TV guide: the best new shows to watch
Pick of the Week Toxic Threads Monday, Virgin Media One, 9pm In 2001, Kildare man Brian Dowling (now Dowling Gourounlian, after his marriage to dancer Arthur Gourounlian in 2015) became a household name after a successful stint on the reality TV show Big Brother. Since then he has lived in the glare of the public eye, and in the past number of years that has meant being visible on social media too. Once he and Arthur’s first child, Blake, was born in 2022, with his sister Aoife as surrogate, Dowling Gourounlian and his family became the target of vile online commentary and trolling. In this new documentary, the Six O’Clock Show presenter looks at the realities of online bullying and harassment, not just through his own experience but by speaking to others who have gone through similar. Plus, he talks to a private investigator to find out if anonymous commenters are really anonymous. It’s a “vulnerable, uncomfortable” watch, he tells us, and is likely to shed light on the gaps in how equipped the legal world is to deal with this behaviour. Highlights The Zoo Monday, RTÉ One, 8pm The popular series is back, giving us a look at life behind the scenes at Dublin Zoo. The first episode on Monday night features the remarkable story of Imani, an 18-year-old hippo who undergoes the world’s first cataract surgery on a hippopotamus. Meanwhile, the zoo’s South American house, which was originally built in the 1860s, is undergoing a full revamp in order to host new animals including a lowland paca. Other stories include the zoo vets being called in to examine a dolphin stranded on a Dublin beach, plus newcomers to the zoo include a giant anteater, a tamandua, and a six-banded armadillo, alongside a new gang of meerkats. Counter Attack Monday, RTÉ One, 8.30am While on holiday in Cork with his wife, Anita, musician Frankie Lane collapsed from a sudden cardiac arrest. This short documentary looks firstly at how paramedic Pat McCarthy – against all odds – was able to resuscitate him using CPR and a defibrillator. Then we learn about Frankie and Anita’s journey with Cúram, Ireland’s leading medical research centre, and in particular the work of cardiovascular surgeon Dr Niamh Hynes. The film brings us news of cutting-edge innovations, from 3D-printed heart tissue to AI-designed stents. It’s a look at a personal story as well as at how science and technology could potentially transform how cardiovascular disease is treated globally. Cill Stuifín Tuesday, 9.30pm, TG4 Have you heard about Cill Stuifín, which legend has it lies off the coast of west Co Clare? It’s a village that it’s believed was swallowed by the sea, perhaps due to a freak wave … or maybe because of an ancient curse. In this beautifully shot documentary, the folklorist Aindrias de Staic follows in his late father, folklorist Eddie Stack’s footsteps to examine the truth behind the legend. De Staic speaks to geologist Martina McCarthy, folklorist Dr Ailbhe Nic Giolla Chomhaill, senior weather-buoy technician Donal Kennedy, Infomar marine mapping specialist Felim O’Toole and marine biologist Jack O’Donovan Trá, as well as big wave surfers Ollie O’Flaherty and Callum Curtin and artist Marie Connole about their thoughts on Cill Stuifín and the inspiration the Atlantic holds for them. One for those who love the beauty of Ireland’s coastline as well as Irish folklore. Fellow Travelers Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm If you missed it first time around, now’s your chance to catch this gorgeous American series on the small screen. Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer – two actors you can always depend on to do the most with their roles – play two men who meet while working in Washington DC in the 1950s. Hawkins Fuller (Bomer) is a military hero who sets out to work his way up the ladder at the State Department, but is also closeted and intent on hiding his private life due to societal prejudice. But then he meets Tim Laughlin (Bailey) and the pair – though different in some ways – fall in love despite the dangers. We follow their relationship through several decades and big moments in US history, from the Vietnam war to the Aids crisis. The Case I Can’t Forget Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35am In 2010 two Irish nationals were arrested for trafficking rhino horn after being caught in a sting run by US Fish and Wildlife outside Denver, Colorado. The