What are we watching on TV?

An Bothy Band, a lot of it as Gaeilge on BBC2, 10:00 to 11:30pm Sunday 16/03/2025. Are they as good as I remember them 50 years ago? And then some. Changes in personnel brought about by deaths, 4 or 5 worn-out and wrung-out managers, the best flute player in the world (according to James Galway), and the first trad outfit to feature a real rhythm section (the bit you dance and tap your feet to). Tommy & Michéal for sure looking down smiling and also there in spirit, well worth the hour and 30 mins of anyone's time. The craic was and is still mighty.
 
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1883 Like @GSheehy says is a good series - perfect for a cold and wet weekend and perhaps a bottle of wine or two. A wagon train from Fort-Worth to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado Oregon and a few more western states sets the scene through the eyes of several people seeking settlement in The West.

Sam Elliott who plays Shay Brennan (who else?) without doubt is the star of the show. Isabel May plays Elsa whose diary tells the story of the trials and tribulations of the settlers. The rugged hat worn throughout was made for her and I reckon milliners everywhere will gain as a result.

You have to ignore the Manhattan accents of some of the Comanche Injuns and turn a blind eye to their use of extra whitening toothpaste. There are many things on which too many liberties were taken, but don’t let those get in the way of your entertainment.

It’s an excellent series and paced slow enough for the discerning viewer and fast enough for the former Zane Grey readers and has enough soap opera for the braindead.
 
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University Challenge, appropriately on Paddy's Day, QUB won an absolute thriller against Imperial College London with a tie-break question. 170-170 at the "final whistle". Well done lads and lassy. I know the series was recorded last year, with no real idea when it would be broadcast, but still, credit where credit is due.
 
Bosch Legacy on Amazon Prime, not as good as the original series but still superior TV. Irish actress Orla Brady guest stars in this season playing an actual Dub for a change (I last saw her as a Romulan on Star Trek).
 
Documentary on RTE. Stephen Rea, The Fire In Me Now.

The only complaint I would make about it was that it was too short.

A revealing programme, touching upon his acting career and involvement in the Civil Rights movement and what he terms the 'cultural struggle' which he feels was at least as important in establishing a sense of nationhood (eg The Abbey) as what was achieved at gunpoint.

We spend our lives giving birth to ourselves - paraphrasing a quote from it on the process of maturing / growing up.

The fire inside Stephen Rea - inside the new documentary

Over an acting career spanning decades, Stephen Rea has shown himself to be a versatile and prolific talent.
www.rte.ie
 
On bbc2 a Disclosures documentary right now about whisky cask 'bandits' in Scotland taking the money and running... a bunch of people losing their life savings, five and six figure sums.

This article summarises it:

Cancer patient lost life savings to whisky barrel scammers

Jay Evans was among hundreds duped into ploughing millions of pounds into casks that were overpriced or did not exist.
www.bbc.com
 
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New travelogue series starting on More4 Wednesday at 9pm - Travels with Agatha.

Actor David Suchet (TV's Poirot) traces the epic journey Agatha's Christie made with her husband, Archie, in 1922 to promote the 1924 British Empire Exhibition. The first episode starts in South Africa. Similar in style to e.g. Michael Portillo's Great Continental Railway Journeys, Suchet's long connection to the author's work adds a new dimension.
 
"The Bombing of Pan Am 103" docudrama on BBC1. It started last night (Sunday) and continued tonight and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Part of the story so far is about the sovereign Scottish police struggle for control of the investigation. The plane blew up over Scotland and crashed on the town of Lockerbie, killing 17 of its citizens, with debris of all kinds spread over an area of 850 sq miles. It's stats heavy too, which'll keep the geeks engaged I guess and there are also sub-plots within the main story. (I'm still not entirely sure what the main story is). The FBI, German security and so on all play their intelligence cards close to their chests, being called out by the main man (Peter Mullan) the Scottish Detective Chief Superintendent.

There's a Lockerbie programme on BBC4 tonight which I'll watch.

The docudrama has me puzzled, but I'll stick with it, [EDIT] ESB Networks / Electric Ireland permitting.

I wanted to follow the Final of Mastermind tonight too, but when I got home at 6:15 pm I had no electricity. Between then and the start of "The Bombing of Pan Am 103" I had 7 or 8 more supply breaks. No explanation, no apology but my digital meter showed consumption of "C000000000" at one stage. Great service guys, thanks.
 
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Sky had similar to the above recently on the anniversary. The full 4 part documentary, which was very good. Then the docu-drama with Colin Firth. Gave a different perspective but was watchable. Not sure how entirely accurate these are but watchable.
 
Dept. Q on NFlix is a very good series. You won't feel cheated on the time you spent watching it.
 
mathepac said:
"The Bombing of Pan Am 103" docudrama on BBC1. It started last night (Sunday) and continued tonight and I'm not sure what to make of it.
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I watched the latest episode tonight. I've been diligent in tracking characters, stories, organisations, but holes money, what a story, what an investigation, with organisations with-holding information and outright lying to their colleagues on the same side.

I know the blurb at the start warns about characters and stories being amalgamated, obscured and so on, but gathering enough hard data to be able to do that was a monumental exercise. The real life story behind the series puts John le Carré novels and story-lines to shame.

Big thumbs up from me, big geeky auld head that I have on me.
 
For those of you that enjoyed Bosch, the Prime adaptation of Michael Connolly's detective novels
Good news appeared in my YouTube feed this morning, Ballard is coming our way on July 9th
Really enjoyed all the books and show so am expecting this to be just as enjoyable
 
Did something unusual on Monday night in that I mostly watched RTE 1. Started with an interesting documentary on the Trinity library, followed by Reeling in the Years, then a "real life" doc about John Spillane acting as advisor to a Kilkenny band (which was a bit silly but interesting to watch the different attitudes between the 2 generations), then a repeat of Votail which looked at the 77 election and after the news, the first episode about the History of Gaelic Football. All interesting and enjoyable in their own right and I would really recommend Votail

And then last night they had the story of the "new" Cork anthem, After All by the Frank and Walters which for someone who grew up in Cork back in those days was huge fun
 
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The Gold on BBC1, drama about the Brinks Mat heist in the UK in the 1980s, as the police (led by Hugh Bonneville) hunt the proceeds.
I missed season 1 but can pick up the thread of the story of the second season without that.
First episode was great, but there are a lot of balls in the air hopefully they can keep it going.
 
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