TV preview: Six shows to watch on television this week

Trial of the Century
Sunday and Monday, TV3, 9pm
It's Easter 1916 and the Rising has been crushed. Its leaders have been rounded up and are preparing to face execution. But what if Patrick Pearse had not been summarily shot, but was actually put on trial to state his case? That's the intriguing premise of Trial of the Century (the first episode of which aired on Saturday and can be found on the TV3 Player), a three-part drama over three consecutive nights on the bank holiday weekend.

Even more intriguing is that the iconic commander-in-chief of the rebels will be played by none other than Nidge himself, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor.

In last night’s first episode, Pearse, having been denied the chance to die for his beliefs, is put in the dock, but refuses to engage with the court. When the prosecution sets out to discredit him and rubbish the Rising, he decides it’s time to take on the legal eagles in a courtroom battle for his life and the future of Ireland. Vaughan-Lawlor is joined by a cast that includes Mark Huberman, Andrew Bennett, Aoibhinn McGinnity, David Heap and Anthony Brophy.

Ireland's Treasures
Sunday, RTÉ One, 6.30pm
Ella McSweeney and Dr Gavin Hughes are on a treasure hunt, and they're starting at the obvious place: the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. The pair rummage through the relics there in Ireland's Treasures, uncovering the stories behind some of Ireland's most famous artefacts, including the Tara Brooch. We'll also learn about the discovery of a thieves' horde of ancient gold, and a treasure that united nationalists and unionists.

The 1916 Challenge
Monday, RTÉ Two, noon and 5pm
What was it like to be a child in Dublin in 1916? It wasn't exactly lol, certainly; no Instagram, no 1D, and no Wii. So how would today's mollycoddled kids survive in the days before lawnmower parenting and lifts to school in the Range Rover? In The 1916 Challenge, six children are sent back in time. They must spend 24 hours in the shoes of children from 100 years ago (assuming they could afford shoes) and live the way they lived. This means doing back-breaking chores, such as collecting coal and mangling laundry. They'll also have to adopt a 1916 diet, which includes tongue, tripe and gizzards, and do their sums under the gimlet eye of a very stern teacher (not played by Vaughan-Lawlor). Finally, after a gruelling day, they'll have to sleep on scratchy bedding made of horsehair. Mummy!

Veep
Monday, Sky Atlantic, 10.10pm and 10.45pm
If you think the idea of Donald Trump in the Oval Office is scary, you obviously haven't seen Veep, the misadventures of hapless vice-president Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as she tries, not always successfully, to get through a chaotic schedule without causing diplomatic incidents or world wars. Louis-Dreyfus returns in a fifth season of the hit comedy created by Armando Iannucci, and this time she's in the presidential driving seat, fighting losing battles on all fronts, including a challenge to her presidency from her own VP.

Penny Dreadful
Tuesday, Sky Atlantic, 10pm
Get ready for another supernatural-horror-literary mash-up, as Penny Dreadful returns for a third series, shot in Dublin and featuring an ever-growing cast of grotesques straight out of the pages of Victorian pulp horror. Regular cast members Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Rory Kinnear, Sarah Greene and Josh Hartnett are joined by Sazad Latif as Dr Jekyll, Brian Cox as rancher Jared Talbot and Wes Studi as mysterious Native American Kaetenay. As series three opens, Vanessa (Eva Green), still reeling from the trauma of losing Ethan (Josh Hartnett), is confronted with the face of true evil (no, not Nidge).

The Windsors
Friday, Channel 4, 10pm
Prince Harry having sex with Pippa Middleton? The Duchess of Cambridge catching Ebola? We're a long way from Coronation Street . . . Harry Enfield stars as Prince Charles in a new spoof soap opera, The Windsors, in which the creators of Star Stories, George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore, let their imaginations run riot in Buckingham Palace. The whole gang's here, including Wills, Kate, Camilla, Fergie, Andrew, Beatrice and Eugenie, in a six-part "ludicrous parody" that takes you beyond the palace door and into the wacky lives of this imaginary royal family. One hopes one's ribs are suitably tickled.