Eamonn & Ruth: How the Other Half Lives, Five, Tuesday at 9pm
There’s nothing new about TV gawping at the super rich.
In the early 80s, David Frost was looking through the keyholes of the rich and famous, and MTV had rock stars showing us around their ostentatious homes in Cribs.
Now husband and wife presenters, Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford are back for a second series of How the Other Half Lives.
Although, while Cribs genuflected at the monster-sized fishtanks and 12-foot wide master beds, Eamonn and Ruth may just be encouraging us to snigger.
This week we met a man called Prince John Zyliaski, a Londoner who says he’s Polish royalty.
And Zyliaski has a bit of a liking for gold and marble.
Zyliaski’s home - The White House - is, well, white on the outside and gold leaf on the inside.
His two-tone marble bath cost £50,000 and his gold Steinway piano is worth somewhere up to £1 million.
He’s the only householder in London, he says, with a gold leaf gilder on the staff.
And Zyliaski, a property developer, does not seem to be the philanthropic type. He uses his cash to venerate his deceased relatives, including erecting a gold-leaf statue to one in a Polish town.
It needs an alarm to prevent the locals pinching bits of it. Now that’s worth a snigger.
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Made in Northern Ireland, BBC 1, Monday at 7.30pm
Stephen Nolan is doing his bit to promote entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland - and God knows it needs some help.
Despite the peace process, the standard of living in the north is significantly behind the Republic and the rest of the UK.
The main reason is our over-reliance on the state for jobs and income and the chilling effect that has on wealth creation.
Why take a chance on starting up a business when everyone you know has a safe, pensionable job in the public service?
Nolan is travelling across the north meeting people with ideas for making money.
Very few seem like they will be profit making, but that suits the Nolan style perfectly.
The BBC says the ideas are “wise and sometimes wacky” and that allows Nolan to have a bit of fun.
And sure what harm, if it encourages more people to have a go at creating businesses we’ll all benefit.
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The Ryder Cup, Sunday, Sky Sports from 4.30pm
There was a sporting and television perfection to the first two-hours of the final day of the Ryder Cup.
Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reid played scintillating golf as the first men out for both teams.
Normally sporting contests take a bit of time to reach their emotional pitch. This one had Reid roaring triumph on the first green, with a 20-foot putt for a half.
The following eight-holes were sensational, with blows traded both in outrageously good shots and exuberant celebration.
The eight-green was the climax. McIlroy holed a sixty-footer for birdie and set off on a cup final goal celebration.
“Whaoooo … I can’t hear you,” he roared as he marched across the green, his hand cupped to his ear as if he'd scored a goal in the away end in a football derby.
When things calmed down, Reid rolled in a twenty-footer for a half and put his finger to his lip as if to hush the Holywood man.
Rory broke into a smile and the gladiators embraced. Emotionally spent they limped through the back nine.
It was only eight holes, but it was sporting television at its finest
