THE REMOTE IS our weekly look at upcoming TV highlights.

Across TV and streaming services, we bring you some suggestions for your week’s viewing, based on quality, intrigue, and the simple likelihood that something might end up sparking an interesting discussion. Here’s what you should watch out for this week. 

Tonight marks the opening of Virgin Media’s new season, which you can read all about here, and their flagship station has two major offerings for viewers. The first, kicking off at 9pm, is the return of The Guards: Inside The K, which follows the activities of police based in Ireland’s busiest precinct. 

The docuseries was a hit the first time around, and with an increase in noise around crime in Dublin, it’s likely that viewership will hit new heights in 2023. A preview reveals that much of the new series will focus on the rise of drug crime among the youth of Dublin, as well as the Gardaí pursuing arrests under new coercive control laws.

This will be immediately followed by Confessions of a Crime Boss, which sees Virgin using recent exclusive interview footage of John Gilligan, one of Ireland’s most notorious criminals. The documentary will look at how Gilligan’s drug activities changed the face of Irish crime, and look at his trial and acquittal for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin. That airs at 10pm on Monday night.

Staying with crime for a moment, the final season of British crime drama Top Boy will come to Netflix on 7 September. The show was rebooted a few years back after an original run in 2011 and has been a huge hit since it was revived by hip hop artist Drake.

Expectations are high going into the show’s farewell season — definitely one for fans of The Wire or Line of Duty. If you need to catch up, the rest of it is already available on the streaming platform.

Those of you looking for something on the lighter side will be pleased to hear that First Dates Ireland returns for its seventh season this Thursday. The show has been a people-pleaser from the outset and anyone looking to study the behaviour of Irish people looking for love will no doubt be looking forward to seeing the latest goings on from inside Dublin’s Gibson Hotel. That airs at 22.25pm on Thursday on RTÉ 2.