Tonight's TV tips
Social workers often come in for criticism, finding themselves accused of either failing to protect vulnerable youngsters or for splitting families up unnecessarily, but surely few people would argue that they do an incredibly difficult job.
And it seems it’s getting harder as child protection levels in Britain are currently at a record high.
On average, a youngster is taken into care every 20 minutes, and more than 15,000 were waiting to be adopted last year – twice as many as just five years ago.
This eye-opening three-part documentary goes behind the scenes at every stage of the adoption process, meeting social workers, foster carers, birth parents, and adoptive parents to find out how decisions are made that will shape the lives of some of Britain’s most vulnerable children.
The first episode focuses on perhaps the most heart-wrenching, controversial stage of all – taking a child away from his or her family.
The programme meets the social workers whose job it is to remove the youngsters, and to recommend whether the split should be permanent, as well as the parents who are fighting to keep their children.
The occasional series continues following December’s seasonal helping of tricks of the trade.
This time around, we learn all about how some of Britain’s biggest food retailers go about sourcing millions of eggs for Pancake Day, as well as facing the many other challenges according to the time of year.
There’s also a look at the clever technology behind Easter chocolate, meaning you’ll likely never take another hollow egg for granted again.
With 90 per cent of the UK’s food now bought at supermarkets, it’s hardly surprising that so much goes on behind the scenes, but even so we’re astonished with some of the revelations here, including an explanation of what people’s eyes can reveal about the way they shop.
You’d imagine it’s enough to send a traditional shopkeeper round the bend, but fortunately our host Gregg Wallace, himself a former greengrocer, keeps his cool for long enough to reveal all.
Sharon Gilmartin and Frank Brannigan have merged their two businesses to create LaNú Medi–Spa, what they hoped would be a one stop shop for all things beauty in Drogheda.
Sharon and Frank have both brought their ideas to the business but it hasn’t been an easy transition. The merger is on the cusp of not merging at all, with staff clashes and differences regarding even the smallest of details.
The bosses are at a loss and have decided to take a risk and let the staff takeover over in the hope that they can lift the new business off the ground.
Shocked at the news of The Takeover, the staff set out to redecorate and create a fresh new interior space but can the divided staff make up and share the same vision for the spa?
This documentary film explores the two decades that laid the stepping stones for the foundation of the Irish state and the claim to sovereignty.
This is a story of history, politics, culture and society. This documentary film explores the two decades that laid the stepping stones for the foundation of the Irish state and the claim to sovereignty.
The period that followed the death of Parnell was the most exciting, turbulent, innovative decades in modern Irish history where intellectual, cultural, political and military activity reached a degree of intensity never before or since experienced on the island of Ireland.
This documentary film produced and directed by Sean O Mordha, traces the historical and cultural significance of this entire endeavour, the road to the Easter Rising and the Independent State that emerged in 1922.
Two tough New York cops try to bust an international drugs ring after learning that heroin is being shipped in from France.
Their investigation leads them to a sweet shop that’s been selling more than candy, but for one of the officers in particular the case is becoming an obsession, and he doesn’t care how many rules he has to bend to get results.
Viewers seeing The French Connection for the first time might think the plot is a bit cliched, but that’s probably only because it inspired so many other TV shows and films.
Although most people remember the iconic car chase, the gritty drama also boasts an extraordinary performance by Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle, and an impressive supporting cast. No wonder it picked up five Oscars.
Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Frederic De Pasquale, Bill Hickman
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