What's on the box this week?

'The Way We Worked' (RTE 1, Friday) - The family farm was once the core economic unit in Ireland before industrialisation and emigration changed the face of agricultural life. This new RTÉ series plans to look at the changes in the way we worked through the eyes of men who worked and lived through these dramatic times. The Irish have a great love for the land. Yet attitudes to the land have changed radically over the last 50 years. Some men who once dug the turf, tilled fields and milked cows sought extra money through employment in agricultural industries. Irish coal-miners have, for generations, slaved deep underground in dangerous tunnels to eke out a living. Today, the collieries lie abandoned, but the deadly legacy of the mines lives on. In the first episode of 'The Way We Worked', the men who started work deep in the mines at the tender age of 14 tell their stories. These stories are of backbreaking work, dangers and terrible accidents, but also camaraderie and the pride they had in their jobs. ____________________________________________________________ 'The Sarah Jane Adventures: Prisoner Of The Judoon' (BBC 1, Thursday) - Investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, one-time companion to The Doctor, is back for a third series of alien-busting adventures, from creator Russell T Davies, which also features a special appearance from The Doctor himself, David Tennant, who stars in two episodes. Sarah Jane is accompanied by her adopted son, Luke; his streetwise pal, Clyde Langer; their schoolmate, Rani, who lives opposite and has aspirations to become a journalist like Sarah Jane, and their Xylok super computer in the attic, Mr Smith. Sarah Jane's robot dog, K-9, also joins the gang on their adventures. In the first of this two-part adventure, Sarah Jane and the gang face the most dangerous day of their lives, as the rhino-like Judoon return. When prisoner Androvax the Destroyer crash-lands on Earth, a Veil is set free and starts to turn Earth's technology against itself. And his next intended victim is Sarah Jane. ______________________________________________________________ 'The Red Lion' (Channel 4, Thursday) - Is time being called on Britain's boozers, as seems to be the case in Ireland? In spite of dire Government health warnings, average alcohol intake is twice what it was half a century ago. Yet economic woes are forcing seven pubs a day to shut their doors for good. To find out what pubs really mean to the British public, award-winning film-maker Sue Bourne sets off on a 3,000-mile pub crawl to some of the country's 600 Red Lions: the most common pub name. This 'Cutting Edge' film is a timely snapshot of British drinking habits, revealing the nation's continuing, if complicated, love affair with alcohol. On her journey, Bourne meets scores of people propping up Britain's bars, from tipsy grannies to lonely souls, and boozing netball players to golfers at the '19th hole'. Their stories are, by turns, touching, funny, sad, gentle and quirky. The UK Department of Health calculates that alcohol misuse costs the NHS £2.7 billion a year, and that a quarter of people are drinking enough to put their health at risk. But, at the same time, the banning of smoking in public places, higher duty and cheaper supermarket booze mean that more people are drinking at home. "I'm Scottish, so I'm used to heavy drinking," says Bourne. "But what did come as a surprise was discovering how much everyone else around the country is knocking back. Day in, day out. And they all seem to think it isn't a problem, just a bit of social drinking." ______________________________________________________________ 'Project Ha-Ha' (RTE 2, Monday) - Why do the Irish drink so much? Is it the weather? Is it living under the yoke of the Catholic Church or the sceptre of British rule? Or is it just because we can't say no? Written by and starring comic David McSavage, and directed by Kieron J Walsh, the show examines, through vox pops, satirical documentary and sketches, the reasons the Irish give for being the biggest nation of drinkers on the planet. These range from the weather, our shyness and our ugliness, to the weight of Catholic guilt and the legacy of British rule. We meet pub owner Bull Mick, see Ireland on the psychiatrist's couch, and hear the 'Rapaholics' (David McSavage and Aidan Bishop) attempt to dissuade a transition year class from falling under the spell of alcohol. The show stars many well-known actors and comics, including Declan Rooney, Aidan Bishop, Pat McDonnell and Gerard McSorley. ______________________________________________________________ 'Charlie Bird's Arctic Journey' (RTE 1, Monday) - Charlie Bird travels deep into the Arctic by dog sled and skidoo across the ice, exploring the world of the Inuit. Then he heads for Siberia and boards a nuclear ice-breaker bound for the North Pole as the RTE correspondent heads on a quest for insights central to the whole climate change story. In the first episode, Bird travels by ever smaller aircraft to the northernmost permanent community in the world - Grise Fjord on Ellesmere Island, Canada. There he sets out on an eight-day sled journey guided by an Inuit hunter. He finds out first-hand the impact of global warming on the people, the landscape and the challenges facing the Inuit as their natural way of life has changed from pure hunting and survival to almost complete dependence on the government. Bird lives rough with an Inuit hunter, travelling past fjords and glaciers through one of the most beautiful corners of the Arctic. ______________________________________________________________ Movie Of The Week: 'The Secret Of Santa Vittoria' (RTE 2, Sunday) - This classic 1969 comedy stars Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani, directed Stanley Kramer, about the inhabitants of an Italian village who attempt to hide one million bottles of wine from the occupying Germans during World War II.