What’s on? Top 10 TV and streaming tips for Friday

Melody Neuman1 week ago

0 0 5 minutes read

It’s a busy one on the box with Big Brother: Live Final, the PwC All-Stars Awards, Children in Need, the Country Music Awards, while Nicholas Cage stars in Renfield and Toni Collette heads the cast in Mafia Mamma . . .

Pick of the Day

Big Brother: Live Final, Virgin Media Two & UTV, 9.00pm

Here we go. Again.

After more than 40 days in the Big Brother house, the first season of the rebooted reality show comes to an end with the final few housemates hoping they have what it takes to walk off with the £100,000 prize money.

Not a bad return for hanging around with some strangers for a few weeks.

Farida Khalifa, Zak Srakaew and Hallie Clarke were the first three to be evicted – but it remains to be seen who will emerge victorious as Will Best and AJ Odudu (above) interview the finalists and look back on some of the best bits.

Don’t Miss

Mafia Mamma, Prime Video

Toni Collette’s always worth a watch as she adds something to every project she’s ever been involved with – and this action comedy shouldn’t be an exception.

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Here she plays an insecure American woman who unexpectedly inherits her grandfather’s mafia empire in Italy, where she hilariously defies everyone’s expectations as the new head of the family business.

It looks silly, but it also features a significant amount of Rome.

New or Returning Shows

PwC All-Stars Awards 2023, 7.30pm, RTÉ One

Streaming on RTÉ Player

Marie Crowe presents the ceremony from Croke Park as the hurlers and gaelic footballers of the year are honoured.

Limerick manager John Kiely lifts the Liam McCarthy Cup

For example, the All-Ireland football champions, Dublin, have secured an impressive 10 places in the All-Star football nominations.

In hurling, it’s a similar story as four-in-a-row All-Ireland champions Limerick are again the dominant force in the list of names that make up this year’s nominees.

AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, 9.00pm, Sky Arts

Streaming on NOW

This is the first documentary to explore the complex and revolutionary music and lyrics of Marc Bolan (below) and his hugely successful band T Rex.

Bolan was one of the main faces of the Glam movement in the early 1970s but died at a tragically young age – two weeks short of his 30th birthday – after a car crash in September 1977.

Using archival performances, interviews with Bolan, Elton John and Ringo Starr, plus filmed musical interpretations by a lengthy array of artists.

They include Nick Cave, John Cameron Mitchell, Joan Jett, Macy Gray, U2, Lucinda Williams, Father John Misty – and Marc Bolan’s son Rolan Bolan, among others.

Here’s Kesha doing a pretty good version of Children of the Revolution:

Children in Need 2023, 7.00pm, BBC One

Celebrities join forces to help raise funds for the charity that currently supports thousands of projects in communities across the UK, all of which aim to improve the lives of children.

Ade Adepitan, Mel Giedroyc, Chris Ramsey, Alex Scott (below), Jason Manford and up-and-coming 14-year-old actor Lenny Rush front this year’s appeal night live from Media City UK.

As ever, there will be exclusive sketches and unique performances, showcasing celebrities in roles never previously imagined.

Included are special one-off sketches from some top TV shows, including MasterChef and a very special parody of Race Across the World.

Plus, music by Jerub, Leigh-Anne, and the UK’s Junior Eurovision act STAND UNIQU3.

Country Music Awards 2023, 10.35pm, BBC Four

Here’s the pick of the highlights of the 57th annual Country Music Association Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Among the artists set to perform are Jelly Roll, K Michelle, Little Big Town, Megan Moroney, Old Dominion, Carly Pearce, Chris Stapleton (above), Tanya Tucker and Lainey Wilson.

New to Stream

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Netflix

Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, but learns he must defeat her seven evil exes in order to date her. Then things get even more complicated.

Based on the hugely popular graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley.

Renfield, Sky Cinema & NOW

Nicholas Cage and Nicholas Hoult star in director Chris McKay’s comedy-horror, a modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant.

Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula (Cage, of course).

Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased.

But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness.

If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.

She Came to Me, Sky Cinema & NOW

Romcom starring Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei, Peter Dinklage, Brian D’Arcy James, Chris Gethard and Joanna Kulig.

It’s a multi-generational love story set against the iconic backdrop of New York.

A composer suffering from creative block finds inspiration after a chance encounter with an unusual woman, while a couple of bright teenagers fight to prove to their parents that young love can last forever.

And for a successful therapist who seemingly has it all, love arrives in the most unexpected of ways.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Apple TV+

Here’s a big-budget fantasy drama series for those who like monsters and carnage.

Following the epic battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs that leveled San Francisco, two siblings uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch.

Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw, taking place in the 1950s and half-a-century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows.

The dramatic saga – spanning three generations – reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.