{"id":491923,"date":"2026-02-22T11:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/491923\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T11:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:29:10","slug":"the-best-new-shows-to-watch-starting-tonight-the-irish-times-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/491923\/","title":{"rendered":"the best new shows to watch, starting tonight \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pick of the weekOther VoicesThursday, RT\u00c92, 11pm<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s best live music show is back for its 24th series, with another array of amazing acts from both at home and abroad, performing at venues in Dingle, Co Kerry and west Wales. Once again, the show is hosted by BBC broadcasters Annie Mac<\/a> and Huw Stephens, and Irish singer and presenter MayKay. You want to know who are the ones to watch in the Irish and international music scene right now? It\u2019s all here in a six-part series featuring warm, friendly and intimate performances and relaxed interviews. Among the line-up for the first episode are Amble, the folk trio kicking up a mighty wind with their debut album Reverie. Also appearing are Bray indie-pop band Florence Road, four women who are garnering huge acclaim around the globe; indie-folk artist Dove Ellis, who is picking up plaudits for his debut album, Blizzard; and Nigerian singer-songwriter and producer MOIO. And the series will also honour an up-and-coming poet and former president named Michael D Higgins<\/a>, whose album Against All Certainty, with soundscapes by Myles O\u2019Reilly, became a crossover hit last year. <\/p>\n

Highlights Britain\u2019s Got TalentSaturday, Virgin Media One and UTV, 7pm<\/p>\n

The hunt for the UK\u2019s most talented performers resumes, with Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and KSI standing by with their shovels, ready to feed the next batch of talented stars into the voracious entertainment machine. YouTuber KSI stood in as a judge last season when Bruno Tonioli quit the show to concentrate on his judging role in the US series of Dancing with the Stars. KSI, a co-founder of the hyped-up soft drink Prime, proved such an effervescent personality he has been made a permanent member of the judging panel. Ant and Dec are back on backstage duty, after nearly quitting the show themselves because they felt \u201cneglected\u201d by Cowell. But the man dubbed the Karaoke Sauron has persuaded the Geordie presenting duo to stay, and promised to give them more stuff to do. So that\u2019s all fine then. You can be sure the contestants this year will have all it takes for superstardom but, as usual, most will be quickly forgotten after the series ends. <\/p>\n

The IFTA Awards 2026Saturday, RT\u00c9 One, 10.50pm\"JessieJessie Buckley is among the nominees for best leading actress at this year’s IFTA Awards. Photograph: Monica Schipper\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The 23rd Irish Film and Television Academy Awards<\/a> took place at Dublin\u2019s Convention Centre on Friday, and here\u2019s the highlight reel from the big bash, hosted for a second year running by comedian, actor and broadcaster Kevin McGahern. We\u2019ve no inside information on who\u2019s going to win best film, best actor and actress or best director, but we can tell you that the great Ciar\u00e1n Hinds<\/a> will be presented with the lifetime achievement award. Among the best film nominees are Irish-language feature Aontas, Richard Linklater\u2019s Irish-filmed Blue Moon, the highly acclaimed Christy, and Irish sport comedy-drama Saipan. Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell and Daniel Day-Lewis are the ones to beat for best actor, while Jessie Buckley, Carrie Crowley, Fionnuala Flanagan and Fiona Shaw are among the nominees for best leading actress. <\/p>\n

Dancing with the StarsSunday, RT\u00c9 One, 6.30pm<\/p>\n

DWTS is celebrating a milestone this week: its 100th episode. To mark the occasion, each dancing couple will pick a memorable dance routine from past series of the show, and do their own light-footed homage. What unforgettable moments from the show\u2019s history will make the cut? What about Des Cahill\u2019s hilarious Austin Powers-inspired \u201cswimming samba\u201d? Or Teresa Mannion\u2019s storming tango inspired by her classic viral weather report? Or even Aengus Mac Grianna\u2019s routine based on the comedy movie Anchorman? In case the couples have trouble recreating their chosen classic routines, the DWTS legends themselves will be on hand to give them a leg-up. <\/p>\n

BAFTA Film Awards 2026Sunday, BBC One, 7pm<\/p>\n

Awards season is really kicking off now, and it\u2019s time for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts<\/a> to hand out the gongs for 2026. Irish fingers are crossed for Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, who are both nominated for their roles in Hamnet, Buckley for best leading actress, and Mescal for best supporting actor. Just a word in the academy\u2019s ear: THEY\u2019RE OURS! DO YOU HEAR? OURS! Hamnet is also contending for best film and its director, Chlo\u00e9 Zhao, is up for best director, while Element Pictures are in the running for Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The biggest hitter this year, though, is One Battle After Another, which has bagged one nomination after another, including best film, best director for Paul Thomas Anderson, best leading actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, best leading actress for Chase Infiniti, and best supporting actor for Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn. The glitzy ceremony at London\u2019s Royal Festival Hall is hosted by Alan Cumming. <\/p>\n

Cleaning Up IrelandSunday, Virgin Media One, 8.30pm\"CleaningCleaning Up Ireland fetures Shan Hill, who runs all-female firm Sage Cleaning. Photograph: Virgin Media <\/p>\n

Hygiene technicians are \u2013 literally \u2013 cleaning up on TV as viewers tune in to shows about the frontline workers in the war against filth. Shows like TG4\u2019s Is Mise Le Mess profiled dirtbusters from the Donegal Gaeltacht as they went into people\u2019s homes and exorcised their chaos and clutter. Cleaning Up Ireland profiles some of the country\u2019s hardest-working hygiene heroes as they do the dirty jobs that no one wants to do, but have to be done, including scrubbing filthy toilets, clearing clogged-up drains, cleaning up after big festivals and tackling illegal dumping. The eight-part series spotlights Mallow all-women company Sage Cleaning, run by mother and daughter Shan and Paige Hill, and Tipperary family company Ryans Cleaning, along with the crack team of street cleaners from Dublin City Council. <\/p>\n