evidence all pointed back to Rathkeale, Co Limerick, and soon Irish authorities and Europol began to join the dots regarding other rhino horn thefts in Europe, believing that there was an organised crime group behind them all. In this episode of The Case I Can’t Forget, we meet John Reid, former head of the Europol Irish desk, and hear how he launched a co-ordinated effort across 19 countries to dismantle the gang targeting rhino horn in Europe’s museums. We also meet Cyril Claffey from Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau, who helped to discover more about those involved in the trafficking and where the valuable rhino horns were being sold to. The gang also began targeting jade and antiquities collections in museums, leading to Adrian Greene and Rebecca Tipping of the Metropolitan Police becoming involved. This is the real life story of how teams across Europe were tasked with catching thieves who saw themselves as untouchable. Adultery Friday, Virgin Media One, 9pm If you’re looking for a juicy new series, give this one from writer Danny Brocklehurst (who was also behind the Netflix hit Fool Me Once) a go. This is for fans of shows such as War (now on Sky) and the series The Affair, and stars Dominic Cooper and Romola Garai as two married people who start a passionate affair. This naturally throws their lives into turmoil. But adding even more drama into the mix is that their own teenage children also start their own relationship. The Graham Norton Show Friday, BBC One, 10.40pm On the couch and ready to chat to Graham Norton this week is the Oscar-winning Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs director Quentin Tarantino , who’s there to talk about his new West End farce The Popinjay Cavalier, starring Sacha Baron Cohen. He’ll be joined by our own Colin Farrell, there to chat about the documentary The Slightest Touch about EB campaigner Emma Fogarty, with whom he has a long friendship. Comedian and chatshow host Ellen DeGeneres will also be there, as will Gemma Chan to talk about the new thriller Josephine. An A-list line-up as usual. Streaming Treasure Island From Monday, October 12th, Paramount+ Robert Louis Stevenson’s maritime romp has stirred the imaginations of many film-makers, and this new six-part reimagining hopes to and strike streaming TV gold, with help from its stars, Hayley Atwell, David Oyelowo and Tom Sweet. Atwell is Bess Hawkins, a tiger mom who has found the legendary map, and sets off with her son, Jim Hawkins (Sweet), on the Hispaniola to find the treasure. But there’s mutiny in the air as the charismatic and ambitious Long John Silver (Oyelowo) puts Jim’s loyalties to the test. KEVIN COURTNEY VisionQuest From Wednesday, October 14th, Disney+ Its name sounds like some corporate motivational programme from the 1980s, but VisionQuest is the third and final series in the trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along. Paul Bettany returns as Vision, the former superhero who is now in hiding, living a quiet life mostly inside his own head, where he communes with a group of AI personas embedded in his brain, one of whom happens to be the notorious Ultron (James Spader), the dude who tried to destroy all human life on Earth. But it’s not long before a bounty is put on Vision, and he has to go on the run, accompanied by a boy named Thomas Shepard, who might actually be Vision’s son. VisionQuest promises more mind-bending Marvel fun, but it will have to be a real brain-fryer to match the wacky and wonderfully inventive WandaVision. KC The Diplomat From Thursday, October 15th, Netflix It’s hard enough to keep a marriage together when your husband is having an affair or gambling away the family’s fortune. What happens when you discover he has helped to steal an apocalypse weapon from Russia, threatening to plunge the US into all-out war? Keri Russell returns as Ambassador Kate Wyler, with Rufus Sewell as her husband, US vice-president Hal Wyler, in series four of the political thriller that double-jobs as a relationship drama in the rarefied atmosphere of Capitol Hill. Alison Janney is the reckless and capricious US president Grace Penn, whose marriage to first gentleman Todd Penn (Bradley Whitford) is also on shaky ground. The Diplomat is an awkward blend of high-stakes political intrigue and marital strife: you can’t tell which is more urgent, preventing nuclear Armageddon or serving the divorce papers on time. KC