TV PICKS OF THE WEEK – 29-01-18 – By Lisa Jewell

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

Documentary – Trophy: The Big Game Hunting Controversy
Mon 29 January, 9pm, BBC Four

Since 1970, the world has lost 60 per cent of all wild animals. This rapid race towards extinction of some species has been fuelled by the rise of big game hunting in Africa.

Trophy hunters pay big bucks to be able to shoot and kill species like elephants, rhinos and lions and are being assisted by a growing commercialisation of permits to carry out big game hunting. Conservationists are understandably horrified that their efforts to save animals are being undermined with this practice.

This Storyville documentary looks at the issue through the eyes of the individuals who drive this business – from a Texas trophy hunter to the world’s largest private rhino breeder in South Africa, who believes he is saving the animals from becoming extinct.

Film – A Walk in the Woods

Wednesday 31 January, 9pm, Film Four

Entertaining true life comedy starring Robert Redford as the American author Bill Bryson. After many years living overseas and writing his travelogues, Bryson returns to his native America.

He decides to team up with a pal he hasn’t seen in many years (Nick Nolte) to walk the Appalachian Trail. Things don’t quite go to plan….

Film – Noble

Saturday 3 February, 10pm, RTE2

Another biopic but this time with a weightier subject matter. Noble follows the story of Christina Noble, children’s rights campaigner, who founded a foundation in Vietnam to help impoverished and abused children.

The film is set in Vietnam in 1989 but flashes back to Noble’s tough upbringing in Dublin and her subsequent move to the UK. It shows the remarkable work and sacrifice that she made to help children who had no one to stand up for them. Stars Deirdre O’Kane, Sarah Greene, Brendan Coyle, Mark Huberman and Ruth Negga.