What"s on the box this week?

'Desperate Housewives" (RTE 2, Tuesday) - Jealousy rears its ugly head on 'Desperate Housewives" this week as Bree"s new cookbook and entrepreneurial success has the women of Wisteria Lane feeling envious. Lynette"s longing for a taste of her breadwinning days as an ad executive leads her to lend an unsolicited hand to Bree"s marketing plan, and MJ"s drawing of a family portrait has left Mike feeling like he"s not a presence in his son"s life. Meanwhile, Gaby hatches a plan to have more sex with Carlos, Susan teaches a reluctant MJ how to fall, and Dave"s motives for moving to the neighbourhood continue to take shape. 'Ear To The Ground" (RTE 1, Thursday) - As the country face into a recession, 'Ear to the Ground" is back with a fresh look at how rural Ireland is changing. New presenter Ella McSweeney, who has a keen interest in wildlife and the environment and is already well-known to radio listeners, will be bringing a new perspective to the series as she joins seasoned presenters Helen Carroll and Darragh McCullough on the popular farming and rural affairs programme. As people take a hard look at how they spend their money, and supermarkets undercut each other as they vie for market share, 'Ear to the Ground" kicks off the new series with an investigation into the effect of cheaper food on the Irish farming industry, and on us the consumer. Lower prices may spell good news for consumers but will Irish farmers be the real victims? Darragh McCullough reports on a vegetable industry in crisis as Irish producers struggle to compete with imports and supermarkets constantly strive to drive the price down. Do we as consumers care if our food is Irish or is cheap food now the most important consideration? Farmers" markets have exploded in recent years but are they just a luxury by-product of the Celtic Tiger era? Helen Carroll investigates what impact the recession will have on farmers" markets and local artisan producers. Will they prove sustainable in the future? 'Little Dorrit" (BBC 1, Thursday) - If you have, hopefully, caught the opening episode last Sunday night, sit back for the next instalment starring Tom Courtenay, Matthew Macfadyen, Bill Paterson, Freema Agyeman, Maxine Peake, Judi Parfitt, Emma Pierson and Claire Foy, who star in Andrew Davies"s brand-new adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens"s novel. Arthur strikes up a tentative friendship with Amy Dorrit, resolving to help her in any way he can, but remains suspicious that his family might have been involved in Amy"s father"s downfall, and that this is what was on his own father"s conscience when he died. If he can prove it, he can help put an end to the Dorrit family"s longstanding woes, for good. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in France, the sinister and cold-blooded murderer Rigaud, who is seemingly unconnected with the story so far, becomes reacquainted with his old cellmate, Cavalletto, who unwittingly plants the thought in Rigaud"s mind about the idea of coming to England. 'Neil Young Night" (BBC 4, Friday) - A night of programmes devoted to Neil Young begins with a classic 'BBC In Concert", first shown in 1971, in which Young plays guitar, harmonica and piano. The concert features what Young at the time described as new songs - among others he performs 'Heart Of Gold", 'A Man Needs A Maid" and 'Old Man" - which went on to appear on his classic LP, 'Harvest". For five decades, Young"s unbending dedication has created an awe-inspiring body of work, and put a few noses out of joint along the way. This film was made from three hours of interview shot in New York and California and utilises previously unseen performance footage from the star"s own extensive archives. It also features Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Nils Lofgren and James Taylor. From his early transcontinental American quest for recognition, through the first flush of success with Buffalo Springfield to the bi-polar opposites of mega-stardom with Crosby, Stills and Nash and the soulful rock of Crazy Horse, Young"s career has truly enjoyed many guises. 'Desperate Housewives" (RTE 2, Tuesday) - Jealousy rears its ugly head on 'Desperate Housewives" this week as Bree"s new cookbook and entrepreneurial success has the women of Wisteria Lane feeling envious. Lynette"s longing for a taste of her breadwinning days as an ad executive leads her to lend an unsolicited hand to Bree"s marketing plan, and MJ"s drawing of a family portrait has left Mike feeling like he"s not a presence in his son"s life. Meanwhile, Gaby hatches a plan to have more sex with Carlos, Susan teaches a reluctant MJ how to fall, and Dave"s motives for moving to the neighbourhood continue to take shape. Movie Of The Week: 'Ransom" (RTE 1, Wednesday) - The first film made by Mel Gibson after the huge success of Braveheart, made here in Ireland. It co-stars Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Donnie Wahlberg, and Live Schreiber in a good kidnap thriller that keeps the tension meter nicely tuned up all the way through.