Five unmissable shows on TV

Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan return in The Fall; Morgana Robinson impersonates; John Connors documents Traveller history and folklore

The Fall
Sunday, RTÉ One, 9.30pm; Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm
The deadliest cat-and-mouse game on TV resumes for a final round with the return of The Fall. The second season ended with Det Supt Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) cradling a critically injured Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) in her arms as his life ebbed away. Having pursued her nemesis this far, Gibson now faced the prospect that the killer might escape justice by dying. As series three opens, medical staff at Belfast General Hospital are frantically trying to save Spector's life so he can face trial for the murders he has committed. She may think she's got her man in checkmate, but the rules of the game are about to change once again. This concluding series promises to have you at the edge of your seat – and, occasionally, jumping out of it.

50 Ways To Kill Your Mammies
Monday, Sky 1, 9pm
Not satisfied with trying to send his own sainted mother to her doom, Baz Ashmawy has recruited an entire team of matriarchs to take on some life-threatening challenges in 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammies. For this third series of the Emmy award-winning series, Baz and Nancy are joined by 73-year-old Grace, from Scotland, 65-year-old Rosaline, originally from Singapore, 77-year-old Ann, from London and 73-year-old Joy, originally from Jamaica – all of whom are looking for some adventure and excitement in their golden years.

Morgana Robinson's The Agency
Monday, BBC Two, 10pm
What do Miranda Hart, Russell Brand, Joanna Lumley, Mel and Sue, Danny Dyer and Adele have in common? They're all mercilessly impersonated by Morgana Robinson in her new comedy series Morgana Robinson's The Agency. Leading talent agent Vincent Mann allows a camera crew into his agency to meet his celebrity roster – all of them played by Robinson. Will this be a virtuoso one-woman show or a case of overworked impersonator? Shouldn't knock a feather off her.

Damned
Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm
Jo Brand and Morwenna Banks team up for this new comedy series following a team of social workers at Elm Heath children's services as they try to serve the community in the face of cutbacks, stress and an impossible workload. Being a social worker is "like being a traffic warden without the perks", Brand said, and the show focuses on the daily battles being fought at the frontline of care.

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John Connors: The Travellers
Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm
We've had lots of programmes about Travellers, some more exploitative than others, but John Connors: The Travellers sees a team of Travellers documenting their own history and folklore. Connors, an actor, leads the team, which includes mother and daughter Geraldine and Annemarie McDonnell, who graduated last year with BAs in community and youth work; UCD lecturer Sindy Joyce, who has a masters degree in sociology, and Michael Collins, who runs health programmes for Traveller men in Dublin. Armed with cameras, sound recording equipment and even DNA collecting kits, the team interviews family members and friends and records their stories, including that of the Travellers' own bogeyman, the Cruelty Man.

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney is an Irish Times journalist