{"id":736281,"date":"2026-06-14T15:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/736281\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T15:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:59:18","slug":"tv-guide-the-best-new-shows-to-watch-starting-tonight-the-irish-times-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/736281\/","title":{"rendered":"TV guide: the best new shows to watch, starting tonight \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pick of the weekBad: The Song That Saved My LifeMonday, RT\u00c9 One, 9.35pm<\/p>\n

It is one of U2\u2019s best-known and most-loved songs, but few know much about inspiration behind the song, a friend of the band named Andy \u201cGuck Pants Delaney\u201d Rowen. Rowen\u2019s face is well-known: as a child he featured on the cover of U2\u2019s debut album Boy and their third album, War. He is the younger brother of Bono\u2019s best mate Derek Rowen aka the artist Guggi, and in this feature documentary by film-maker Maurice Sweeney, Andy tells his own extraordinary story of growing up in Dublin in the 1970s, and surviving trauma, addiction and the worst terrorist atrocity the city has ever experienced. He was just 11 when he and his father Robbie Rowen were caught up it the Dublin bombings in 1974, and his experience informed the lyrics of Bad, and U2\u2019s later song Raised by Wolves. The documentary features contributions from Bono and Rowen\u2019s brothers, and gives an insight into the social history of Ireland in an era of unemployment, repression and rage. <\/p>\n

Highlights Free Nelson MandelaSunday, Channel 4, 9pm\"FreeFree Nelson Mandela. Photograph: Rogan Productions\/Channel 4 <\/p>\n

He was the world\u2019s most famous political prisoner, and the 27-year incarceration of South African activist Nelson Mandela sparked a global campaign that drew in politicians, musicians and Hollywood stars. Everyone knows the song Free Nelson Mandela by The Special AKA, but how much do we know about what went on behind the scenes in the biggest-ever campaign to secure the release of one single prisoner? This four-part documentary series tells the story this mighty political and cultural battle, from many of the people who were at the forefront of the campaign, and at the centre of the anti-apartheid movement. <\/p>\n

Dolly, the World\u2019s Most Famous SheepMonday, Channel 4, 10pm<\/p>\n

In 1996 scientists succeeded in creating the world\u2019s first mammal cloned from an adult cell, a sheep named Dolly, and the world, to paraphrase Bart Simpson, had a cow. Dolly became a global sensation, featuring on the cover of Time magazine, but also sparking panic and protests as people anticipated the end of the world as we know it. This was something straight out of science fiction, and not everyone was on board with this brave new world of genetic tinkering-about. There was even an attempt by anti-GM activists to abduct Dolly, but the eco-warriors couldn\u2019t tell her apart from the other sheep in her flock. This documentary tells the story of Dolly and the motley crew of Scottish scientists, working with almost zero budget, who made this world-shattering breakthrough after nearly 300 failed attempts. <\/p>\n

FunboysMonday & Wednesday, BBC3, 10.40pm\"Funboys.Funboys. Photograph: BBC\/Camden Productions <\/p>\n

The boys of Ballymacnoose are back, as socially awkward, sexually repressed and generally clueless as ever, in the second series of the comedy that knows no taste boundaries. Beware: Funboys will draw you in with gentle comedic charm, then deliver a nightmarish gag that will have you choking on your duck salad. The series is created by and stars Ryan Dylan and Rian Lennon as Callum and Jordan, with Lee R James as Lorcan. We rejoin the trio as they continue to stumble into adulthood while trying to stave off the boredom of this rural backwood. Callum gets a job at the local folk museum, playing a starving peasant during the Famine, with his boss Philip (Steve Coogan) playing the ruthless landlord, but is the method acting getting a little too real? Meanwhile, the sexually voracious Gemma (Ele McKenzie) continues to wreak hormonal havoc while Jordan\u2019s night terrors are making life hell for Callum. Episodes one and two are on Monday, with two more episodes on Wednesday just to give you a day to recover. <\/p>\n

ScamandaTuesday, BBC One, 9pm\"Scamanda:Scamanda: Charlie Webster. Photograph: BBC <\/p>\n

In 2012 the US was gripped by a heartwarming story of faith and resilience in the face of illness. Amanda Riley, a beautiful and bubbly young mom living in San Jose, had been diagnosed with cancer and, as she wrote in her blog detailing her treatment journey, she didn\u2019t expect to see her 30th birthday. The community quickly rallied round this brave, charismatic young woman, and soon her blog was filled with stories of the generosity shown to her and her family, with cash donations and gifts flowing in from all over the world. To everyone, Riley embodied the American ideal of hope and perseverance, but one person saw something different behind the Hallmark platitudes – all the hallmarks of a good, old-fashioned con job. This four-part documentary series, previously shown on Disney+, tells the story of how Riley built up her vast network of donors and wellwishers, and how the whole edifice began to unravel. <\/p>\n

The Light in the Hall: Still WatersTuesday, Channel 4, 9pm<\/p>\n

This was originally a Welsh-language series called Y Golau: Dwr, but its creators have kindly made an English-language version just so the rest of us can keep up with what\u2019s going on. This is the second series of the crime drama set in the fictional Welsh town of Llanemlyn, and brings a new storyline and additional cast of characters to the mix. The story spans two timelines: the mid-1990s and the present day. Sian Reese-Williams is trainee journalist Caryl Huws, and the big story of the day is a plan to expand the town\u2019s reservoir, which is churning up lots of controversy. Meanwhile, Rhys Owen (Mark Lewis Jones) returns to Llanemlyn after serving 30 years in jail for a bombing that killed his cousin Llyr. Will long-buried secrets and tensions resurface as protests against the reservoir project escalate? You don\u2019t need fluent Welsh to guess the answer to that one. <\/p>\n

StreamingHarlan Coben\u2019s I Will Find YouFrom Thursday, June 18th, Netflix<\/p>\n

David Burroughs is serving a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. The victim? His own son. No one believes him, and he\u2019s doomed to rot in jail for the rest of his life. But then he receives word that his son may still be alive, so he vows to find his child and prove his innocence. But first there\u2019s going to have to be a jailbreak. What will Burroughs find when he gets outside? A world of lies, deceit, betrayal and danger, of course, plus all the twisty plots we\u2019d expect from this latest telly adaptation of a Harlan Coben thriller. Sam Worthington stars as Burroughs, with a cast that includes Britt Lower as his sister-in-law Rachel, Milo Ventimiglia as Rachel\u2019s ex-boyfriend Hayden and Madeleine Stowe as the wealthy heiress Gertrude.<\/p>\n

SugarFrom Friday, June 19th, Apple TV<\/p>\n

John Sugar is a private detective in Los Angeles who also happens to be a bit of a cineaste. So it\u2019s no surprise that his life resembles a neo-noir detective flick in the style of Elmore Leonard. Colin Farrell returns as Sugar in this second series, and he\u2019s still searching for his missing sister, with hope diminishing of ever finding her. But he\u2019s still got to work, so he takes on a new client: a boxer who is trying to track down his troubled older brother. Soon Sugar\u2019s investigation uncovers a wider conspiracy that could see him getting KO\u2019d \u2013 and not getting up again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pick of the weekBad: The Song That Saved My LifeMonday, RT\u00c9 One, 9.35pm It is one of U2\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,60987,134,355837,427,45965],"class_list":["post-736281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-colin-farrell","tag-entertainment","tag-guggi","tag-tv","tag-u2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}