Hello,
Maybe you would feel better about it if you put both functions under one "umbrella" function like this:
parseProgramme = getDetails . getProgramme where getProgramme = ... getDetails = ... That way, your "incomplete" objects would never be exposed to "end user" (even though it's just you). It also gives you an abstraction that may gain you in a future when, say, you would want to fetch pictures as well — it would be just a matter of adding one more function under the "umbrella".
Overall, splitting your algorithm into simple steps — steps that would do just a part of work and return incomplete objects — is the way to go.
You have a point, about splitting code for smaller functions. I would just rather have getDetails called from getProgramme rather than a parent calling both separately. And the parent must do the connection by doing the IO if I want both pieces to be pure. That is what is bothering me mostly. Emmanuel