Today's top TV and streaming choices: A Bruce Springsteen evening, House of Gucci and Bono's Stories of Surrender
Pick of the week: Bruce Springsteen Night BBC Two, from 8.30pm
Here's a treat for fans of 'the Boss' – an entire evening dedicated to the man himself and his amazing songs.
It begins with Bruce Springsteen at the BBC, a delve into the broadcaster's archive for clips featuring the performer in action. It's followed at 9.30pm by arguably the programme of the night – When Bruce Springsteen Came to Britain, a brand-new documentary exploring his first tour on this side of the Atlantic.
Springsteen was just 26 when he arrived in London in November 1975 for sold-out performances at the Hammersmith Odeon, during which he played tracks from his then new album Born to Run. However, in an interview recorded for the programme, he reveals how disappointed he was – with himself: 'I went to a party that was supposed to celebrate my triumph, but I felt I'd been terrible and so I was embarrassed to even go in... I had PTSD from the first Hammersmith show!'
Celebrity fans Michael Palin, Rob Brydon, Sting and Peter Gabriel, as well as E Street Band member Stevie Van Zandt, are on hand to offer their opinions. Afterwards, at 10.35pm, there's a chance to see the gig itself ahead of Bruce Springsteen: A Secret History at 12.45am, in which the Boss can once again be heard discussing his life and career. Finally, the night ends with Blinded by the Light at 1.45am, which charts the teen years of an avid fan.
Returning to Silence RTÉ One, 5.30pm
Comedian Tommy Tiernan and Myozan Kodo Kilroy, a priest at the Dublin Zen Centre, discuss the benefits of Zen Buddhist meditation, revealing how it has given their lives a positive boost, awakening an inner peace crucial to their wellbeing.
Britain's Got Talent: Live Final Virgin Media One, 7pm
It's time to find out who will be this year's winner. But first, those remaining in the competition perform once again in front of the judges including Alesha Dixon, each desperate to win the cash prize and a chance to appear at the Royal Variety Performance.
RTÉ2, 7pm
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We're off to the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, for the final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. PSG's one and only previous appearance in the showpiece match came in 2020, when they lost to Bayern Munich. Can they finally lift the trophy, or will three-time winners Inter prove too strong?
House of Gucci RTÉ One, 9.20pm
Ridley Scott's outlandish true-life drama focuses on the marriage between the fashion house's heir and an ambitious woman from humble origins. It begins as a love story, but spirals into disaster. Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Al Pacino star.
The Blues Brothers TG4, 9.40pm
Star-studded comedy with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as criminal siblings who reform their old band and hit the road in the hope of raising the money needed to save the orphanage where they grew up. However, chaos follows them everywhere they go.
Dept. Q Netflix, streaming now
DCI Carl Morck may be an excellent investigator, but there's no hiding from the fact that he's a terrible co-worker. There's the small matter of his scathing sarcasm, which has left him without a single friend in the Edinburgh police force. Then there's the rather more serious issue of him having fatally shot a young officer and permanently injured his partner. Unsurprisingly enough, following this tragic turn of events, Morck is relegated to Department Q: a cold-case unit which was created as a publicity stunt. Although the force is thrilled to see Carl go, he soon sets about assembling a group of outcasts who are all keen to prove themselves. Yes, it does sound a bit like Slow Horses, which is quite the gauntlet for Netflix to throw. Only time will tell if it's worthy of comparison. With yer man from Leap Year (Matthew Goode) essentially playing a hybrid of Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb and Jack Lowden's River Cartwright, I wouldn't hold my breath.
Bono: Stories of Surrender Apple TV+, streaming now
Behold Bono's one-man stage show, exploring the personal experiences that have shaped him as a son, father, husband and activist. Oh, and as one of the planet's biggest rock stars. If Owen Wilson's signature shtick is more to your liking, The Stick lands Wednesday.
Good Boy Prime Video, streaming now
In order to combat crime in a perilous underworld, a group of former medal-winning athletes exchange the podium for police badges. In an exciting, action-packed ride, Yun Dong-ju (Park Bo-gum) and his group battle a formidable criminal syndicate. Also on Prime Video, we have season 2 of The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, courtesy of producers Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne.
The Better Sister Prime Video, streaming now
D'you know what society needs? More portrayals of women being pitted against each other. Based on Alafair Burke's novel, however, this eight-part thriller attempts to turn things. When media executive Chloe (Jessica Biel) and her estranged sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks) are reunited after a murder, they must unravel long-buried family secrets to uncover the truth.
