HD Highlights: August 21

Sky Movies Premiere: The Thing (Sky 20, 8.30, 5.1) Despite its title, this is not a re-make of the last decent horror movie John Carpenter directed but a prequel that effectively ends where the 1982 original began. It’s nowhere near as thrilling but the startling visual effects help to compensate for the familiarity of the umpteenth variation on Alien-style monster mayhem in which the confined victims — in this case, Norwegian scientists in the Antarctica — are picked off one by one.  Live Free or Die Hard’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Separation City’s Joel Edgerton, Urich Thomsen, NCIS: Los Angeles’ Eric Christian Olsen and Lost’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje star. (2011) ✭✭✭✩

❑ Coastwatch (TV One, 7.30) There’s an unexpected twist at a check-point in Northland; DOC come face-to-face with the ocean’s greatest predator; and injury hampers a helicopter winch rescue at sea. ✭✭✭

❑ Kings Cross ER (TV3, 8.00)  An unconscious young man is brought into the Emergency Department after suddenly collapsing while out to dinner with his girlfriend. ✭✭✭✭

❑ Season Finale: First Crossings (TV One, 8.30, F) Kevin and Jamie retrace the great journey of Thomas Brunner and his guide Kehu down the Buller River in 1846. They find the river just as dangerous and unpredictable today when they are washed down stream with near tragic results – for the adventurers and their cameraman. ✭✭✭✭

❑ SoHo Highlight: Band of Brothers (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) After surviving the horrors of Bastogne, a battered Easy Company is holed up in Haguenue. Part eight of 10. ✭✭✭✭✭