Pick of the weekTurbulence – The Story of RyanairMonday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
How did a tiny airline with just one route grow to become one of Europe’s biggest carriers, annoying and irritating millions of passengers while keeping them constantly coming back for more? In this second episode of the two-part documentary, we learn how Ryanair made its presence felt in the shark-infested world of international aviation, with a brash, can-do attitude steered by its ambitious chief executive Michael O’Leary. The programme looks at how O’Leary drove his agenda of efficiency, taking Ryanair from the brink of bankruptcy to a hugely successful business with soaring profits, and navigating such big-impact events as 9/11 and Covid along the way. But what does the future hold for Ryanair and the wider airline industry? A cast of big business heavy hitters add in their tuppence worth, including former Aer Lingus chairman Colm Barrington, former Aer Arann owner Pádraig Ó Céidigh, broadcasters Ivan Yates and Matt Cooper, and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
HighlightsCrookhavenSunday, BBC One, 3.05pm
Here’s something a little bit different for families to watch together on a Sunday afternoon. Crookhaven is the name of a very special school, populated by juvenile delinquents, who are there to hone their larceny skills and get top marks in thievery. But they’re not studying so they can rob banks or lift the crown jewels – they’re learning to use their particular talents to restore order and justice in the world and to battle the evil force known as the Nameless. The most talented is Gabriel, a light-fingered prodigy who could give Dickens’s Fagin a run for his money in the pickpocketing stakes. All the students of Crookhaven are out to win the notorious Crooked Cup, but who’ll snatch the big prize? Dougray Scott leads a cast that includes Charlie Mann, Keith Allen and Claire Forlani, in a series based on the bestselling book series by JJ Arcanjo.
Cheap European HomesSunday, RTÉ One, 6.30pm
Cheap European Homes: Kevin McGahern and Maggie Molloy. Photograph: RTÉ
In Ireland, we’re expected to pay up to a million for a bog-standard semi-d in a dodgy neighbourhood, and are enraged when we find we could buy a luxury villa with a swimming pool in sunny Spain for half the price. But how easy is it to find a reasonably priced home in Europe, and what’s the reality of moving lock, stock and barrel to another European country? Maggie Molloy, Kevin McGahern and James Kavanagh are back with a third series of the show in which they help house-hunters find their dream home in the sun, at prices that won’t give them nightmares. The trio explore Spain, Portugal, France and Italy in search of the ideal property, with Molloy checking out what’s available on the local market, and McGahern and Kavanagh immersing themselves in the local culture to see what living in the area would really be like (an endless holiday, I’d imagine). The first episode features Róisín and her dad, Bobby, both from Co Clare, and both with lots of experience in renovating homes, who are looking for a place in Portugal they can fix up and move permanently into.
Leonard and Hungry PaulSunday, RTÉ One, 10.30pm
Leonard and Hungry Paul: Alex Lawther as Leonard and Laurie Kynaston as Hungry Paul. Photograph: BBC
The series based on the bestselling novel by Rónán Hession was first shown on BBC last October, and it arrives on our shores in the wake of positive reviews for its quietly uplifting style of comedy-drama. Nothing much happens in this story about two thirtysomething friends still living with their families, and keeping their dealings with the wider world to a minimum. Leonard ghostwrites children’s encyclopedias for a living, while Hungry Paul is a part-time postal worker. But the death of Leonard’s mother and the impending wedding of Paul’s sister pushes both men out of their comfort zones. Alex Lawther stars as Leonard, and Laurie Kynaston as Hungry Paul, with Jamie-Lee O’Donnell from Derry Girls, Lorcan Cranitch and Niamh Branigan also starring in a co-production between BBC Comedy, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and RTÉ. And yes, we know, that’s the voice of Hollywood legend Julia Roberts narrating the series. How exciting is that?
