RTÉ Things to Know is in its eighth series so maybe someone has to keep an eye on it. I have never met any of them

They did so by blocking random people in the park and asking them to dip in a pack of maggots.

The responses ranged from polite but less impressive (“they are not very tasty now”) to more optimistic (“they are quite mild and really, really crunchy”).

With 1.4 billion insects for every person on the planet, it makes ecological sense to get a protein boost from eating them instead of feeding huge herds of livestock. A lot of people around the world did.

But is there really an appetite (pun intended) to sit through a worthy but somewhat boring show like this when you turn on the TV in the evening after a hard day’s work?

The show is on its eighth series, so maybe someone has to tune in. I’ve never met any of them, that’s all.​

For the next three evenings, it’s your turn Future Island Lives (RTÉ One, Tuesday, 7 p.m.) for drumming education. That’s because it’s what’s called Science Week on RTÉ, with the broadcaster telling viewers to “prepare to marvel at the innovations, discoveries and limitless possibilities”. And if you’re wondering if that’s an example of overpromising and underperforming, you’re right.

Look, I don’t want to be unkind. Really. Without a doubt, everyone involved had the best of intentions.

But watching it is more of a civic duty to be done conscientiously than a joy, for those at home are taught more eco-friendly living, and a man wears a bow tie. Watch young musicians build musical instruments from scrap.

Sometimes it has the awkward feeling of a school science class with teachers trying to entice students with all its fun while everyone looks out the window and waits for the bell to ring.

I suspect the ratings will show you can lead viewers to Science Week, but you can’t get them to. If the numbers prove me wrong, so be it. I bet they don’t.

Video of the day

Thankfully, there are still great documentaries worth watching. The latest secret of hieroglyphs (BBC4, Sunday, 12:05 a.m.) describes the ongoing excavation in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes into the burial chamber of a priest named Padiamenope, who served under the Pharaoh Taharqa in the last century. Saturday BC.

The fact that this was originally a French production about French archaeologists may help explain why the French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion, who discovered how to decipher hieroglyphs some time ago exactly 200 years in 1822, described as having returned home “with priceless treasure discovered in the graves”.

That’s one way to put it.

Another might say that he returned to France with the booty he stole from its true owners. It was a favorite pastime of English and French scholars, many of whom became rich through trade.

That issue aside, the documentary itself is chock full of fascinating historical details and some breathtaking aerial shots of the current area.

Definitely better than being nagged to eat bugs.

Ukrainian children (UTV, Sunday, 10:30 p.m.) harder to watch. War is tragic enough, but seeing it through the eyes of very young people caught up in the conflict is painful.

Azerbaijan-born, London-based filmmaker Shahida Tulaganova focuses on the experiences of 10 children, aged between 6 and 18, across Ukraine since the war began in February.

The youngest Kira, still talking in a whisper, describes having to pick up her favorite toys to take them down to the basement of the building in Kharkiv where she lives, and being unable to leave for weeks as the shelling continued. top.

The eldest, Vyacheslav, remembers the day he and his mother ventured into hiding in search of food after weeks of Russian attacks on their village, only to have her killed by a shell. Now he is left alone to take care of his four siblings.

Nothing could be more heartbreaking than seeing these children – extraordinary wise in the face of death and devastation they have witnessed, and resolutely adapting to terrifying new situations that shouldn’t be. they never had to face – revealing their childish nature again under Tulaganova’s sensitive question.

A 10-year-old boy whose parents are both military declares that he is not afraid of the Russians. If they went to his county, he said, they would be “returned in a truck full of body bags”.

But when asked why he wants to be a soldier, he admits it’s because “most of all, I want to meet my parents”. Then he looked at the ground, and cried.

Even getting to safety often means being separated from friends, family, their language, familiar surroundings.

“I hope nothing happens to me and that I return to my hometown,” 10-year-old Boris said as he prepared to travel to the US in the next three years.

Nearly two million Ukrainian children are currently living far from their homeland. More than 2.5 million people are internally displaced. Hundreds of people died.

Ukrainian children is a profound tribute to all of them.