Pick of the week
Home of the Year
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 8.30pm
How des is your res? Have you a home worth writing home about? Is your gaff the GOAT? It’s time for a new batch of homeowners to invite viewers into their not-so-humble abodes and showcase their stunning designs, superb renovations and stupendous extensions, in the hope of impressing the expert judging panel. This year, a new judge will join architects Hugh Wallace and Amanda Bone on the panel: interior consultant Siobhan Lam, founder of the popular interiors and lifestyle store April and the Bear in Rathmines, who is taking over from previous judge Sarah Cosgrove. Each week Wallace, Bone and Lam will drop into three houses to see what they’ve done to the place, with just one homeowner per episode going through to the grand final. Last year the competition was won by Shane Murray and Marty Campbell and their richly renovated 1920s terraced house in Dublin. In this week’s opening episode, we meet Claire and Seán Fox, who turned an 1860s former shop in Tipperary into a comfortable family home, recycling many of the original furnishings and fixtures; Aidan O’Donovan and Barry O’Brien, whose Victorian terraced house in Dublin is a vibrant tribute to their travels; and Ross and Susan O’Donovan, who have restored and future-proofed a 19th-century manor house and farm that Ross inherited from his grandad. “What I love most about Home of the Year is getting to see the incredible creativity, personality and individuality that homeowners bring to where they live,” says Wallace. And what we love most is getting a good peek inside people’s pads.
Highlights
Celebrity Bridge of Lies: EastEnders Special
Saturday, BBC One, 7.50pm
You’ve started a new job and it’s going pretty well, when one day everyone from your old job suddenly arrives in your office and embarrasses you in front of your new workmates. What do you do? Ross Kemp presents a special episode of the popular game show to celebrate 40 years of EastEnders, and he’s joined by four of his former colleagues on the soap: Adam Woodyatt aka Ian Beale, Michelle Collins aka Ian’s ex-wife Cindy Beale, Micah Balfour aka Junior Knight and Molly Rainford aka Junior’s half-sister Anna. They’ll have to answer Walford-themed questions to win money for their chosen charities. Don’t worry – Kemp will get his own back when he returns to Albert Square as Grant Mitchell as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Ifta Film and Drama Awards 2025
Saturday, RTÉ One, 10.55pm
Awards season is well under way, and the cream of Ireland’s acting and production talent gathered at the Convention Centre in Dublin on Valentine’s night for the 22nd Ifta awards, presented by Cavan-born actor and comedian Kevin McGahern. Now here are the highlights from the gala event in the docklands, and it’s been a great year for Irish film and drama, if the stellar list of nominees are anything to go by. They include Saoirse Ronan, Cillian Murphy, Nicola Coughlan, Liam Cunningham, Ruth Negga, Andrew Scott, Sharon Horgan, Eve Hewson, Eva Birthistle, Colin Farrell, Barry Keoghan, Fiona Shaw and Paul Mescal. We can reveal one winner: the legend who is Colm Meaney, who will be presented with a lifetime achievement award.
Bafta Film Awards
Sunday, BBC One, 7pm
The Ifta awards, held on Valentine’s night and televised on Saturday night, will be a hard act to follow, but Britain’s Bafta Film Awards shall do their damnedest to compete. Who is presenting the awards – Doctor Who, that is. Award-winning actor David Tennant aka the 10th and 14th Doctors, is doing the honours on the night, while Take That and Jeff Goldblum are lined up for exclusive musical performances (not together, mind you – that would be too much for our brains to take). Up for gongs this year are Ralph Fiennes in Conclave, Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown and Demi Moore in The Substance. And a trio of Belfast rascals called Kneecap. I’m tired now – can we call a taxi?
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Escaping Utopia
Sunday, BBC Two, 9pm
The remote community of Gloriavale in New Zealand was supposedly an earthly paradise – so why were so many of its residents hell-bent on getting out? This documentary series charts the evolution of the extreme religious cult set up in 1969 by Australian evangelist Neville Cooper aka Hopeful Christian. It was certainly heaven for the menfolk, who held all the power, while the women of the cult were reduced to little more than baby-making machines, and their children were indoctrinated from birth. The series tells the true stories of how some members hatched elaborate plans to break free of the cult.
EastEnders: 40 Years on the Square
Monday, BBC One, 8pm
Soap fans are frothing in anticipation of the special live 40th anniversary edition of EastEnders, and just to get you in celebratory mode, Ross Kemp – who has announced his return as Grant Mitchell to the soap – is presenting this special hour-long documentary looking back over four decades at Walford and honing in on some of the most iconic moments in EastEnders history, which include British TV’s first proper gay kiss and storylines involving domestic abuse and HIV. Kemp will be chatting with cast members current and former, including Adam Woodyatt, Gillian Taylforth and Letitia Dean, while Anita Dobson and Pam St Clement will also drop by Albert Square for a quick chin-wag.