The LadySunday, UTV, 9pm\"TheThe Lady: Mia McKenna-Bruce as Jane Andrews and Natalie Dormer as Sarah Ferguson<\/p>\n

ITV <\/p>\n

Mia McKenna-Bruce, star of Agatha Christie\u2019s Seven Dials, stars in this true-life drama about working-class girl Jane Andrews, who became dresser to the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and found herself hobnobbing with the highest of England\u2019s high society at Buckingham Palace. Andrews made up in ambition what she lacked in social status, and when she got the job of dolling up the duchess, her friends and family were amazed. But when Andrews lost her high-flying job after nine years, she found herself outcast from the elite, and when she met charismatic businessman Thomas Cressman, she saw her chance to get back among the upper classes. Any hopes of a royal resurrection were dashed, however, when she was charged with the murder of Cressman. Natalie Dormer from Game of Thrones stars as Fergie, with Ed Speleers as Cressman and a supporting cast that includes Philip Glenister, Claire Skinner, Laura Aikman and Ophelia Lovibond.<\/p>\n

SwindlersWednesday, RT\u00c9 One, 9.35pm<\/p>\n

How did a lowly Dublin solicitor manage to pull off one of the biggest white collar crimes in the history of the State? This second episode of the series profiling some of Ireland\u2019s most notorious fraudsters focuses on Thomas Byrne, who went from running a modest legal practice from his home office to becoming a big hitter in the Celtic Tiger years. He had built his business on the trust of his local community, but spectacularly betrayed that trust when he snatched ownership of 12 of his victims\u2019 houses from right under their noses, and used the properties as collateral to scam the banks out of money. He stole \u20ac52 million from the banks before he was eventually arrested and imprisoned.<\/p>\n

The Dunblane TapesThursday, Channel 4, 8pm<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 30 years since the Dunblane massacre, when a gunman went on a rampage through Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, killing 16 children and a teacher in what is still the worst mass shooting in UK history. But something happened in the aftermath of Dunblane that may have saved many lives since. <\/p>\n

The bereaved parents of the murdered children began a relentless campaign, led by three mothers, to pressurise the government to tighten gun laws so that no one could privately own and use handguns. And one parent, John Crozier, documented the year-long campaign on film, as the parents fought government resistance and a powerful gun lobby to get the laws on gun ownership changed. The video tapes have been recently uncovered and give an incredible behind-the-scenes insight into the pain, resilience, determination and courage of the Dunblane parents. <\/p>\n

StreamingParadise From Monday, February 23rd, Disney+\"Paradise:Paradise: Sterling K Brown as Secret Service agent Xavier Collins in season 2. Photograph: Hulu\/Disney+ <\/p>\n

Sterling K Brown returns as Secret Service agent Xavier Collins in this twisty thriller where nothing is as it seems \u2013 not even the United States itself. Collins is assigned to security detail in a seemingly idyllic community where some of the world\u2019s most powerful people live. He\u2019s trying to solve the murder of the US president, and as the series develops, the mad surprises and twists come thick and fast. If you\u2019ve watched series one you\u2019ll know what\u2019s really going on. If you haven\u2019t, we won\u2019t spoil it for you. We\u2019ll just tell you that Paradise has been praised as a deliciously plotted thriller and has been nominated for an Emmy, so it could be well worth catching up on. <\/p>\n

VanishedFrom Friday, February 27th, Prime Video<\/p>\n

Kaley Cuoco<\/a> and Sam Claflin star in a four-part thriller about a couple who go on holiday to France only for one of them to mysteriously disappear. Alice and Tom are having a wonderful time in Paris; then, when they board a train for the south of France, things start to get weird, and a bit scary. Alice awakes on the train to find Tom is not in his seat. Nor is he in the loo or the dining car. In fact, he\u2019s nowhere to be found. It\u2019s not long before she encounters a whole world of intrigue and danger as she learns how little she really knows about him.<\/p>\n

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters From Friday, February 27th, Apple TV\"Monarch:Monarch: Legacy of Monsters stars Kurt Russell<\/p>\n

Kurt Russell<\/a> leads the cast in this second season of the series set in the \u201cmonsterverse\u201d, where the real stars are the Titans, giant CGI creatures that go around stomping on entire civilisations, including Kong (as in King Kong) and Godzilla. It all apparently ties in with such movies as Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs Kong, but who really cares about a narrative arc? This time Kong and Godzilla are joined by another, even nastier Titan, an enormous sea monster known only as Titan X. Russell stars as army officer Lee Shaw, with Russell\u2019s son Wyatt Russell playing Shaw\u2019s younger self in the 1950s. With Earth\u2019s fate hanging by a thread, Shaw and his plucky young friends will have to delve deeper into the secretive organisation known as Monarch to find a way to defeat the coming CGI cataclysm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pick of the weekOther VoicesThursday, RT\u00c92, 11pm Ireland\u2019s best live music show is back for its 24th series,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[15915,197507,197382,49,48,25932,65324,17879,75,25036,197509,197508,112698,42160,16378,348,148825,11614],"class_list":{"0":"post-491923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-apple-tv","9":"tag-bafta","10":"tag-baftas","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-channel-4","14":"tag-dancing-with-the-stars","15":"tag-disney-plus","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-ksi","18":"tag-michael-d-higgins","19":"tag-other-voices","20":"tag-prime-tv","21":"tag-rte","22":"tag-scotland","23":"tag-tv","24":"tag-tv-guide","25":"tag-virgin-media"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}