TV PICKS OF THE WEEK By Lisa Jewell

Make a date or set your DVR for our top telly choices this week

Film – The Place Beyond the Pines

Wednesday 10 May, 9.30pm, RTE1

Moody and intriguing crime drama starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper. The 2012 film can be slow moving in parts but that’s the director’s style – Derek Cianfrance previously teamed up with Gosling for the similarly paced Blue Valentine.

The film ultimately has you questioning who the good guys and the bad guys are, as the life of a young stunt rider with a complicated family life (Gosling) intersects with that of an ambitious young cop (Cooper). Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne and Ray Liotta also star.

Documentary – Wild Cities

Thursday 11 May, 8pm, RTE1

This series has been taking a look at the wild habitants of our urban centres around the country. This time the focus is on wildlife in Dublin – the deer in the Phoenix Park, hares at Dublin Airport and geese at Dublin Port.

Documentary – OJ: Made in America

Sunday 14 May, 9pm, BBC4

This ambitious and accomplished five part documentary series scooped the Best Documentary prize at this year’s Oscars. It chronicles the rise and fall of OJ Simpson, focusing on the symbolism that he had in American culture as a football hero and celebrity and his subsequent infamy during the murder trial of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman and later, his conviction and imprisonment for armed robbery.

The documentary – by producer and director Ezra Edelman – explains Simpson in the context of what was happening in America at the time and uses archive footage and interviews to set the scene.

TV critic James Poniewozik described the director’s technique, “Ezra Edelman pulls back, way back, like a news chopper over a freeway chase. Before you hear about the trial, the documentary says you need to hear all the stories – the stories of race, celebrity, sports, America – that it’s a part of.”