A Widow's Game Netflix, streaming now
Picture it: August 2017. In a Valencia parking lot, a man is found stabbed seven times. The city's Homicide Group, led by a veteran inspector, races to solve the case, which appears to be a crime of passion. Their investigation soon takes a shocking turn, pointing to an unlikely suspect: Maje, the victim's seemingly sweet and stoic widow, married to him for less than a year.
Mission: Impossible Fest Disney+, streaming now
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Irish Post
3 hours ago
- Irish Post
'The Irish take their ghost stories with them': Uncanny creator Danny Robins tells us about his Irish roots ahead of terrifying new tour
FOR someone who has found success by allowing other people to tell their personal stories on his paranormal series, Uncanny, it's perhaps no surprise that Danny Robins learned a lot about his Irish roots through stories handed down through his family over generations. "All the family I haven't met over in Ireland existed as stories," says the third-generation Irishman, who will embark on a new Uncanny live tour in September. "I felt like I was surrounded all the time by these brilliant tall tales and legends about all these different people. I knew that we had a great aunt who was a nun and a great uncle who was a monk and there were all these brilliant characters in the family, who you heard stories about all the time." One story in particular stands out, with Robins' pride in his Irish roots clear from the enthusiasm with which he relays these colourful tales. Danny Robins' grandparents emigrated from Ireland to Manchester (Image: Tim P. Whitby / Getty Images) "The family legend is that my grandad's mum was this eccentric character who was an opera singer and who was apparently the first ever female driver in Cork," he says. "She used to career around in a very old-fashioned car, perhaps slightly under the influence of sherry, so I'm told!" Robins reveals that his mother's family are all from Cork — 'a mixture of O'Sullivans and O'Learys' — while his grandparents were 'movers and shakers on the Cork social scene'. His grandfather played rugby for Munster and his grandmother was picked to play hockey for Ireland but never turned out due to the onset of the Second World War. His grandfather fought in the conflict after the couple emigrated to England and later set up a GP practice. "They went from being part of quite gentile, well-off Cork society to living in a really quite rough and poor part of Manchester," says Robins. "My grandad was a GP in an area where there were a lot of economic problems and worked to try and make the world a better place." Paranormal profession His grandfather's vocation may have been in saving lives, however, Robins' own career has taken him to the other end of the spectrum, very much in the realm of those who have shaken off this mortal coil. The writer and broadcaster is the creator of the wildly successful BBC podcast and TV series, Uncanny. He was already an accomplished comedy writer, working on everything from The Basil Brush Show to Mock the Week and creating the award-winning children's BBC comedy drama, Young Dracula. "I've done comedy shows and travel journalism and music documentaries and all sorts but I feel like I've really found my niche now," says Robins. "I've found the subject that has always fascinated me, that I've been obsessed by since I was a kid, love talking about and in giving myself over to that I'm just allowing myself to make the kind of programmes I'd want to listen to or want to watch. Finding an audience of people who feel the same way, it's just been magical really." Shona McGarty, Jay McGuiness, Laura Whitmore and Colin O'Donoghue during last year's Irish run of Robins' acclaimed play, 2:22 A Ghost Story (Image: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland) The paranormal has served him well, with his 2017 Haunted podcast capturing the ears of the Beeb, for whom he wrote and presented the 2021 Battersea Poltergeist drama-documentary. The podcast was based on the real-life story of Shirley Hitchings, who was reportedly tormented by a poltergeist in 1950s London. A request at the end of the series for listeners' own stories sparked a deluge of paranormal tales and from that, the Uncanny podcast and subsequent TV series and live show, I Know What I Saw, was born, while Robins also created the drama-documentary Witch Farm podcast for the BBC in 2022. On stage, Robins' award-winning 2021 supernatural play, 2:22 A Ghost Story, is preparing for a second British tour later this year, having also racked up six successful West End runs. The show, which sees two couples debate the existence of ghosts during a dinner party as they await recurring eerie phenomena that begins at the same time every night, had a successful run in Dublin last year with Irish stars Laura Whitmore and Colin O'Donoghue among the cast. The upcoming British tour, which kicks off in Manchester in August, will star second-generation Irishwoman Stacey Dooley. For Uncanny fans though, what is most eagerly-anticipated is the brand new Uncanny live tour, Fear of the Dark, with Robins saying