TV guide: 12 of the best shows to watch this week, beginning tonight

Strictly Come Dancing Final

Saturday, BBC One, 7.05pm

After 12 weeks of hot-stepping, hardcore hoofing, this season of Strictly comes to its conclusion, and just two celebrity couples are left on the dancefloor to battle it out for the coveted glitterball trophy. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman present the final, in which the remaining couples perform three dance routines to clinch the prize – and they need to be seriously spectacular feats of fancy footwork to impress the judges and, most importantly, the voting audience at home. Florence + the Machine will be the musical guests and the entire cast from this season will be called back for one last epic dance routine.

RTÉ Sports Awards 2022

Saturday, RTÉ One, 9.45pm

Jacqui Hurley, Evanne Ní Chuilinn and Ruby Walsh are the presenters, but the real stars are the Irish sportspeople who will step up to the podium to receive their awards in such categories as Sportsperson of the Year, Manager of the Year and Young Sportsperson of the Year. But who will win? Bookies are backing golfer Shane Lowry to bag Sportsperson of the Year for the second time, especially given his recent form, but odds on Rory McIlroy adding another trophy to his already-buckling mantelpiece are narrowing. Either way, it should be an exciting night of sporting celebration.

Donal’s Christmas Eve

Sunday, RTÉ One, 7.30pm

Work is done and you’re all ready for a nice, cosy Christmas Eve with the family and enjoy that nice, peaceful lull before Santa comes crashing down the chimney making all sorts of hullabaloo. But what to cook? Chef Donal Skehan has come up with some fab foodie ideas for the day that often gets forgotten in all the fuss about December 25th. How about a breakfast of gingerbread pancakes with warm berry compote, or spiced caramel cookies? For dinner, Skehan has a ham and cheese wreath with a sprout and cranberry salad and, just before you settle down to watch Home Alone, a big bowl of sweet and savoury popcorn.

His Dark Materials

Sunday, BBC One, 7pm

Fans of Philip Pullman’s best-selling fantasy trilogy will be tuning in eagerly for the third series of this TV adaptation and reacquainting themselves with familiar characters: Lyra (Dafne Keen), Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson) and Lord Asriel (James McAvoy). In the climactic final series, based on the third book in the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, the evil Magisterium are still in pursuit of Lyra, who embarks on a perilous journey with Will (Amir Wilson) into the land of the dead. Meanwhile, Asriel is gathering a huge army for a final reckoning, but who is the real enemy?

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Off Duty Chef Christmas specials

Monday and Tuesday, RTÉ One, 6.30pm

What do top chefs rustle up for Christmas at home when they knock off work? Not beans and chips, that’s for sure. Mark Moriarty puts his professional expertise to good use in these two festive food specials, showing you how to knock up tasty but affordable festive food in the current economic climate. In tonight’s episode, Moriarty concocts a classic traditional Christmas menu built around a roast turkey crown, and tomorrow night he goes a bit more contemporary with a spiced beef short-rib and roast potatoes with feta and coriander.

The Unofficial Science of Home Alone

Monday, Sky Showcase, 9pm

We laugh our heads off every Christmas as we watch the Wet Bandits (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) get bashed, bonked and (almost) beheaded by the ingenious traps set by Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) in Home Alone. It’s all cartoon violence, of course, but that hasn’t stopped comedians (and Home Alone obsessives) James Acaster, Guz Khan and Alex Brooker from wondering what would happen if you got a blowtorch or swinging paint can to the head in real life. Only one way to find out: build their own versions of the film’s classic booby traps with the help of an engineer and then become willing guinea pigs.

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: Between Worlds

Tuesday, RTÉ One, 10.05pm

He was a pioneering composer who deftly fused classical, jazz and Irish traditional music, and influenced a generation of young artists and musicians through his Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. This documentary, directed by award-winning film-maker Maggie Breathnach, looks at the life, works and legacy of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, who died in 2018 aged 67. Members of his family, including his wife Helen, sons Eoin, Mícheál and Luke, play crucial roles in the documentary, and there are contributions from the likes of Iarla Ó Lionáird and David Brophy.

