{"id":146494,"date":"2025-10-26T16:53:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T16:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/146494\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T16:53:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T16:53:22","slug":"the-best-new-shows-to-watch-starting-tonight-the-irish-times-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/146494\/","title":{"rendered":"the best new shows to watch, starting tonight \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pick of the weekHector OZ\/NZThursday, TG4, 9.30pm<\/p>\n

While the whole country has been arguing over who is best qualified to represent Ireland on the international stage, Hector \u00d3 hEochag\u00e1in has been getting on with the job, travelling the world and working his Irish charms on entire peoples in far-flung lands. You could drop Hector in the most inhospitable place on Earth and within 10 minutes he\u2019d have all the locals under his spell, having the craic and singing Irish songs \u2013 and probably making him honorary headman of the tribe. <\/p>\n

In this new series, Hector heads on an epic adventure down under to explore Australia and New Zealand, veering off the well-beaten tourist trail to meet real Aussies and Kiwis, including Aboriginal elder Aunty Joy and Maori activist Tame Iti. It\u2019s been nearly 20 years since Hector last visited Australia, but on arrival in Melbourne\u2019s cultural melting pot, he soon gets back in the groove. He visits the old opal-mining town of Coober Pedy, where many of the population live underground to escape the searing heat, and heads to Perth, where many Irish expats have been drawn like moths to a flame. In New Zealand, Hector learns how Maori culture integrates with modern life on the North Island, and experiences the envied west-coaster lifestyle on the South Island. <\/p>\n

Highlights The UnrealSunday, RT\u00c9 One, 5.10pm<\/p>\n

The Kelly Family are back, just in time for Halloween, and they\u2019re about to encounter another gaggle of ghosts, apparitions and scary spirits from Irish mythology in the new series of the spooky, family-friendly show. In the first series, bored 12-year-old Kevin finds an ancient artefact called a VHS player, complete with a tape of a children\u2019s show from the 1980s. When he plays the tape, however, he unleashes a pooka \u2013 a sort of Bosco from the Underworld \u2013 who wreaks havoc on the family\u2019s lives. <\/p>\n

But the pooka is not the only escapee from 1980s telly \u2013 turns out the Kellys themselves are fictional characters from an 80s sitcom, and in series two they\u2019re trying to live normal lives in the 2020s. And what could be more normal than visiting a creepy, dilapidated hotel to attend a 1980s TV convention? It\u2019s not long before more creepy creatures from Irish mythology emerge from the shadows, including a fetch \u2013 a sort of ghostly Doppelg\u00e4nger of Kevin.<\/p>\n

The Unreal has been acclaimed as good, scary family fun that looks at the stresses and demands of modern life though the looking-glass of Irish folklore, so get the family around the telly, turn off the lights, and enjoy the fright night. <\/p>\n

O\u00edche Shamhna: An Ancient MysterySunday, RT\u00c9 One, 7.30pm<\/p>\n

Just when and where did Halloween originate? It\u2019s hugely popular in the US, and has taken off in many countries around the world, but who was first to come up with the idea of a night celebrating all things spooky, with people dressing up as ghosts, ghouls and ghastly creatures, and descending on people\u2019s houses to demand treats? This two-part documentary delves into the Irish origins of Halloween \u2013 the Samhain festival, the ancient celebration on the threshold of winter. But is there any evidence to back up our claim to have invented Halloween? <\/p>\n

The series uses new scientific breakthroughs, along with archaeological discoveries and clues from folklore and mythology to build up the case for Halloween to have originated in ancient Hibernia. Now that we have the ownership issue cleared up, we\u2019ll expect the Taoiseach to arrive at the White House on October 31st with a nice big bowl of hemlock. <\/p>\n

Daisy May and Charlie Cooper\u2019s NightWatchSunday, BBC One, 9.30pm\"CharlieCharlie and Daisy May Cooper <\/p>\n

The comedy partnership of Daisy May Cooper and her brother Charlie Cooper reunite for a series that promises to be so funny, it\u2019s scary. Or so scary, it\u2019s funny \u2013 take your pick. The siblings have always been fascinated by the paranormal \u2013 blame their parents, who let them stay up late watching horror movies when they were kids. The upshot of it now is that they need something stronger than slasher movies to give them a terror-thrill. So in this new series, they challenge themselves to stay the night in some of Britain\u2019s most haunted places. Can they make it to the next morning without getting the living daylights scared out of them, or without making each other laugh so much they puke? Along the way, they learn lots of spooky facts about the place they\u2019re staying \u2013 and learn a few things about each other too. Their first port of call is a disused prison in Gloucester, where they spend the night in a cell and hope to god they\u2019re the only inmates there. <\/p>\n

Trigger PointSunday, UTV, 9pm\"VickyVicky McClure in Trigger Point <\/p>\n

Lana Washington is a maverick bomb-disposal expert \u2013 or EXPO \u2013 who doesn\u2019t like to follow orders. Caution isn\u2019t in her vocabulary \u2013 she\u2019ll charge right into the danger zone and risk everything to disarm an explosive device or take down a terrorist. It\u2019s not quite by the book, and the wired-up storylines are faintly ridiculous, but it\u2019s worked for viewers, who have made the Trigger Point one of the most-watched series on ITV over the past couple of years. Vicky McClure returns as Lana in a third series of TP, and this time she and her bomb-disposal team face a threat from a bomber who is targeting individuals in what looks like a vendetta. The team will have to work fast if they are to outsmart this bomber before they can claim their next victim. \u201cWe want to make this new series even more exciting, keep everyone on the edge of their seats,\u201d says McClure. We\u2019ll be seated and ready. <\/p>\n