fans should 'definitely expect a show that is unlike any other podcast live show'. The 'serious' paranormal show with Belfast roots For those unfamiliar with Uncanny, each episode sees a listener tell their own, deeply-personal story of the paranormal. However, this is not your stereotypical ghost-hunting show where presenters run around castles in night vision goggles, wielding spirit boxes and thermal cameras as psychic mediums seemingly channel ghosts on demand. If those shows are the equivalent of a cheap Hollywood jump-scare, Uncanny provides the genuine chills you might experience watching a tense, atmospheric chiller where the fear is in what you might uncover. Meanwhile, Robins — who admits to never yet having had his own paranormal experience — is aided not by a team of monomaniacal devotees but by two open-minded experts representing both Team Sceptic and Team Believer, usually Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow respectively. Nor are the subjects unreliable narrators or attention seekers but rational professionals you wouldn't normally expect to entertain the existence of ghosts, let alone have a chilling tale of their own locked away. Indeed, the very first episode of Uncanny heard from Ken, a top genetic scientist telling his story of an eerie apparition and poltergeist activity during his time in the Alanbrooke halls of residence at Queen's University Belfast in the 1980s. The episode, Room 611, went viral, sparking national headlines, uncovering corroborating stories and historical records and even creating the show's catchphrase: "Bloody hell, Ken!" Robins will be joined on the upcoming Uncanny: Fear of the Dark tour by the show's regular experts Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe, representing Team Sceptic, and Evelyn Hollow, representing Team Believer (Image: Sama Kai / Dave Benett / Getty Images) "It's what set up the whole world of Uncanny really, the fact that you had a very ordinary and very sceptical person who didn't believe in ghosts telling you that they felt they might've seen one," says Robins. "I always think of Belfast because it does feel like a place that's synonymous with Uncanny. There's quite a few different Irish people that come into the Uncanny picture at various points and I know in the next series that comes out in the autumn, we've got a really good Irish story as well." He adds: "Uncanny is still entertaining but it tries to take the subject a little bit more seriously. It also keeps an open mind so it's not just preaching to the converted. We're there, saying, 'It might be a ghost but it might not'. You hear from sceptics and believers and that has made it easier for a lot of people to talk. "There's a lot of people who wouldn't have felt comfortable going on some of those slightly louder, brasher more fantastical paranormal shows. I just felt there was a massive amount of people, you could almost say a kind of silent majority out there, who've had strange experiences and who didn't know how to talk about it. A lot of the emails I get are from people who say, 'I haven't even discussed this with my partner', people who didn't know how to talk about it, didn't know where to talk about it, were worried they'd be judged, that they'd be laughed at, ridiculed, even have their mental health questioned. Uncanny's created a safe space, it has legitimised being able to say this out loud." 'The Irish are natural storytellers' As well as Room 611, there are other Irish tales featured on Uncanny, all told by level-headed, rational, down-to-earth guests. They include The Ghost who Hated Parties, which recounts how an imposing presence terrifies visitors to a student house in Waterford in the 1980s. An Angel Called Bernie sees a software engineer and former Irish soldier tell how his grandmother intervenes from beyond the grave on numerous occasions to save people's lives. The Beast of Langeais hears from two men from Belfast, a teacher and a former police officer, who encounter a devilish hoofed creature during a school trip to France in 1983. Meanwhile, The Haunting of Tanfield House sees the daughter of staunch Catholics who emigrated from Ireland recall a terrifying childhood exorcism after she encounters poltergeist activity in a student house in Surrey. With yet another Irish tale included in the next series of Uncanny, Robins isn't surprised at the proliferation of stories from the Emerald Isle. "I think Ireland is a place with a really, really rich tradition of ghost stories, some fantastic ghost stories stretching back into folkloric things, tales of fairies and banshees and all those kind of things and I feel like we've only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of exploring stories from Ireland on Uncanny," he says. Uncanny began life as a podcast before being adapted for television in 2023 and a first live show, I Know What I Saw, in 2024 (Image: Uncanny / Facebook) "One of the things I love about coming across is when we ask people for their local ghost stories and the things that have happened to them. Last time when we came to Dublin, we had some fantastic stories and I'm looking forward to hearing more