 8pm
It’s the final investigation for DCI Vera Stanhope, and there are sure to be tears in livingrooms as Brenda Blethyn takes on the iconic role for one last time. Series 14 comes in two feature-length episodes; in the first a young man’s body is found by the banks of the Tyne, and in the second Vera is on familiar ground as she tries to solve the murder of a bright young student. As she continues her investigations, Vera finds herself looking back at her own childhood. A valedictory programme, Vera, Farewell Pet (Friday, ITV, 9pm), will bring us behind the scenes at the making of the last series.
Streaming
Missing You
From Wednesday, January 1st, Netflix
It’s a match made in mystery heaven: Netflix and Harlan Coben continue to mine a rich seam of psychological thrillers based on Coben’s bestselling novels, in a collaboration that has already yielded such hits as Stay Close and Fool Me Once. Missing You was originally set in New York, but for this series the action moves to Manchester, England, where detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) is rebuilding her life following the unexplained disappearance of her fiance, Josh (Ashley Walters), 11 years ago. When she swipes a dating app, guess whose face appears on her screen. As she sets out to learn what really happened, Kat is plunged into a world of violence and betrayal. Richard Armitage, Lenny Henry, James Nesbitt, Steve Pemberton and Jessica Plummer costar.
The Rig
From Thursday, January 2nd, Prime Video
Iain Glen, Martin Compston and Emily Hampshire return for a second series of the eco-horror thriller, and this time they’re embedded in an Arctic glacier as they delve deeper into the mystery of the deadly parasites that terrorised the crew of the Kinloch Bravo in series one. Having been evacuated from the rig just before it was hit by a huge tsunami, the crew are on another, top-secret facility known as the Stac, but what new threat lies underneath the glacier? We’re about to find out.