Once Upon a Time in SpaceMonday, BBC Two, 9pm<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s it like actually being in space? Since the dawn of space travel, fewer than 700 people have actually left the Earth\u2019s atmosphere, and this documentary series, presented by James Bluemel, charts the story of human space flight from the perspective of those who\u2019ve been up there. The four-part series uses unseen archive footage and personal accounts from pioneering astronauts and cosmonauts, to give a new perspective of space travel, and also a new perspective on the changing world below. With a new space race to Mars in the offing, this series looks at how we got to this stage in space travel, and where we are going next. <\/p>\n

IT: Welcome to DerryMonday, Sky Atlantic & Now, 9pm\"IT:IT: Welcome To Derry: Clara Stack, Jack Molloy Legault, Mikkal Karim Fidler and Matilda Legault. Photograph: Home Box Office\/Brooke Palmer <\/p>\n

Okay, calm down, don\u2019t get so excited. This is not a Stephen King-meets-Derry Girls spin-off \u2013 although that sounds like it would be great scary-funny craic. This Derry is not the town in Northern Ireland we know and love so well, but of course the fictional Derry, Maine, which has featured in several of King\u2019s novels \u2013 including IT \u2013 and is modelled on the author\u2019s own hometown of Bangor, Maine. It\u2019s your typical telly American small town, which means, of course, that there are typically dark goings-on beneath the picket-fenced, lawn-sprinklered surface. <\/p>\n

The series is a prequel to the box-office hit horror movies IT and IT: Chapter Two, set in the 1960s, two decades before the evil entity calling himself Pennywise the Dancing Clown proved that coulrophobia was definitely not an irrational fear. It\u2019s an origin story of sorts, delving deep into the sewers of Derry to get to the dark heart of what spawned this psychotic Pierrot. The good news is that Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd will be returning as Pennywise, and the bad news \u2013 for the townspeople \u2013 is that a lot of folk are about to die screaming before this nine-parter is even halfway through. <\/p>\n

Heat My HomeTuesday, RT\u00c9 One, 8pm<\/p>\n

Gas and electricity costs aren\u2019t getting any lower, and many Irish homeowners are opting to retrofit their houses to save energy and bring down their heating bills. But what kind of retrofit should you choose, and how much savings could you expect to make once the retrofit is in? Builder, designer and engineer Kieran McCarthy, previously seen on Cheap Irish Homes, presents a brand new series in which he guides homeowners through the whole retrofitting rigmarole, cutting through the technical jargon and taking the mystery out of making energy upgrades. In the first episode, retired speech and language therapist Sylvia Thompson is looking to turn her chilly 1950s cottage in Tralee into a warm, cosy, sustainable home, which will involve digging up floors and disposing of an old and very inefficient fossil fuel oil burner.<\/p>\n

StreamingDown Cemetery RoadFrom Wednesday, October 29th, Apple TV+\"EmmaEmma Thompson and Ruth Wilson in Down Cemetery Road. Photograph: Apple TV+\/Matt Towers <\/p>\n

Fans of Mick Herron<\/a>, the Slow Horses<\/a> author, will relish this latest televisual treat, adapted from his novel of the same name, and starring Ruth Wilson and Emma Thompson<\/a>. It all starts in a quiet suburb of Oxford, where a huge explosion in a house shatters the peace. Neighbour Sarah Tucker (Wilson) and private investigator Zo\u00eb Boehm (Thompson) soon become embroiled in a wide-reaching conspiracy, where long-deceased people seem to be mysteriously back from the dead. Worse, there seems to be no shortage of living people suddenly swelling the ranks of the dead. Sarah and Zo\u00eb will have to unravel this mystery before they end up among the ex-living.<\/p>\n

The WitcherFrom Thursday, October 30th, Netflix<\/p>\n

Eagle-eyed viewers might notice something different in season four of the fantasy series: Henry Cavill has been replaced by Liam Hemsworth in the role of the titular demon-slayer. Apart from that, it\u2019s business as usual for Geralt of Rivia: lots of nasty, supernatural creatures to fight, and lots of strong women to fight off. The Australian actor takes up the mantle of the Witcher for the last two series, and he\u2019s joined by Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, Freya Allen as Cirilla, and a sprawling cast of characters, plus another new arrival: Laurence Fishburne, playing a charismatic healer and higher vampire named Regis. Will Hemsworth fill Cavill\u2019s big boots as he takes over the iconic role of the monster-masher? We\u2019ve no doubt he\u2019ll crush it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pick of the weekHector OZ\/NZThursday, TG4, 9.30pm While the whole country has been arguing over who is best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[3412,18,117,19,17,127,1181,8336],"class_list":{"0":"post-146494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-netflix","14":"tag-rte","15":"tag-tg4"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115441513712580324","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}