TV guide: the best new shows to watch, starting tonight

Pick of the week

Dr Marie Cassidy Investigates Ireland’s Last Witch TrialThursday, RTÉ One, 10.15pm

Among a heap of spooky TV shows this week is this historical one with former State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy at the helm. She looks back at Ireland’s last witch trial, which took place on the peninsula of Islandmagee, north of Belfast. In 1711 rumours swirled that an 18-year-old woman named Mary Dunbar was demonically possessed, but Mary accused eight local women of practising witchcraft on her. The women were put on trial and found guilty before being brutally punished. Dr Cassidy travels to Dublin, Edinburgh, Belfast and Islandmagee to meet experts including Dr Gillian Kenny, who compares the beliefs around witchcraft in Gaelic Ireland to those held by Dunbar’s Scots Presbyterian community. She also meets an expert in the case, Dr Andrew Sneddon, heads to the Ulster Folk Museum to find out about life for Ulster-Scots Presbyterian women at that time, and then goes onwards to Edinburgh to hear from Witches of Scotland podcasters and campaigners Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi about how women were targeted with witchcraft accusations. The programme concludes on Islandmagee itself, where Dr Cassidy visits a memorial to the accused women.

Highlights

The UnrealSunday, RTÉ One, 4.40pm

More spookiness for youngsters. The Unreal is back for a third series, with two episodes under the title Curse of the Morrigan. This is a comedy-horror that’s centred on the Kelly family: parents Mary and Tom and their kids Katie and Kevin. In the first episode of the new season, Kevin receives a mysterious postcard that contains a threat to reveal his secret: that he’s a fictional character who has escaped into the real world. The entire family head to a spooky island to investigate what’s going on, but find that the locals living there have plenty of secrets of their own. One for young people who like supernatural mysteries.

Trauma: My Broken Brain Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

About 7,500 people in Ireland are admitted to hospital because of strokes every year. But it’s not just people in their later decades who are impacted by strokes. As this programme shows, in the UK alone 10,000-20,000 people under the age of 50 suffer from strokes annually. The documentary, which was filmed over seven months, focuses on the stories of three young people. One is Saskia, who nine months after a stroke is living at home and trying to overcome her debilitating OCD in order to regain her independence. Then there’s the former dancer Dan, who is using a wheelchair and relearning how to speak. Dec is in a coma after suffering a stroke, and his girlfriend and family are at his bedside hoping he will survive. The programme makers describe it as “an ambitious and important series that challenges perceptions and gives a voice to young people whose lives have been transformed by stroke”.

The Handel Scandal: The Making of The Messiah Tuesday, Sky Arts, 8pm

Ireland is very proud of its link to George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. The iconic oratorio premiered on Fishamble Street in Dublin in 1742 to a sell-out crowd, after an invite to Handel from the lord lieutenant, Lord Devonshire. The young English actor and singer Susannah Cibber performed on the night, and it was her first time singing in front of an audience since a sordid adultery scandal had attracted a lot of attention. This documentary programme is directed by Lisa Fairbank and presented by soprano Danielle de Niese, and looks at the controversial genesis of Handel’s Messiah and its connection to the disgraced Cibber.

Cheap Irish HomesTuesday, RTÉ One, 7pm

It’s the final episode in the current – and seventh – series of Cheap Irish Homes, where Maggie Molloy and architect Tadhg Casey have been travelling across the country to find affordable homes for buyers. So far this season they’ve found everything from forgotten cottages to town-centre treasures. In this final episode, Maggie and Tadhg help 56-year-old Yvonne Rooney find a new abode. She’s living in Gorey, Co Wexford, but wants to move to a quiet, rural location. She has a budget of €200,000, and is seeking a home that offers both privacy and a good size garden – and she doesn’t mind if it needs some renovation. Let’s see what the experts find for her.

The Future with Hannah Fry Wednesday, BBC Two, 7.30pm

It’s been a busy year for British mathematician, author and broadcaster Hannah Fry. She’s been on the Celebrity Traitors (whose finale is also this week – see below), and also presents Radio 4’s Curious Cases with Dara Ó Briain and cohosts The Rest Is Science podcast. She’s back this week for the second series of this show where she uses her knowledge to help explore the world’s technological future, and explain what that might mean for us all. It might be no surprise to hear that the subject of this first episode is AI. Thankfully, you’d trust Fry to be the one to explain both the drawbacks and benefits of AI, across all its many applications.

Murder in Belfast – Sisters Seeking Justice Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

In 2005, Robert McCartney – a 33-year-old father of two – was killed by members of the IRA outside Magennis’s Bar in Belfast city centre. After his death, his sisters Catherine, Paula, Gemma, Donna and Claire, as well as his fiancee, Bridgeen Hagans, fought for justice in the face of innumerable barriers and intimidation of potential eyewitnesses. They travelled the world and met political leaders, and this programme details their fight as well as the impact of McCartney’s tragic death on the family.

The Celebrity Traitors Finale Friday, BBC One, 8pm

This series of the Celebrity Traitors has certainly been an entertaining and juicy watch. It started off with a bang when in the very first episode actor Richard E Grant told the Faithfuls that he was a Traitor, one of the most iconic moments in the show’s history. The aftermath of this meant the rest of the contestants had plenty to chew on over the next few days. But Grant didn’t last long, and soon both comedian James Acaster and broadcaster Hannah Fry were recruited as Traitors – despite being quite reluctant to be on that side of the competition. Now everything will come to a head in the final episode, presented as always by Claudia Winkleman. Let’s hope it’s as explosive and bonkers as the rest of the series has been. It’s followed by an episode of The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked, which looks behind the scenes.

Streaming

NocturneFrom Friday, October 30th, Apple TV

Liev Schreiber and Stephen Graham are the heavyweight names on opposite sides of the law in this dark crime series based on the bestselling Scandi-noir novels. For this series the action has been moved to the United States, where Schreiber is the former soldier Jonah Lynn, a homicide detective in Philadelphia who has decided to get away from the pressure cooker of big-city policing and move with his family to a small town in Pennsylvania. But if he thinks he’s in for a relaxing time, he’s in for a shock when the town is terrorised by a serial killer, Jurek Walter (Graham), who likes to bury his victims alive so he can taunt their loved ones. No prizes for guessing that Lynn’s own family is targeted by Walter, and he’s forced to make some agonising choices to save those he loves the most.