TV PICKS OF THE WEEK By Lisa Jewell

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

Film – Heat – Monday 29 May, 11.10pm, Film4

A huge commercial and critical success when it was released in 1995, Heat is one of those classic crime thrillers that warrants repeated viewings. Michael Mann’s film is essentially a two hander between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro who starred together for the first time (they had both appeared in The Godfather Part II but never shared screen time).

De Niro plays master criminal Neil McAuley, who’s based on a real person, and Pacino is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna. It’s a classic cat and mouse game as McAuley’s gang brazenly undertake a series of heists and Hanna pursues him. The famous diner scene between the two is a masterpiece in both acting and cinematography and interestingly, was not rehearsed by the actors.

Documentary – Koko: The Gorilla Who Talks to People

Wednesday 31 May, 9pm, BBCFour

Born at San Francisco Zoo in 1971, Koko the gorilla was loaned to Penny Patterson for a research project to see if it was possible to teach sign language to a baby gorilla. She has since learnt more than 1,000 signs and can understand about 2,000 spoken words.

Much of her life has been documented by cameras – her interaction with Robin Williams is a much viewed clip on YouTube. The documentary focuses on her lifelong relationship with Penny Patterson, including a battle to prevent her from being taken back to the zoo where she was born.

Film – Boyhood – Friday 2 June, 9.35pm, RTE2

An ambitious undertaking by director Richard Linklater, Boyhood was filmed over the course of 12 years to document the changes in a young boy’s life and in the family around him. Patricia Arquette, in an Oscar winning role, and Ethan Hawke star as the parents. Ellar Coltrane plays Mason, starting as a six year old and ending as a young man about to embark on college life.

It’s an intimate portrayal of family life and is incredibly naturalistic for a feature film. At times, this can make it a bit slow narratively speaking but from an emotional point of view, the film is ultimately a sum of all its parts. It deservedly topped many film of the year polls in 2014.