Monday's TV tips
(2002) Yimou Zhang’s visually stunning martial arts adventure features Jet Li at his very best, with fantastic support from Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk.
In ancient China, beleaguered warlord Qin (Daoming Chen) sends out messengers throughout his kingdom to declare a reward for whoever can kill the three assassins who are reputedly intent on murdering him.
In response, a warrior with no name (Li) arrives at the ruler’s palace and claims that he has already defeated the would-be killers – but his story does not quite ring true.
Told in flashbacks, the nameless hero’s tale slowly unfolds, building ambiguity and tension until the epic finale.
If you’re one of the millions of viewers who have spent the past few weeks marvelling over The Great British Bake Off, then the likes of Nadiya Jamir Hussain, Tamal Ray and Ian Cumming have become minor yet worthy TV stars.
Chances are their skills in the GBBO tent may have inspired you to dig out that dusty cake tin and have a go at your own adventures in the kitchen.
Of course, inspiration is one thing, but good, solid guidance doesn’t hurt either, and that’s where this series comes in handy.
’Proving“ they know what they’re talking about, no-nonsense judges Paul Hollywood (aka ’the male judge”) and Mary Berry take over the tent to demonstrate how the contest’s challenges should be done with a series of tutorials.
3e's hit series Uploaded returns for an all new season, and like Magic Mike is bringing the XXL.
Expect the show to be bulging as the 7th season lets loose a double offering of internet oddities.
To put it simply, the new series is like a tin of sardines - it's jam-packed!
And presenter Gordon Hayden will be dishing out Uploaded's all-new themed episodes, which range from the weird and wonderful to the cute and cuddly side of the weird wide web. So, expect lots of face-plants, random acts of weirdness and a conveyor belt of cat clips.
Plus, Uploaded endeavours to highlight some of its viewers YouTube adventures by unleashing their internet infamy on the Irish public.
Jamie Oliver finds out whether wholegrain cracked wheat is a possible reason so many residents of the Greek island of Ikaria live for so long.
He then heads to Okinawa in Japan to explore the secrets behind local fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices, and learns about the concept of nuchi gusui – ’let food be your medicine’.
Recipes include black-rice pudding with mango, lime, passion fruit and coconut, green-tea roasted salmon with ginger rice and sunshine salad, and seared turmeric chicken with hummus, peppers, couscous and greens.
In the fourth season premiere, the team must devise new ways to continue their work without being detected by Samaritan after they’re forced to take on new identities created by Root.
Some, however, find it hard to ignore the Machine’s numbers, putting them all at risk of being seen by the rival Machine.
The show’ restaurant opens its doors for a special episode in aid of Stand Up to Cancer, with maitre d’ Fred and his team welcoming hopeful single people from across the country who are unaware that some of the dinner dates will be famous faces.
Those hoping to meet the person of their dreams include Swiss-born neuroscience student Sophie, personal trainer Craig and part-time model Louis, while there are also return appearances by two participants from the last series who are still single.
In 2009 a young man from Tipperary, Michael Dwyer, was shot dead by a secret police unit in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
In this very personal film his mother, Caroline, travels to Bolivia, Brazil, Washington and Brussels as she searches for answers and looks for an international inquiry into why her son died such a terrible death so far from home.
The final programme in the series looks back the Republic of Ireland’s famous Lansdowne Road win over Louis Van Gaal’s Netherlands in 2001.
Bill O’Herlihy, Eamon Dunphy and Liam Brady will be there as usual but given a youthful make-over to recreate them as they were back in the day, alongside iconic figures including Big Jack, Joe Kinnear, Don Givens, the BBC’s Jimmy Hill plus many more very special guests from the era.
Terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists are regarded as the single biggest threat to international security today.
This programme asks why they are happening and investigates who exactly is responsible. It focuses in particular on the growing numbers of foreign fighters who join the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and North Africa.
They come from all over the world, including Ireland. We talk to the fighters themselves, the Muslim community here, the Minister for Justice and a range of experts from home and abroad.
"Holy War: What Are They Fighting For?" is a rigorous investigation of a deadly and complex phenomenon.
Charlie Russell meets men who describe themselves as heterosexual and are looking for love with transgender women who still have male genitalia.
Harlen is in the process of leaving his heterosexual wife of 10 years for singer Geri, while single guy Andy is looking to lose his trans-virginity and 51-year-old window cleaner Mark hosts parties where male admirers can meet trans women in the privacy of his suburban home.
The programme also views this complex dating through the eyes of transgender women. Will these complex and fragile relationships last? Last in the series.
(2011) The Iron Lady paints a portrait of our first female prime minister as she looks back over her life from the comfort of her lodgings at Chester Square in London’s swanky Belgravia.
Baroness Thatcher (Meryl Streep) juggles a busy social diary with the help of assistants and her daughter Carol (Olivia Colman). Comforted by the ghost of her late husband, Denis (Jim Broadbent), Thatcher allows her mind to wander back to the 1984 IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference, the Falklands war and her downfall precipitated by a critical speech from Geoffrey Howe (Anthony Head) in front of appalled fellow Cabinet ministers.
She fondly recalls the words of her shopkeeper father and holds her course when the whispering begins on the backbenches.
