Banner Week of TVNZ 1 Premieres

TVNZ 1 will bed in its new season with nearly a week of nightly premieres from January 21.

It will use its premium 8.30 Sunday drama slot to launch season two of Kiwi-inspired Aussie hit 800 Words with a double episode, ahead of the season two premiere of Indian Summers.

TVNZ 1 has not only delayed the return of the prestigious British period drama but also demoted it to late night: it will air 10.30 Sundays from January 22 whereas two years ago the original was awarded a plum 8.30 Sunday berth.

But don’t expect TVNZ 1 to lighten up Sundays with 800 Words — it will screen 8.30 Wednesdays from January 25.

And if you thought Blindspot would return to Sunday nights, think again — season two will air 8.30 Thursdays from January 26.

Monday nights will also get a facelift with season two of the BBC drama Our Girl taking over the 8.30 hour usually reserved for crime procedurals.

In series two, ex-Coronation Street star Michelle Keegan succeeds the original’s Lacey Turner, as an army medic on a six-week humanitarian mission on Somali’s border with Kenya.

Turner’s EastEnders commitment apparently stopped her from resuming her role but it’s possible she may join Keegan for series three, which will focus on the British army’s role in emergency disaster relief.

TVNZ 1 will also freshen its schedule with the premieres of:

Wild New Zealand (7.00 Sundays from January 22), which is billed as “the moving story of the changing fortunes of New Zealand’s wildlife since humans first arrived”;

Eat Well for Less (8.30 Tuesdays from January 24), a BBC hit about how to eat cheaper and better;

The Catch (11.15 Wednesdays from January 25), a Shonda Rhimes (How To Get Away With Murder, Grey’s Anatomy) newcomer about an LA private eye (The Killing’s Mireille Enos) who will stop at nothing to catch the fiancee who fleeced her (Six Feet Under’s Peter Krause).

TVNZ 1 will open its week of nightly newcomers with the network movie premiere of Jersey Boys (10.35 Saturday) and cap it with the grand final of MasterChef Australia (7.00 Friday).