HD Heads-Up: November 15-21

November 6, 2025 0 Comments

➢➢ It’s another week of drama nirvana on free-to-air TV, with six newcomers set to premiere. Leading the pack is the humorous Timothy Spall whodunit, Death Valley (TVNZ 1, 8.30 Sunday). He plays an eccentric national treasure and beloved TV detective who teams with a real-life cop he dubs “scintillatingly irritating” to solve murders in a Welsh village. The Guardian thought it “a cosy, witty joy …. It’s like Midsomer Murders with jokes” while The Telegraph reckons “Spall’s witty sleuth proves a rival for Ludwig“. But the Independent quipped it was “less cosy crime, more comatose crime“. An AI summary says the show is reminiscent of Death in Paradise “but with a more grounded approach to the crime itself. It is noted for its performances, particularly Spall’s, and its strong supporting Welsh cast” …

➢➢ The other premieres already are streaming on TVNZ+, ThreeNow, Sky Open or Neon but are well worth checking out on air if you haven’t seen them. Two of them elevate Eden’s unscripted-driven schedule: the acclaimed Paramount+ thriller Fake (9.30 Wednesday) and Welsh murder mystery The One That Got Away (9.30 Thursday). The Australian hailed Fake, which stars Asher Keddie as a food writer who comes to doubt the wealthy new love of her life (David Denham), as “one of the best Australian dramas of the decade so far” …

➢➢ The Australian also loved The One That Got Away, in which the murder of a nurse sparks fears of a copycat serial killer in a small town: “Gorgeously made and meticulously plotted … with top-notch performances.” The Guardian was confused for the right reasons: “A great psychological drama attached to a cracking crime thriller. Or a cracking crime thriller attached to a great psychological drama; I am not sure. Either way, it’s a supremely satisfying treat” …

➢➢ Cementing Saturday nights as a haven for quality drama are Mitford Girls dramatisation Outrageous (Sky Open, 8.30 Saturday) and Keeping Faith (TVNZ 1, 12.45am Sunday). The latter originally screened on the Rialto Channel and has been doing the streaming rounds since 2019, so its FTA debut is well overdue. It’s set in a Welsh seaside town where a successful lawyer, loving wife and devoted mother discovers that much of what she thought she knew about her missing husband was a lie. Reviews were exceptional …

➢➢ Big Mood (Three, 10.25 Wednesday) is an audacious British comedy/drama about mental illness complicating the lives of two best friends on the cusp of turning 30: a struggling playwright with a renewed bipolar disorder that makes her increasingly impulsive, reckless and even dangerous; the other is clinging to the wreckage of her business when her own personal crisis resurfaces: her ‘ex’. The Times thought it “bleak, brutal and funny”, Radio Times “sharp, singular and very funny” while the Independent likened it to Fleabag: “Dark, brooding, fretful. But … the balance of light and shade is missing” …

➢➢ Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure (TVNZ 1, 8.35 Monday) has the British celebrity starting over in the small town of Ngatimoti, near Nelson. Like Jeremy Clarkson’s pub and farm shop ventures in Clarkson’s Farm, he upsets the locals when he turns a vineyard and cafe into “a little slice of England called River Haven, complete with restaurant, dinky general store, Ye Olde English pub called the Bugger Inn and a coffee cart”. Observed The Telegraph: “Never one to knowingly undersell himself, Noel Edmonds has been busily promoting his show as the new Clarkson’s Farm. Having watched it all, I can tell you that this would only be true if Jeremy Clarkson abandoned all self-knowledge and spent every episode behaving like a complete prat, while sharing a shedload of pseudo-scientific woo-woo” …

➢➢ Three is double-billing Aussie jokers duo The Inspired Unemployed: The List (7.30 Thursday) and The Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers (8.25 Thursday) while pre-empting The Graham Norton Show is TVNZ 2’s early Christmas special Miracles (7.30 Friday), in which Steven Frayne, the magician formerly known as Dynamo, “performs breathtaking feats to entertain charities” …

➢➢ The 2010s (Sky Open, 8.30 Sunday) is a 2023 CNN retrospective of the decade, with the first episode focusing on peak TV. It’s being double-billed wth Survival Mode (9.30), which Decider describes as an “entertaining and informative” NBC docuseries about how to survive disasters …

➢➢ The World’s Biggest Cruise Ship (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Wednesday) is another reality newcomer, set aboard the maiden passenger voyage of Royal Caribbean’s “Icon of the Seas” …

➢➢ Starting new seasons are:

Limitless Win UK S3 (Sky Open, 7.30 Saturday)
Ten Pound Poms S2 (TVNZ 1, 10.40 Saturday)
Secret Nazi Bases (Duke, 9.30 Thursday)
Big Boys S3 (TVNZ 2, 11.00 Friday) …

➢➢ Ending their runs are:

Nightflyers
All American: Homecoming
Highway Cops
Dog Squad
Taskmaster
Unbelievable Moments Caught on Camera …

➢➢ Live/delayed FTA sport includes:

Netball: England v Silver Ferns — 1st Test (Sky Open, 10am Sunday)
Rugby: QNS — England v All Blacks (Sky Open, midday Sunday)
ODI Cricket: Blackcaps v West Indies (Duke, 1.30 Sunday)
UFC PPV Prelim Events (Sky Open, 2.00 Sunday)
Football: A-League — Women: Wellington Phoenix v Newcastle Jets (Sky Open, 4.00 Sunday)
American Football: NFL — Washington Commanders v Miami Dolphins (Duke, 3.30am/7am Monday)
Netball: England v Silver Ferns — 2nd Test (Sky Open, midday Monday)
ODI Cricket: Blackcaps v West Indies (Duke, 1.30 Wednesday)
Netball: England v Silver Ferns — 3rd Test (Sky Open, midday Thursday) …