What's On the Box this week?

'The Secret Life Of Twins' (BBC 1, Wednesday) - Identical twins who have lived their lives apart and twins with drastically different lifestyles, who develop identical heart conditions at almost the same moment in their lifetime, are explored in this new science series. The two-part series meets some of the most fascinating identical twins in the world to find out what they have to say about the nature of us all. The heart-breaking story of Mia and Alexandra, identical twins adopted separately as babies but reunited by two pairs of devoted parents from the US and Norway, come under the spotlight in the opening programme. Though the girls have been raised in different cultures with contrasting approaches to child-rearing and education, their similarities present both sets of parents with a startling question: will their differing parenting styles ever have as much impact as their children's genes? Traversing the globe to meet compelling twins and scientists with trail-blazing ideas, this pioneering new series investigates whether twins may hold the key to understanding what makes us all who we are. _____________________________________________________________ 'Corrigan's City Farm' (RTE 1, Wednesday) - Celebrity chef Richard Corrigan is back for the second instalment of a series where he is determined everybody should have a slice of the good life and wants to prove that it's possible to set up a farm on wasteland in a city location and train an army of volunteers to run it. Seven months ago, Corrigan took two derelict plots in Cork city and, with the help of 24 volunteers, set about transforming the sites into productive city farms. Now he wants to take the experiment further and show everyone how they can eat well without spending a fortune, so that next year even more people are inspired to grow their own food. This week the Ballivor-born chef shows how to haggle for value, while dealing with a bust-up in the allotment and investigating how supermarkets are putting Irish vegetable growers out of business. _____________________________________________________________ 'The Art Of Dying' (BBC 4, Wednesday) - In this intimate documentary, art historian Dan Cruickshank confronts the unavoidable issue of his own certain death, whether it comes sometime soon or, hopefully, well into the future. Cruickshank's mission, in this largely secular age, is to see if art can offer comfort or explanation in the face of the greatest unknown of all. Confronting death on both an emotional and an intellectual level, he relives the sense of loss of close family members, his father and grandfather, and the future death of his only child. He also explores how death has been dealt with through the ages, from the epic depiction of 'Doom' paintings that show the day of judgement, to the fashion for death masks and death-bed paintings; from the art of the obituary writer to the incredible wartime memorial of Kathe Kollwitz; from the medieval tomb of an archbishop of Canterbury to his own death mask. He meets art historian Sister Wendy who contemplates the helpfulness of art in the face of death; painter Maggi Hambling, who portrayed her deceased mother, and Jamie McCartney, who took a plaster cast of his dead father. And in a first for television, Cruickshank persuades the BBC's obituary department to let him see his own obituary - an experience he rather regrets. As he comments: "In the making of this programme, I have confronted what most of us avoid in daily life. Nothing will ever be the same for me after this…" _____________________________________________________________ 'Nurse Jackie' (RTE 2, Tuesday) - Edie Falco stars as a strong-willed and brilliant, but very flawed, emergency room nurse working in the complicated and frenzied environment of a New York City hospital in this excellent series now in its third week. A lapsed Catholic with a weakness for painkillers to get her through the days, Jackie keeps the hospital balanced with her unique bedside manner and own brand of medical justice where every day is a high-wire act of juggling patients, doctors and fellow nurses along with her indiscretions. Her dedication to her profession and her family come into conflict with the complicated decisions she's faced with on an hourly basis, leaving her in many moral and ethical quandaries that she somehow must find a way to figure out. At a time when diehard 'ER' fans are on the lookout for a replacement, 'Nurse Jackie' might just be the right remedy. _____________________________________________________________ Movie Of The Week: 'Flirting With Disaster' (RTE 1, Friday) - Ben Stiller and Tea Leoni co-star in this comedy directed by David O Russell. In a quest to find his biological parents, Mel Coplin embarks on a cross-country search for his roots. Yet as he careens from one outrageous situation to another, he finds himself tempted by a seductive counsellor - even as his wife starts a flirtation of her own. Wacky but hilarious.