The White Lotus
Monday, Sky Atlantic & Now, 9pm
It’s holiday time again as the fictional White Lotus resort chain welcomes a new batch of wealthy vacationers in search of sun, sea and whatever you’re having yourself. This third series of the Emmy-winning black comedy brings the fun, frolics and infidelity to the exclusive White Lotus in Thailand, where the long-suffering staff have to deal with the demands of their privileged guests – most of whom have more money than sense. New cast members Jason Isaacs, Scott Glenn, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Walton Goggins and Patrick Schwarzenegger will be checking in with their platinum credit cards – and one of them will be checking out early, ie murdered. As usual, however, the fun is in trying to guess which of the rich holidaymakers is the victim.
The Life of Brian (Maguire)
Thursday, RTÉ One, 10.15pm
The artist Brian Maguire has achieved international renown for his uncompromising works, which tackle issues of political oppression, social injustice, poverty and violence. Maguire’s works bear witness to the world’s horrors, such as the huge levels of femicide in Mexico and the plight of migrants on the US-Mexico border. He manages the feat of bringing attention to injustice without exploiting people’s misery. This documentary looks at Maguire’s life, showing that he’s not merely an observer – he also risks his own safety by giving workshops to people fleeing the Mexican drug cartels. The programme features interview with Maguire’s many friends including Proinsias de Rossa, Christy Moore, Eamon Gilmore and The General’s brother Eddie Cahill.
Other Voices
Thursday, RTÉ2, 11.05pm
Series number 23 of Other Voices takes you back to church – St James’s Church in Dingle, Co Kerry – for some musical healing, in the company of a host of superb artists, including Laura Marling, Nubya Garcia, Wunderhorse, James Dean Bradfield, Maverick Sabre, Fionn Regan, Shiv, Landless and Bill Ryder-Jones. Once again, the trio of Annie McManus, Huw Stephens and MayKay will be presenting an evening of music and chat from the hallowed venue on the Dingle peninsula, with some segments filmed in west Wales. The series gets off to a storming start with folk force of nature Lisa O’Neill, and continues with a moving performance by British actor and rapper Bashy. Also in store in episode one is dreamy art-popper Rachael Lavelle and pedal steel virtuoso David Murphy.
Streaming
Reacher
From Thursday, February 20th, Prime Video
Bet you’re glad you bought that huge TV in the January sales, because now you can sit back and watch Lee Child’s humongous hero as he looms back for third helpings and eats another bunch of bad guys for breakfast. But you might need an even bigger screen, because in this third series, based on the seventh Jack Reacher book, Persuader, the extra-large ex-military man has to fight an adversary twice his size. “Last time I saw a guy twice your size was on Mount Rushmore,” his colleague quips. Alan Ritchson plays the titular giant living off the grid but still driven by an unstoppable sense of justice; this time around he has to infiltrate a crime syndicate and rescue an undercover agent, as well as deal with some emotional sucker-punches from his own past.
Zero Day
From Thursday, February 20th, Netflix
Robert De Niro stars in his first TV series, and it reads like a Democrat’s fever dream. Hollywood’s top never-Trumper plays a retired US president, George Mullen, who is called back to the Oval Office after a global zero-day cyberattack that has left thousands dead. Angela Bassett plays the current US president, Evelyn Mitchell, who puts Mullen in charge of hunting down the cyberterrorists. It’s like Mission: Impossible meets White House Down, although De Niro is unlikely to be riding a motorcycle off a cliff. Still, the ex-president will have to use all his old-boy wisdom to deal with a public backlash, thwart his political enemies and find the perpetrators before they launch another cyberattack. This heavy-hitting series also stars Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen and Matthew Modine.
A Thousand Blows
From Friday, February 21st, Disney+
Stephen Graham stars as a hard-chaw bare-knuckle boxer, Sugar Goodson, in this new series written by Steven Knight, the Peaky Blinders creator, and set in the seedy underworld of the East End of London in the 1880s. Malachi Kirby plays Hezekiah Moscow, a Jamaican immigrant who quickly learns that he must think, and fight, on his feet if he’s going to survive in this unforgiving environment. Erin Doherty is Mary Carr, the leader of a notorious all-women band of thieves known as the Forty Elephants. As Hezekiah is drawn deeper into the world of illegal bare-knuckle boxing, he will come into Mary’s orbit, with potentially explosive consequences, and inevitably clash with Goodson, both in and outside the ring. Graham cuts a formidable figure as Sugar Goodson – he makes Vinnie Jones look like Rodney Trotter.
Surface
From Friday, February 21st, Apple TV+
You’ve watched series one of this twisty psychological thriller, and you think you have an idea what’s going on. You have no idea. Gugu Mbatha-Raw returns as Sophie, who is trying to put together the missing pieces of her life after losing her memory following a head injury. She apparently tried to kill herself, but something doesn’t add up, and she’s soon wondering if she can trust what her husband and friends are telling her. As she uncovers layer upon layer of secrets and lies, Sophie decides she’ll have to “disappear”, so she fakes suicide and heads to her home city of London, embedding herself in posh society and continuing her quest for answers. Mbatha-Raw is joined in this second season by the new cast members Joely Richardson, Rupert Graves, Tara Fitzgerald and Freida Pinto.
