TV guide: 12 of the best new shows to watch this week (2024)

WW2: Women on the Frontline

Saturday, Channel 4, 7pm

The second part of this historical documentary series features more amazing archive footage telling the story of the women who were in active service during the second World War, risking their lives in perilous missions to gather intelligence for the Allied forces, or take out prominent Nazis. Among them are Selma van de Perre, who was a teenage courier for the Dutch Resistance, and who survived Ravensbruck concentration camp, and a Soviet sniper known as Lady Death, who assassinated more than 300 Nazis.

Fleadh24

Saturday, TG4, 9.30pm

It’s Fleadh time again, and that means four consecutive nights of coverage on TG4, capturing all the ceol and craic in Wexford town. Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is the world’s biggest festival of Irish music, song and dance, so you can expect world-class performances from the most talented musicians, singers and dancers from home and abroad, all gathering in the sunny southeast for our entertainment and delight. TG4′s team of presenters, Doireann Ní Ghlacáin, Peadar Ó Goill and Aoife Ní Thuairisg will be at the centre of the action over the next four nights.

The Body Next Door

Sunday, Sky Documentaries & Now, 9pm

In November 2015, the small Welsh town of Beddau was rocked by the macabre discovery of a dead body that had lain undiscovered in a back garden for 18 years, “chemically mummified” in 41 layers of plastic, tin foil and cardboard. The body was that of John Sabine, who had moved there from New Zealand with his wife, Lee, in 1997, only to disappear shortly afterwards. Lee told neighbours and friends she had a medical skeleton in her back garden, and after Lee died a neighbour decided it might be a wheeze to get out the skeleton and play a prank on her friend. This documentary series tracks the incredible series of events that led up to the grisly discovery.

The Other Mrs Jordan

Sunday, UTV, 10.15pm

When Mary Turner Thomson met William Allen Jordan online, he claimed his real job was working for the CIA. But Jordan was really a scam artist and a bigamist, and when Thompson married him, she had no idea he had other wives on the go who had fallen for his CIA agent shtick. This three-part documentary series details the cat-and-mouse game to expose Jordan as a conman and bring him to justice.

The Cable That Changed the World

Monday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm

It must have sounded like a mad idea at the time: running a cable along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, from Valentia Island in Co Kerry to Newfoundland, Canada, to enable speedy communication between North America and Europe. But in 1858 the first transatlantic telegraph cable was completed, and it actually worked. This documentary film, written and directed by Ruán Magan, produced by Patricia Carroll and narrated by Kerry actor Jessie Buckley, celebrates this historic innovation that sparked the beginning of the technological era. The film mixes innovative graphics, dramatic reconstructions and rare archive footage to tell a fascinating story of global connection.

My Tiger Family

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The lakes and forests of Ranthambhore in northwestern India are home to many creatures, but ruling them all are the tigers who have thrived thanks to conservation efforts, and a ban on tiger hunting that came into effect in the 1970s. Ranthambhore is a protected tiger reserve, with a growing population of these magnificent animals, and when documentary film-maker Valmik Thapar visited the reserve on a whim, he became fascinated with the family life of the tiger, and has spent the past 50 years filming them through all stages of their lives. Here he brings together some of his archive material to tell an epic tiger tale.

Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams On Tour

Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

Sports hero Freddie Flintoff returns with a new series – and he has unfinished business to attend to. Having taken a group of teenage cricketers under his wing in his hometown of Preston and turned them into real contenders, Flintoff had planned to bring the team to compete in India, one of the world’s biggest cricketing nations. But the plan was stymied by a serious accident, and it looked as though the dream was over. Now, however, the trip to Kolkata is back on, and this four-part series charts the progress of the Preston lads as they try to adapt to their new surroundings and get on with each other.

Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World?

Tuesday, BBC Four, 10pm

This historical series tracks US foreign policy since the end of the cold war, and asks the very pertinent question of whether the US is up to the challenge of policing the world’s conflicts, or should there be a new sheriff in town? The second episode looks back at the US response to the bloody and savage war in Bosnia in the early 1990s, which was the first test of president George HW Bush’s so-called New World Order. With communism collapsing in the former Yugoslavia, and the Balkan region descending into genocide and ethnic cleansing, incoming US president Bill Clinton faced a huge challenge.

Making

Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm

Every year, in September, the Joseph Walsh Studio in Fartha, Co Cork, hosts a gathering of makers from around the world, and this documentary by Pat Collins tells the story of this unique annual meeting of minds and skills in the setting of an 18th-century farmhouse. Collins meets a diverse group of makers who have converged on this design studio, workshop, gallery and archive set up by Walsh in 1999, including American curator and writer Glenn Adamson, French architect and design historian Cloé Pitiot, Italian bell-makers Pasquale and Benedetta Marinelli and Irish musician Martin Hayes.

Celebrity Race Across the World 2024

Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm

The second season of the celebrity globetrotting contest is under starter’s orders, as four more famous faces compete in a race from Belém in northern Brazil all the way to Frutillar in southern Chile. Broadcaster Kelly Brook and her husband, Jeremy; radio presenter Scott Mills and his fiance (now husband), Sam; presenter Jeff Brazier and his son, Freddie; and Ted Lasso star Kola Bokinni and his cousin Mary Ellen will have lots of challenges on the way, including the Amazon rainforest and the Andes, but the biggest challenge will be: how do they get to the finish line without being recognised and mobbed by fans?

Klitschko: More than a Fight

Thursday, Sky Documentaries & Now, 9pm

Ukrainian former world champion boxer Vitali Klitschko was a giant of the modern sport – until he gave it up to take on an even tougher challenge by going into politics and becoming mayor of Kyiv. This documentary film brings us into the world of Klitschko and his brother Wladimir – also a champion boxer – to find out what drives Vitali to fight corruption in Kyiv and lead the defence of his town against Russian aggression. It’s directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald, the man behind Touching the Void, and will delve into the Klitschko brothers’ childhood under Soviet rule and how Vitali moved into political activism during the 2014 Maidan revolution.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Thursday, BBC One, 9pm

The celebrity family history show celebrates its 20th anniversary with a stellar line-up of stars, all hoping to unravel the mysteries of their ancestries and put some shape on their family trees. The series has been a huge success for the Beeb, and this latest series promises more amazing revelations from the past. Stars stepping up to family scrutiny include presenter, actor and comedian Paddy McGuinness, who learns of his grandad’s role in the second World War; pop star Olly Murs, who learns his ancestors were Latvian circus performers; and former Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, whose ancestors survived the Famine. First up is Line of Duty actor Vicky McClure, who finds out her great-grandfather was a Japanese prisoner of war.

Best of The Late Late Show

Friday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm

Patrick Kielty has one season as Late Late Show host under his belt. Where did the time go? While controversy rumbles on about RTÉ's plans to outsource its flagship show, here’s a chance to look back over the past year and see how Kielty fared in his new Friday night gig. In this episode he meets US chatshow host Conan O’Brien, Hollywood action hero Jean Claude Van Damme, Cork singer Lyra and comedian Dara Ó Briain. But that’s not all, folks – there’ll also be a memorable moment from Kielty’s first-ever Toy Show.

Miriam Margolyes: A New Australian Adventure

Friday, BBC Two, 9pm

The actor completes her latest journey down under with a visit to the remote mining community of Broken Hill, which once brought tens of thousands of people to the outback in search of their fortunes. But the mining trade is dying out, and Margolyes learns how the community is adapting to new realities and reinventing itself for a new era. While visiting Broken Hill, Margolyes stays at the Palace Hotel, famous for the film Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, goes on a walking drag tour and visits a camel farm.