Pick of the week
7/7: Homegrown Terror
Sunday, Sky Documentaries & Now, 9pm
It has been 20 years since the 7/7 terrorist attacks on London, and the scars of that terrible day are still felt keenly by survivors and families and friends of those killed and injured in the attack. The attackers detonated bombs on three Underground trains and one bus, with 52 killed and 700 injured in the most notorious terrorist attack on the UK capital. This series unravels the events of July 7th, 2005, to tell the full story of the attack from multiple perspectives, using archive footage, witness testimonies, investigator insights and even the voices of people close to the perpetrators to find out how they carried out the atrocity and why. The series follows the huge manhunt in the wake of the attacks and looks at the police errors that led to the shooting dead of an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes. The series also looks at the motivations and ideals of the bombers and explores how they became radicalised, with contributions from the father of one of the terrorists and from someone who went to a terrorist training camp with the bombers. On the 20th anniversary, the world is as dangerous a place as ever, and understanding how ordinary young people can become radicalised and turned into mass killers is crucial in preventing further terrorist attacks.
Highlights
Glastonbury 2025
Sunday, BBC Four, from 7pm; BBC One, from 7.15pm; BBC Two, from 8.45pm
Day three of Glastonbury 2025 gets in full swing with sets by Rod Stewart, Noah Kahan, Snow Patrol, The Prodigy and Olivia Rodrigo.
From that Small Island: The Story of the Irish
Sunday RTÉ One, 6.30pm
We’re on the final furlong of this ambitious series charting the rise of the Irish and exploring who we are, where we came from, where we’re at, and where we are going from here. The fourth and final episode looks at Ireland’s global impact in the aftermath of the Famine, as two million Irish emigrants found new homes in the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In the US in particular, the Irish influence was strongly felt as Irish people made up nearly half of the country’s immigrant population. The programme, narrated by Colin Farrell, also looks at the Irish diaspora in Argentina and Newfoundland where, unlike in other countries, the ethnic Irish population retained their native Irish accents. As the Irish increasingly exerted influence in world politics, the programme looks at how Irish soft power led to the election of the country’s first Irish-American Catholic president, John F Kennedy, and to the establishment of St Patrick’s Day as a global festival.
Death Valley
Sunday, BBC One, 8.45pm
It’s the series finale of the cosy crime series set in Wales, starring Timothy Spall as retired luvvie turned sleuth John Chapel, and Gwyneth Keyworth as DS Janie Mallowan, and in this curtain closer John and Jamie’s secret is out. DCI Clarke, Janie’s boss at mid-Wales Police, has learned about their unauthorised policing partnership, and that’s put the kibosh on Janie’s long-hoped-for promotion. But one of the higher-ups in the force has other ideas, and soon John is officially hired as a police consultant, allowing him and Janie to resume their crime solving partnership. Their first case is a murder at a high-school reunion party – and it just happens to be at Janie’s old school. The victim is Janie’s mechanic and old school mate Dean Ward. Who would want to kill him: a former classmate with a grudge? A dissatisfied car owner? As John and Janie delve deeper into the mystery – and into the past – Janie is forced to relive a terrible trauma from her school days, when her best friend Sian took her own life.
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Avoidance
Monday, RTÉ2, 9pm
Romesh Ranganathan is a man with multiple phobias – among them commitment, conflict and actually making life choices – in this comedy series first shown on BBC. Ranganathan stars as the hapless Jonathan, who has been kicked out of the house by his partner, Claire (Jessica Knappett), because he’s basically impossible to live with. Can Jonathan change his inert mindset and win Claire back? In this series two opener, Jonathan is a changed man, transforming himself into a mamil and sporting lots of Lycra as he vows to get fit. He’s ready to prove he can be a proper dad to his son, Spencer (Kieran Logendra), and a reliable partner to Claire, but there’s a big obstacle in the way in the form of “hot furniture guy” Brett (Matthew Lewis), who Claire has taken a shine to. And there’s an added complication in the form of Megan (Aisling Bea) who has won Jonathan in a school fundraising auction and is keen to claim her prize.
