THE REMOTE IS our weekly look at the upcoming TV listings. What With Everything, people are at home a bit more than usual these days and this is perhaps especially true this Christmas.

We’ll focus mainly on free-to-air TV and freely available streaming services – with the occasional recommendation from subscription services too

Something to bring you back to your school days

Many of us still wake in a cold sweat from nightmares about our final state exams but for this year’s Leaving Cert students it was all very different.

Featuring a mixture of self-shot and documentary footage, Rang 2020 follows the lives, struggles and disruptions endured by 4 students as they prepare for their Leaving Cert that never took place.

When’s it on? Tonight at 7.15pm on TG4

Something hyped

Charlie Brooker said this year was too depressing to make a new season of his massively popular but foreboding Black Mirror. 

Instead, he and his writing partner Annabel Jones have created satirical comedy Death to 2020 that promises to “tell the story of the dreadful year that was”. 

Anyone who is familiar with Brooker’s Screenwipe will know that this kind of thing is well within his wheelhouse. Now that he’s the darling of Netflix though it has an impressive cast including Samuel L. Jackson and Lisa Kudrow. 

When’s it on? Streaming now on Netflix

Something to watch on New Year’s

RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

For once, the dreaded question of what you’ll be doing on New Year’s Eve is an easy one because none of us will be doing anything. 

So with most of us staying in, here’s some ideas for your TV choices.

On RTÉ One, Nicky Byrne presents Soundtrack of My Life featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra playing a selection of greatest hits. That starts at 9.45pm before it runs into a NYE Countdown Show from the Gaeity Theatre in Dublin. 

It’s a similar schedule over on BBC One where Graham Norton has a special show featuring Tom Hanks. Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan will also be on to talk about their not-at-all cringeworthy Wild Mountain Thyme.

Alicia Keys will actually be ringing in the New Year after Graham but, if you were wondering was Jools Holland doing his annual Hootenanny thing, then don’t fear it is indeed happening. 

Something challenging

This is the story of Earth's power and fragility.

A new series with David Attenborough.

This is A Perfect Planet.#PerfectPlanet | @BBCOne and @BBCiPlayer | Sunday 3rd Jan, 8.00pm pic.twitter.com/yryzOz1fEr

— BBC (@BBC) December 19, 2020

It seems like every year there’s another David Attenborough series with brighter images and more dramatic music than the last.

But if the formula isn’t broken why fix it and Attenborough is back with a new series that seeks to examine the fine balance in which ecosystems exist. 

A Perfect Planet sees Attenborough back on the BBC too at the usual slot for his primetime shows.

When’s it on? Sunday 3 Jan 8pm on BBC One

Some distinctly Irish true crime

RTÉ RTÉ

In The Real Field, John B Keane’s son, the broadcaster and writer Billy Keane goes in search of the truth behind the murder that inspired his father’s most famous work. 

The tale goes into the dispute between two Kerry farmers in the 1950s that ultimately led to Richard Harris’s nomination for an Oscar in 1991 

This documentary includes interviews with Jim Sheridan and Sheridan’s classic film The Field will air immediately afterwards.

When’s it on? Tonight at 9.25pm on RTÉ One