I Hate Suzie Too

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Sky Atlantic and Now, 9pm

Billie Piper returns to the role of desperately needy diva Suzie Pickles in a three-part anti-Christmas special, filled with sad tidings, bad cheer and lots of dirty dancing. Suzie has lost all those who were close to her, but she’s still hoping her first love – the public – will stay loyal to her as she stars in a new reality TV show, Dance Crazee. She badly needs the gig to survive as a newly single mum and she needs to win back the audience and restore her reputation, but how far is she willing to go to get back into the limelight?

Two Tribes

Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.30pm

The Irish Civil War left a bitter legacy in Irish society, but it also created a huge political split as two divergent tribes – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – dominated the political landscape over the following century. Sean O’Rourke, returning to the bosom of RTÉ two years after Golfgate, presents this documentary looking at how “Civil War politics” drove opposing ideologies in the aftermath of the conflict and how the two main parties, which started out as polar opposites, gradually moved to the middle ground, until they finally coalesced into a workable coalition on the eve of the centenary of the Civil War.

Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama

Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

The notorious “Wagatha Christie” libel trial, which saw two high-profile footballers’ wives battling it out in the courtroom, has already been turned into a West End play, and now comes the TV dramatisation starring Chanel Cresswell as Coleen Rooney and Natalia Tena as Rebekah Vardy. You know the story: Rooney suspected Vardy of leaking stories about her to the Sun newspaper, so she set a social media trap to catch her former friend out. Vardy then sued Rooney for libel, and this show recreates all the drama and grandstanding of the trial. Michael Sheen stars as Rooney’s high-powered barrister, with Dion Lloyd as Wayne Rooney and Márton Nagyszokolyai as Jamie Vardy. Next: Wagatha Christie – The Musical. Make it happen, lads.

Inside No 9 Christmas special

Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith star in a festive special of their spooky psycho-comedy series and this one promises to be a magically macabre dose of seasonal strangeness. Simon Callow and Shobna Gulati are guest stars in a story entitled The Bones of St Nicholas. Dr Jasper Parkway (Pemberton) is spending the night in a haunted church. But he’s not alone: there’s unwanted guest Pierce (Shearsmith), along with fellow camper Posy (Gulati) and eccentric game warden Dick (Callow). Will everyone make it to next morning alive – or sane?

The Works Presents

Thursday, RTÉ One, 11.15pm

John Kelly finishes up the latest series of his arts interview show in the company of acclaimed playwright, screenwriter and director Conor McPherson. When you’re named by the New York Times as the finest playwright of your generation, you know you’re doing something right. McPherson will chat about some of his most beloved works, including The Weir and The Seafarer – and no doubt talk will turn to his recent call from Bob Dylan inviting McPherson to create a stage musical based on classic Dylan songs, resulting in the triumphant Girl from the North Country.

Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook-Off

Friday, BBC One, 8pm

Just what we want to see at Christmas to make us feel inadequate: a bunch of masterchefs magicking up the ultimate festive feast to put our paltry poultry efforts in the shade. There is one consolation, though: not all these celebrity chefs are as good in the kitchen as they’re cracked up to be, so chances are someone is going to have a culinary nightmare before Christmas. Eight celebs from past series have been handpicked to rise to the Christmas dinner challenge, including Happy Mondays legend Bez, champion athlete Iwan Thomas, pop star Josh Cuthbert and opera superstar Lesley Garrett.

Motherland: Last Christmas

Friday, BBC One, 9.30pm

Christmas is a stressful time for many families, but you don’t know stress until you’ve seen the mummies of Motherland muddle through their most chaotic Christmas yet. The series, co-written by Sharon Horgan, has raised the bar for cringe comedy and we can guarantee that this festive special will end in madness, mayhem and mistletoe mishaps. Anna Maxwell Martin stars as mumzilla Julia, with Diane Morgan as love loser Liz, Paul Ready as divorced dad Kevin, Tanya Moodie as Meg, Anthony Head as Bill and Lucy Punch as Amanda. There’s also a special guest appearance by Joanna Lumley as Amanda’s mum.