Preview

Monday

Monday

Making Masterpieces (BBC 2, 7.30 p.m.) First of a new series in which Neil MacGregor, director of the British National Gallery, explores how some great works of art were created. Tonight it's Renoir's Boating On The Seine. 579 True Lives (RTE 1, 8 p.m.) Two documentaries made in Ireland by Scandinavian film-makers - the first a video diary of a year spent by a young Danish boy in Co Clare, the second a portrait of a travelling family in the north west. 23588136 Equinox: Superhighway Robbery (Channel 4, 9 p.m.) Equinox investigates one of the most infamous and lucrative cybercrimes ever committed, featuring interviews with the Russian hacker accused of committing the biggest electronic bank robbery in history. 4049 Omnibus: The Fame And Shame Of Salvador Dali (BBC 1, 10.40 p.m.) First half of a two-part documentary (part two is on Tuesday) about the surrealist painter. Dali's biographer Ian Gibson trawls through Dali's life and art in search of the source of his often startling imagery. 1290488 The Huw Weldon Memorial Lecture (BBC 2, 11.15 p.m.) The annual lecture is given this year by BBC correspondent Fergal Keane, who talks about the role of the news journalist in the changing global media. 888407

Tuesday Holiday (BBC 1, 7 p.m.) The travel programme returns for another series, with RTE's Carrie Crowley taking on some of the presenting duties from Jill Dando. Tonight's destinations include Ibiza and Tunisia. 8696 Uachtaran (BBC 2, 7.30 p.m.) Interview with Gearoid O Caireallain, president of Conradh na Gaeilge, about the role of the organisation and the relevance of the Irish language in the 1990s. 112 Cutting Edge: Sex, Lies And Aliens (Channel 4, 9 p.m.) Britain's lowest-browed newspaper, The Sport, celebrates its 10th birthday this year, and this film goes behind the scenes to look at how to put together a publication which once claimed a nipple count of 91 in one edition (The odd one was the biggest nipple in the world). 7353 Holding On (BBC 2, 9.30 p.m.) Tony Marchant's London drama comes to a close, with some notes of optimism and possible redemption for the characters as the plotlines are tied up. 89518 Network First: Life After Grace (ITV, 10.40 p.m.) The second part of this documentary about the Grimaldi family promises to wash more dirty linen, with the escapades of Grace's children since her death. 186614

Wednesday

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Champions' League: Manchester Utd v Feyenoord (Network 2 and ITV, 7.30 p.m.) Live from Old Trafford, with highlights of Newcastle's match with PSV Eindhoven on Network 2 after the game (you'll have to wait till later in the evening for highlights on ITV). 82737735, 41053716 Pulse (RTE 1, 8.30 p.m.) The ever-busy Carrie Crowley pops up again, this time with swimming doctor Gary O'Toole to present this new health programme, which each week will examine one major issue, along with other items on diet, fitness regimes and alternative medicines. 35234984 Modern Times: DJ (BBC 2, 9 p.m.) Britain's best documentary series returns for a new series, beginning with this humorous film about the stars of the international club scene. Tony Fordham manages young DJ LTJ Bukem, who he believes is going to bring drum 'n' bass to the masses. The camera follows them from Japan to the US as they plan their path to world domination. 652209 Witness: LA Coroner (Channel 4, 9 p.m.) Documentary following the coroners' investigators, the body transporters and morticians as they do their work in one of the world's most violent cities. 4629

Thursday The Big Story (ITV, 7.30 p.m.) Dermot Murnaghan investigates convicted white collar criminals, held in open prisons, and asks how they are still able to run their businesses and exert their power from their cells. 120 United Tastes Of America (Channel 4, 8.30 p.m.) New series in which Dorinda Hafner explores the cultural diversity of American cuisine. Tonight's programme goes to Boston for a taste of authentically Italian food, then to the port of Gloucester for a seafood feast. 5439 Thief Takers (ITV, 9 p.m.) The rather silly police drama returns for another series, with new cast members struggling to fit into the Armed Robbery Squad. 6491 Horizon: Dawn Of The Clone Age (BBC 2, 9.25 p.m.) It seems a long time since Dolly the cloned sheep hit the headlines, but in fact it was only eight months ago. The Horizon team looks at the scientific and ethical implications of the breakthrough, and tells the extraordinary story of how Dolly came to be born. 496507 Saints And Sinners (RTE 1, 10.15 p.m.) Tonight's programme looks at the Papacy's response to the Enlightenment and the age of revolutions, which swept away much of its political power. 78888014

Friday

The Big Catch (BBC 2, 8 p.m.) Liam Dale travels to Kazakhstan to fish for beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. The roe from one fish can produce as much as £25,000 worth of caviar. 4540 P.D. James's An Unsuitable Job For A Wom- an (ITV, 9 p.m.) Helen Baxendale stars as novice Cordelia Gray, who unexpectedly finds herself running a private detective agency, in this three-part mystery adaptation of P.D. James's novel. Baxendale soon finds herself hired by a scientist whose son has been found hanged. 3927 Have I Got News For You (BBC 2, 10 p.m.) Messrs Deayton, Hislop and Merton return for the 14th series of the topical comedy quiz, faced with the challenge of taking on the New Labour government. 49298 The Wogan Years (BBC 1, 10.20 p.m.) First of a six-part series in which Terry Wogan looks back on his most cherished interviews. Tonight's subjects include Sean Connery, Roger Moore, James Stewart and Jack Lemmon. 767724 Rory Bremner . . . Who Else? (Channel 4, 10.30 p.m.) Bremner also has a whole new crop of personalities to take on board - nobody has yet done a good impression of Tony Blair, for example. 932569

Films

Tuesday: The Specialist (RTE 1, 10.15 p.m.) Even by Sylvester Stallone's standards, this is incredibly dumb stuff, with Sly as a former CIA hitman hired by Sharon Stone to avenge the death of her parents. Director Luis Llosa seems to have watched too many bad pop videos, and somebody forgot to write a script. 47862773 Tuesday: Atlantic City (Channel 4, 11.40 p.m.) One of Louis Malle's finest films, with Burt Lancaster superb as the ageing smalltime crook, running the numbers on the crumbling city seafront. A quintessentially European vision of America, whose elegiac tone is ironic given that Atlantic City has been restored in all its brash vulgarity since the film was made 17 years ago. 558518 Friday: Blue Collar (RTE 1, 11.50 p.m.) One of the best movies of the late 1970s, and one of the few modern films which intelligently explores the harsh realities of the US class system. 98411569 Friday: Little Shop Of Horrors (Network 2, 1.05 a.m.) Frenetic musical re-working of Roger Corman's cheapie horror flick, with a team of Second City comedians (Steve Martin, John Candy, James Belushi) hamming it up, happily to good effect. 59446011

Hugh Linehan

Hugh Linehan

Hugh Linehan is an Irish Times writer and Duty Editor. He also presents the weekly Inside Politics podcast