Scrublands: Silver
Monday, BBC Two, 9pm
Getting back with your ex can be a tricky business – especially when she turns out to be the prime suspect in a brutal murder, and even more so when the victim turns out to be your old mucker from childhood. In the second series of Aussie crime drama Scrublands, investigative journalist Martin Scarsden returns to his hometown of Port Silver on the coast of Western Australia looking to renew his relationship with his partner Mandy Bond. Martin’s a bit bruised and battered by events in series one but there’s no rest for the wicked as he is confronted with a huge moral dilemma as his childhood friend Jasper is found dead and suspicion falls on Mandy. Time to confront those creatures that haunt every hometown – the ghosts from the past – to learn the truth about Jasper’s death and hopefully clear Mandy’s name. But what if Martin’s investigations confirm his worst fears?
1923
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
The hugely popular western series Yellowstone starred Kevin Costner as modern-day cattle rancher John Dutton III, backed up by a starry cast. It has already begat two spin-off series: 1883, starring Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as Dutton’s great-grandparents James Dillard and Margaret Dutton; and this series starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as James’s brother Jacob Dutton and his wife, Cara. Sounds a bit like Dallas crossed with Succession. The second series of 1923 was released on Paramount+ earlier this year, but if you are new to the, if you will, Yellow-verse, then here’s a chance to catch up and immerse yourself in the world of Montana cattle ranching in the aftermath of the first World War, a pandemic and the onset of the Great Depression.
The Phone Box Babies
Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
Imagine you’re walking down the street when you hear the sound of a baby’s crying coming from a nearby phone box. Or you’re getting into your car and there, in a shopping bag on the driver’s seat, is a newborn baby. Is this some kind of prank? This new documentary tells the story of three babies – all siblings – who were left abandoned in phone boxes and in a car across Ireland during the 1960s. More than 50 years after they were found, the three siblings – Helen Ward, John Dowling and David McBride, known as the phone box babies – learned about their connection with each other and set off to discover where they came from and why their parents abandoned them in such a bizarre way. On their quest for answers, they uncover more half-siblings and also learn of a connection with snooker legend Ken Doherty.
Streaming
The Sandman
From Thursday, July 3rd, Netflix
Tom Sturridge returns as Dream in the second and final series of the mind-melting fantasy based on the classic comic books by Neil Gaiman. Just to bring you up to speed on the mythical action: after being imprisoned by an occult spell for 106 years, Morpheus aka Dream, one of The Endless, sets out to rebuild his ruined kingdom of The Dreaming, recover various artefacts that were stolen from him, and restore his magical powers. along the way, he does battle with rogue nightmare the Corinthian, and sets out to destroy the dream vortex, which threatens to swallow the entire universe. You with me so far? As series two begins, Dream is looking to the future of his kingdom, but there is still some unfinished supernatural business to take care of. He is going to have to pay a visit to Hell to conduct a daring rescue – needless to say, the denizens of Hell are eagerly awaiting his arrival. Series one featured a dream support cast, and cast additions to series two include Ruairi O’Connor as Orpheus, the only child of Dream and the muse Calliope; Freddy Fox as the charming god of chaos Loki; and Laurence O’Fuarain as the rude and randy Thor, who likes nothing better than getting totally hammered.
All the Sharks
From Friday, July 4th, Netflix
You’ve survived three rounds of Squid Game – but are you ready for this real-life aquatic challenge involving close encounters with the world’s scariest sea creatures? In this new series four teams of marine explorers compete in a global race to find and photograph as many species of sharks as humanly possible. They’ll be diving into the waters of the Caribbean and plunging into the depth of the Pacific on a hunt for toothy predators to add to their fin-tastic photo album and hopefully spark better understanding of these much-maligned marine creatures. Whoever can snap the most shark species will win 50 grand for the marine charity of their choice. This will involve getting uncomfortably close to a variety of sharks, including the endangered hammerhead shark, and the unusual epaulette shark, which – and I don’t want to alarm you here – can actually walk on land. Maybe move your beach towel a bit farther from the shoreline, just to be on the safe side.