again. There's loads of ghost stories but there's also just loads of brilliant stories. I think it's a way that people in Ireland express themselves. I think the Irish are natural storytellers, they have a gift of the gab, a wit and enjoyment of language and I think some of the greatest literature ever written has been written by Irish writers. Growing up and reading things by a whole host of different Irish writers, I definitely felt a kinship with it. I love that enjoyment of language that you see in a lot of work that's emanated from Ireland." Likewise, Robins sees that love of storytelling kept alive in the English cities where Irish people flocked to over the centuries, just as his own grandparents did. "I see a huge interest [in the paranormal] in Ireland," says Robins. "I sometimes say that there are a certain parts of the country that seem to love their ghost stories more. A part of the country that I always find I get great ghost stories from is Liverpool and of course [there was] a massive influx of Irish people and the same true of Manchester. Places over here in the UK where Irish people have settled, you get a lot of ghost stories. It's like the Irish take their ghost stories with them. It's one of the great things the Irish have given to the world, this huge treasure trove of stories that have emanated from this island." 'A really big, epic night out' So popular is Uncanny within those Irish hubs in Britain that the upcoming Uncanny: Fear of the Dark tour has had to add extra shows at venues in Greater Manchester and Liverpool to meet demand. The extensive tour gets underway in Salford on September 18 and takes in other cities with traditionally large Irish populations, including Birmingham and Glasgow. Dublin and, of course, Belfast are also on the schedule. However, while the tour will no doubt seek to replicate the successful format of the Uncanny podcast and TV show, Robins promises it will be so much more, an immersive experience utilising the full capabilities of its theatrical venues. He promises this will not merely be a normal Uncanny podcast episode recorded on stage in front of an audience. "This is way more theatrical in that this really brings these real-life ghost stories to life in a very theatrical way using video projection, amazing sound effects and illusions," he reveals. "You'll see things flying across the stage like poltergeist activity, so it's a proper theatrical show that embraces all the magic that you can achieve in a theatre. The first live show, I Know What I Saw, featured two real-life cases that were brand new and had never been heard on the pod or the TV series before. We examined them together and got the audience involved in contributing their theories. Fear of the Dark has taken that one step further. We're featuring a whole selection of new cases and will be looking at not just ghosts but UFOs, cryptozoology — that idea of strange beasts that may or may not exist, like the yeti and the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot — and examine these cases doing some experiments live in the theatre to test sceptic theories. We'll be looking at some classic cases of paranormal history as well, so very much like the TV series come to life on stage in front of you. Robins with the Best New Play Award for 2:22 A Ghost Story at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards (Image: David M. Benett / Dave Benett / Getty Images) "It's going to be a really big, epic night out where, whether you're interested in the paranormal or not, there's going to be so much to talk about — these fascinating human interest stories, amazing science, amazing history and hopefully a night that will really get you talking. That question, 'Do you believe in ghosts' or 'Do ghosts exist', it's the one question you could ask of anyone, anywhere in the world and spark a great debate. There'll be a chance for the audience to tell us their own ghost stories, we'll probably dive into some local stories and then you can ask us your questions." And for Robins, who listened to those stories of his own Irish heritage with awe and wonder, returning to the Emerald Isle will be like coming full circle. "It feels in a weird way like coming home, there is a huge cultural lineage for me stretching across the generations," says Robins, who obtained his Irish citizenship last year. "My mum was the first one of her family to not be brought up in Ireland and it's a place I feel a deep connection with and I can't wait to get there again. I've got lots of family in Dublin as well and I feel like I'm connecting, plugging into my family origins when I come that way. When we head to Belfast, I feel like I'm tapping into the very birthplace of Uncanny with the Room 611 story, so they're both destinations on the tour that have huge significance for us." For tickets and more information on Uncanny: Fear of the Dark, please click here. To book tickets for 2:22 A Ghost Story, please click here. All Uncanny podcast episodes can be found on the BBC website by clicking here and are also available on the BBC Sounds app, while the Uncanny TV series is available on iPlayer by clicking here.
Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Today's top TV and streaming choices: Legacy, Tár and Dept. Q
The Sunday Game Live RTÉ2, 3.30pm Dublin take on Armagh in an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Group Four match at Croke Park. Highlights can be seen later tonight at 9.30pm. Legacy RTÉ One, 6.30pm The final episode takes viewers on a tour of the Glebe House and Gallery, Co Donegal, Kilkenny Castle, Dublin Castle and Áras an Uachtaráin in Phoenix Park. All of them provide a home for fascinating collections of portraiture. Our Guy in Vietnam Channel 4, 9pm To mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the conflict in the country, Guy Martin visits Vietnam to find out more about its past, present and possible future. In the first episode of the series, he takes a motorcycle ride down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, visits a US combat base and helps detonate an unexploded cluster bomb. Death Valley BBC One, 8.15pm The entertaining crime drama starring Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth continues. This time, unlikely detective duo John and Janie investigate the mysterious death of a woman whose body was found on a mountain trail. The Nun's Story RTÉ One, 2.40pm Wonderful drama starring Audrey Hepburn as a woman who struggles to contain her strong-minded approach to life after entering a convent. Becoming a missionary in the Congo only makes matters worse. Peter Finch co-stars. ADVERTISEMENT Tár RTÉ One, 9.30pm Cate Blanchett is on career-best form in director Todd Field's hugely acclaimed drama. She plays conductor Lydia Tár, whose efforts to prepare for a forthcoming performance are disrupted by an investigation into her links to a troubled music student. Dept. Q Netflix, streaming now DCI Carl Morck may be an excellent investigator, but there's no hiding from the fact that he's a terrible co-worker. There's the small matter of his scathing sarcasm, which has left him without a single friend in the Edinburgh police force. Then there's the rather more serious issue of him having fatally shot a young officer and permanently injured his partner. Unsurprisingly enough, following this tragic turn of events, Morck is relegated to Department Q: a cold-case unit which was created as a publicity stunt. Although the force is thrilled to see Carl go, he soon sets about assembling a group of outcasts who are all keen to prove themselves. Yes, it does sound a bit like Slow Horses, which is quite the gauntlet for Netflix to throw. Only time will tell if it's worthy of comparison. With yer man from Leap Year (Matthew Goode) essentially playing a hybrid of Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb and Jack Lowden's River Cartwright, I wouldn't hold my breath. Bono: Stories of Surrender Apple TV+, streaming now Behold Bono's one-man stage show, exploring the personal experiences that have shaped him as a son, father, husband and activist. Oh, and as one of the planet's biggest rock stars. If Owen Wilson's signature shtick is more to your liking, The Stick lands Wednesday. Good Boy Prime Video, streaming now In order to combat crime in a perilous underworld, a group of former medal-winning athletes exchange the podium for police badges. In an exciting, action-packed ride, Yun Dong-ju (Park Bo-gum) and his group battle a formidable criminal syndicate. Also on Prime Video, we have season 2 of The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, courtesy of producers Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne. The Better Sister Prime Video, streaming now D'you know what society needs? More portrayals of women being pitted against each other. Based on Alafair Burke's novel, however, this eight-part thriller attempts to turn things. When media executive Chloe (Jessica Biel) and her estranged sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks) are reunited after a murder, they must unravel long-buried family secrets to uncover the truth. A Widow's Game Netflix, streaming now Picture it: August 2017. In a Valencia parking lot, a man is found stabbed seven times. The city's Homicide Group, led by a veteran inspector, races to solve the case, which appears to be a crime of passion. Their investigation soon takes a shocking turn, pointing to an unlikely suspect: Maje, the victim's seemingly sweet and stoic widow, married to him for less than a year. Mission: Impossible Fest Disney+, streaming now We can never get enough of the Mission: Impossible movies, it seems. You can now watch all the prequels to the recently released The Final Reckoning if you're so inclined.
RTÉ News
13 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan is 'taking a step back' but not retiring
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan has said he is "taking a step back" from his career "to be at home a bit more". The 47-year-old from Crawley, known for his Bafta-winning TV series with comic Rob Beckett – titled Rob And Romesh Vs, emphasised that he will not be retiring. "I know that people sort of say I'm busy and I'm always like, trying to work and stuff. There is no strategy. There's no game plan. I have no end game," he told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. "There's no vision board or anything like that. (I'm) just doing whatever feels good." He added: "I do feel like I'm sort of settling into winding things up, like not winding things up, but I'm taking a step back. "I want to be at home a bit more. And by the way, this is not an announcement of retirement, but I do feel like, relatively recently, this is quite fortuitous that we're talking about this at the time that we are, because I have just hit this period of thinking I am probably going to just be a bit more measured in what I do going forward. "I think I might take a bigger break between bits. I've told you, I've not hit the thing yet, maybe this next thing could be it, but it's not going to be it if I don't go off and just live life." Ranganathan also reflected on the time he spent as a maths teacher, before his current career, and said it was more stressful than working in comedy. "There wasn't a single day of that job that I didn't feel completely fulfilled," he said. "I felt very stressed. It's the most stressed I've ever been in my life actually. "There's not been a single day of my comedy career that's even come close to the stress that I felt as a teacher. I cannot speak highly enough of teachers and teaching and how I loved that job." Alongside his stand-up, the comedian is known for presenting game show The Weakest Link and starring in BBC One sitcom Avoidance. He also starred in BBC Two documentary series The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan and BBC Three's Asian Provocateur, which saw him trace his family roots. In 2024, he took over Claudia Winkleman's Saturday morning slot on BBC Radio 2 and he also presents Romesh Ranganathan: For The Love Of Hip Hop on the station.