Greatest Gardens with Diarmuid Gavin and Carol KleinMonday, BBC One, 8.30pm
Greatest Gardens: Diarmuid Gavin, Prue Leith and Carol Klein. Photograph: BBC NI/Waddell Media
The hunt is on for the greatest garden in Northern Ireland, in this new six-part series featuring garden experts Diarmuid Gavin and Carol Klein. Each week Gavin and Klein will visit some stunning gardens around the region with help from a different guest garden expert, with Patrick Grant, Penny Lancaster and Katie Piper lined up for future episodes. The guest judge in this opening episode is Prue Leith, who has a perennial passion for gardens. Leith, Gavin and Klein will be casting their eyes over the vibrant Fernhill Cottage Gardens in Ballynahinch, Co Down, a stunning suburban garden in Jordanstown, and a sprawling six-acre farmhouse garden near Crumlin, Co Antrim. They’ll have to whittle down the garden contenders and choose one to go into the grand final.
Keir Starmer: Labour in Crisis? – DispatchesFriday, Channel 4, 8pm
British prime minister Keir Starmer. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/PA Wire
Labour leader and British prime minister Keir Starmer is hanging on by his fingertips, assailed by critics both within and outside his party, and dealing with the fallout from his ill-judged choice of Peter Mandelson as his US ambassador, with questions swirling around over just how much he knew about Mandelson’s ties with Jeffrey Epstein. It’s only taken two years for Starmer to go from hero to zero in British politics, and this special Dispatches programme looks at how the man who led Labour to a record landslide election win is now in danger of dragging the party into another long spell in the wilderness. Starmer had promised to stamp out sleaze following the Tories’ meltdown, but now he and his party are embroiled in accusations of misconduct, not helped by infighting and numerous U-turns on policy. With Labour under threat from a rising Reform party led by Nigel Farage, the programme asks if Starmer has a hope of steering the sinking ship back on course and keeping voter sentiment buoyant.
StreamingDaredevil: Born AgainFrom March 25th, Disney+
Charlie Cox dons the horned mask once again as Matt Murdoch, the blind lawyer who moonlights as fearless vigilante Daredevil, in the second series of the show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). But fans fixated on the “canon” might be disappointed to learn that there are no cameo appearances by Marvel superheroes in this new series, and they might get eye strain looking out for Easter eggs or reference to the wider MCU. We’re back in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, and mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) has the city firmly in his malevolent grip. Murdoch is on a mission to bring Fisk’s evil empire crumbling down and take back the city, but since Daredevil is branded Public Enemy Number One, defeating his nemesis is going to be easier said than done.
Jo Nesbo’s Detective HoleFrom March 26th, Netflix
Detective Hole: Tobias Santelmann as Harry Hole and Ellen Helinder as Beate Lonn. Photograph: Netflix
Fans of Norway’s most famous fictional detective, Harry Hole, will be eagerly anticipating this new series based on the bestselling novels by Jo Nesbo. Tobias Santelmann plays the tortured, driven detective in this Norwegian-language series. “Harry is the best,” says one colleague. “He’s just not that good at everything else.” The series is based on the fifth Harry Hole novel, The Devil’s Star, and finds Hole hunting down a serial killer while also confronting corrupt detective Tom Waaler (Joel Kinnaman). Santelmann brings all Hole’s strengths and weaknesses to life in this series, and says he feels “incredibly humbled” to be entrusted with the role.
Something Very Bad Is Going to HappenFrom March 26th, Netflix
Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen: Camila Morrone as Rachel Harkin and Adam DiMarco as Nicky Cunningham. Photograph: Netflix
Stranger Things may have reached its big finale, but the Duffer Brothers aren’t just sitting around playing Dungeons and Dragons and wondering what to do next. Next month comes an animated series based on Stranger Things, and they are executive producers of this new horror series that wears its influences – Carrie, Rosemary’s Baby – on its bloodstained sleeve. Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is the creation of screenwriter and showrunner Haley Z Boston, and tells the story of a wedding day literally from hell. Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco are young engaged couple Rachel and Nicky, and the series follows them over the week leading up to their doomed nuptials. The fiendishly clever trick here is that you watch the series in full knowledge that it’s all going to end very badly, which just twists the tension knob all the way up to 11. “The show is about the fear of marrying the wrong person,” says Boston. Jennifer Jason Leigh puts some creepy Single White Female energy into her role as Victoria.