We love TV on Newstalk Breakfast so every Monday at this time we have TV Times - the top 5 appointments not to be missed on box in the week ahead. But let's start with some TV nostalgia
This Wednesday will mark 30 years since the beloved soap hit our screens. That sound of the theme tune always marked the end of the weekend, usually with that sinking feeling that you haven’t done your home work. Glenroe was broadcast, generally from September to May, each Sunday night at 8:30 p m. Created, and written for much of its run, by Wesley Burrowes, it centred on the lives of people living in a small village in Wicklow. Favourite storylines? Mary accidentally takes magic mushrooms and Miley and Fidelma’s fumble in the hay.
Glenroe's theme tune was that of a traditional Irish song called "Cuaichín Ghleann Néifinn" and was arranged by Jim Lockhart of Horslips. The original version was used from the 1983/84 to the end of the 1992/93 series.
A newly recorded version, arranged by Máire Ní Bhraonáin of Clannad, was introduced with the start of the 1993/94 series
This is a reminder:
Top Five Picks of the Week
5. The end is nigh for killer Karl this week on Coronation Street.
The show has really gone down hill of late, but this storyline will get it back to par. We’ve been waiting for Karl’s downfall for momths now and who would think that the intrepid Sherlock Holming of the less than genius Jason, couple with Craig’s secret will eventually see Karl get his comeuppance. Of course this has to happen at a wedding, in true soap style but will Stella have made it down the aisle before she finds out the terrible truth? It will reach its climax on Friday.
4. Blackout Monday Channel 4 9p.m. and Under the Dome Thursday RTE 2 9p.m.
The reason that I have lumped these shows together is they both have a perspective of ‘What if’ about them.
Blackout is a drama documentary exploring the effects of a devastating cyber-attack on Britain's national electricity grid, combining fictional scenes with footage recorded during real blackouts
Under the Dome is based on a Stephen King novel and he is one of the producers and Stephen Spielberg is involved and Danish director Niels Arden Oplev produced and directed the pilot. He previously directed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the Swedish version). So you know they are throwing a lot of money at a big scale production.
Under the Dome tells the story of the residents of the small town of Chester's Mill in Maine, where a massive, transparent, indestructible dome suddenly cuts them off from the rest of the world. With no Internet access, no mobile signals and limited radio communication, the people trapped inside must find their own ways to survive with diminishing resources and rising tensions. While military forces, the government and the media positioned outside of this surrounding barrier attempt to break it down, a small group of people inside attempt to figure out what the dome is, where it came from, and when (and if) it will go away
And for all you Breaking Bad fans out there… it stars Dean Norris who plays Hank. Reason enough to watch it for me.
Here’s the trailer:
3. Second Captains Live Tuesday RTE 2 10.20p.m.
Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early Ciaran Murphy , Simon Hick and Mark Horgan are bringing their talents to the telly They’ll be mixing sport with entertainment and a bit of nostalgia thrown in for good measure in front of a live studio audience. Even if you don’t have a clue about sport, you will probably enjoy the show…purely for the messing.
2. Peaky Blinders Thursday BBC2 9p.m. (Irish actor Cillian Murphy stars as does Sam Neill and no other than Nidge himself Tom Vaughn Lawlor)
This is being called BBC’s answer to Boardwalk Empire. BBC2's epic new gangster drama, Peaky Blinders, is set in Birmingham on the cusp of the 1920s. Cillian Murphy plays Thomas Shelby, leader of local gang the Peaky Blinders (so-called for sewing razorblades into the peaks of their caps), who find themselves in pursuit of a crate of guns, battling police, the government, the IRA and communist revolutionaries along the way.
Vaughan-Lawlor, meanwhile, will feature as an IRA man - in an ironic twist given Nidge’s difficulties with the IRA in season three of ‘Love/Hate’.
Murphy revealed that he prepared for the role by spending time with Romany gypsies and that the show explores how some British soldiers who returned from WWI turned to crime when they couldn’t readjust to civilised society.
This is the trailer and a sneak peak of the new show:
1. World Cup Qualifier with Austria this Tuesday RTE 2 7.45p.m.
We’ll need a miracle to get to Brazil at this stage, but seeing as how most of won’t be able to travel to Austria for this qualifying match, we can tune on the telly.
BY the way..
Fresh off her twerking extravaganza on the MTV VMA’s Miley Cyrus is going to be on Alan Carr’s chatshow on Friday night at 10p.m. on Channel 4.
