Pick of the weekYoung Forever: The Death of Ageing?Monday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
We’ve become obsessed with staying young, on a constant quest for new ways of halting the ageing process. We’re spending big bucks on anti-ageing products, and spending more time following fad diets and health regimes in a bid to stave off the inevitable. Billionaires are shelling out even bigger bucks in search of out-there scientific solutions for extending life expectancy. And all across social media, the pressure is on everyone – celebrities and nobodies alike – to look young and healthy, just like their AI-enhanced profile pic.
Kathryn Thomas has felt the pressure of having to look her best on telly, but the presenter, aged 47, is more concerned with staying active and healthy into her later years. She had her children in her 40s, and wants to be 100 per cent there for them through their growing up years and into their adulthood. In this new two-part documentary, Thomas explores the huge industry that has popped up around anti-ageing science, and tries to separate the snake oil from the nectar of life. She meets people on a mission to beat the clock and even turn back time, and talks to top scientists who are working on the age-old question of why we age. Can we really live forever, or should we just roll with it and accept the ageing process?
HighlightsYour SongSunday, Channel 4, 9pm
Everyone has a particular song that resonates with their lives and tells their story in a succinct three-minute chunk. So, what’s your song – So Lonely or Happy Together? In this new series by the creators of Bake Off and The Piano, and presented by Alison Hammond, ordinary Brits get a chance to let out the talent they’ve been hiding under a bushel and sing the one song that could have been written for them. Instead of singing in the shower, they’ll be performing in front of an audience on a pop-up stage with a live band, which will be visiting towns and cities in the UK throughout the series. It’s a singing competition, but it’ll be more about heart and soul than technique and prowess, and the singers will have help from mentors Paloma Faith and Sam Ryder. In the first episode, the team are in Liverpool, where they meet a teenager with a beautiful smile and equally beautiful voice, a lift operator who has dealt with life’s ups and down, and a kidney transplant recipient who has everyone singing along in the rain.
Gordon Ramsay’s Secret ServiceTuesday & Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm
Sweary chef Gordon Ramsay usually can be seen shamelessly berating kitchen staff while others look on in terror, but in this new series, the kitchen nightmare is about to get worse, as Ramsay uses espionage to expose badly run restaurants and force them to change the way they operate. With help from an insider, Ramsay and his team will infiltrate restaurant kitchens and install sophisticated surveillance equipment so he can spy on the day-to-day operations and get to the bottom of why they’re struggling to stay in business. His first mission is Parthenon, a family-run Greek restaurant in Washington. He discovers its decor, equipment and hygiene are badly in need of an upgrade, and the only solution is for the owner’s son to take over the business. In episode two, Ramsay spies on Caffe Boa, an Italian bistro, owned by married couple Patrick and Jenny, and finds the couple’s toxic working relationship is threatening to sink the business – and their marriage.
Grayson Perry Has Seen the FutureWednesday, Channel 4, 9pm
Artist Grayson Perry explores what the future holds for us as artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of our world. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA Wire
Many of us are wringing our hands with worry about how AI might affect our lives, but the artist Grayson Perry has decided to grab the bull by the horns and find out what the future holds for us as artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of our world. He heads straight to the heart of AI development, Silicon Valley in California, to find out how the tech revolution – particularly AI – is racing forward at breakneck speed to transform our lives forever. He meets some of the big players in the tech world, along with some whizz-kid young tech bros and sises, some ordinary folk who are both excited and alarmed about the direction the tech is taking humanity, and a creepily friendly chatbot.
Big MoodThursday, Channel 4, 10pm
Lydia West and Nicola Coughlan in Big Mood. Photograph:: Chris Baker/Channel 4
Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West are back for a second series of the dark comedy revolving around friendship and mental health, and featuring the sort of un-Bridgerton-like behaviour that would require truckloads of smelling-salts to be administered. Coughlan is Maggie, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder; West is Eddie, Maggie’s best friend, who is dealing with her own mental health issues. It’s a year after their huge falling-out, and Maggie is recovering from lithium poisoning and trying to maintain a modicum of stability. Eddie, meanwhile, has moved to LA and found a new bestie – a Californian spiritual healer named Whitney (Hannah Onslow). But the former friends’ lives are about to collide again when they are asked to be bridesmaids at a mutual friend’s wedding. Both are determined to stay out of each other’s orbit, but the gravitational pull proves too much, and soon chaos theory reigns at the reception. In episode two of this double-bill series opener, Maggie and Eddie take an odyssey across London’s gay scene in search of tickets for their favourite drag act, Barbie & Skipper.
Ireland in MusicThursday, RTÉ2, 11.05pm
This is the fifth series of the music show that brings together some of our best musicians in some of Ireland’s most beautiful settings, and lets the magic happen. Each week, presenter Denise Chaila – a musical force of nature – heads to a different scenic spot to meet some of our most enduring musical treasures, and first up is David Kitt, who has been shaping Ireland’s musical landscape over a 25-year career. Kittser will share stories and songs with Chaila, all to the backdrop of some stunning aerial photography, in this showcase of sights and sounds.
StreamingAt Home with the FurysFrom Sunday, April 12th, Netflix
Think you’re ready to go another few rounds with heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and his lively family? The second series of the reality show finds Fury still trying to get his head around retirement and enjoy life in Morecambe Bay with wife, Paris, their seven kids and Tyson’s dad, John. But even though he tries out all sorts of ventures and adventures to keep the boredom at bay, including a road trip to Monaco and a flutter at owning a racehorse, Fury is still pining for the boxing ring, and is torn between the thrill of the fight and the chill of home life. While he decides whether he’s properly retired or not, Paris is keeping very busy, looking for new business opportunities, looking after a big family, preparing for their daughter’s extravagant 16th-birthday party and planning to renew their wedding vows.
Margo’s Got Money TroublesFrom Wednesday, April 15th, Apple TV
Margo (Elle Fanning) is a bright college student and aspiring writer whose dreams are put on hold when she gets pregnant. But life as a single mom and college dropout is not easy, and she’s desperate to find work to support herself and her new baby. “I’ll even dig ditches,” she tells one prospective employer. “Looks like you’ve dug one already,” is the terse response. But when an opportunity comes up to do some “work” on the internet, involving scant clothing and a “sexy alien” persona, she thinks maybe she’ll give it a go. After all, her mom (Michelle Pfeiffer) was a Hooters waitress and her dad (Nick Offerman) was a pro wrestler, so maybe she has inherited the showbiz gene. But can Margo tap into all her unfulfilled creativity and get out of camgirl hell? We’re with her all the way in this star-studded comedy drama series based on the bestselling novel by Rufi Thorpe.
Beef From Thursday, April 16th, Netflix
The first series of this comedy drama starred Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as two strangers whose lives collided (literally), throwing them into a doom spiral of spite and revenge. Everyone likes a good beef, so no surprise that the series created by Lee Sung Jin proved a hit. Now it’s back for a second season, with an entirely new cast and a fresh beef, this one involving a young couple (Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny), their boss (Oscar Isaac) and his wife (Carey Mulligan). What starts as a “disagreement” between the boss and his wife soon turns into a four-way battle for power and status in the setting of an exclusive country club owned by a Korean billionaire.