ScreenScribe

TVNZ 1 will dump next Wednesday’s Extreme Cake Makers and Location Location Location to premiere Harry & Meghan: A Royal Crisis?. Reads the blurb: “Following the announcement of the royal couple withdrawing from senior duties, we look at the extent of the repercussions this decision will have on the House of Windsor in the coming months.” […]

In a surprise move, Sky has announced TVNZ will be its free-to-air partner for the 2020 Olympic Games rather than its own FTA channel, Prime. The TVNZ service will include live streaming on TVNZ On Demand. Here’s the full release: Sky and TVNZ partner to deliver the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020  Sky has today confirmed TVNZ as its free-to-air […]

   TVNZ tonight announced its 2020 highlights, including a new multi-year BBC deal for wildlife documentary series and OnDemand exclusives like The Dead Lands, Glow Up and Doctor Who. Many of the local series already have been announced through NZ On Air funding rounds (One Lane Bridge, Black Hands) or co-pros (The Luminaries), but among the […]

TVNZ 1 will air Friday’s Rugby World Cup bronze medal match between NZ and Wales an hour after it’s kicked off on Spark Sport. It will screen from 10.00, pre-empting 1 News Tonight, Project Blue Book and Te Karere. Originally, Spark hadn’t allocated TVNZ the right to screen the Bronze Final, but that was before […]

TVNZ 1 promises groundbreaking coverage of 12 Rugby World Cup matches as part of its partnership with Spark. “At TVNZ we talk a lot about delivering the moments that matter to New Zealanders. We see quality sports content, particularly Rugby World Cup 2019, as a key opportunity to do just that,” TVNZ’s GM Sport & Events […]

The Bay | TVNZ 1, 8.30 Wednesday ☆☆☆☆ “The Bay is Broadchurch in Morecambe. I would even bet half my David Tennant memorabilia collection that was the makers’ pitch in its entirety. Why not? It’s perfect. I would have bought it as a commissioner, and as a viewer I was entirely sold … Suspects and police officers […]

Les Miserables | TVNZ 1, 8.35 Sunday ☆☆☆☆ “A star-studded cast led by Dominic West, David Oyelowo, Olivia Colman and Lily Collins helps Andrew Davies restore some of the nuance to Victor Hugo’s epic classic … Les Miserables represents a substantive commitment and yet still feels hours short of an ideal and full Hugo adaptation. It’s […]

Mrs Wilson | TVNZ 1, 9.30 Sunday ☆☆☆☆ “Mrs. Wilson is an entertaining but daunting experience. Heavy on drama but light on action, the piece methodically deconstructs a widow’s reckoning of her late husband when all of his deceit comes crashing down around her after he’s gone. Every time she finds out something horrible about him – […]

Bad Mothers | TVNZ 1, 8.30 Wednesday ☆☆☆☆ “The title of this glamorous suburban thriller is as big a clue as any as to its inspiration. Aside from the accents and the glorious lifestyle shots of bayside Melbourne (and a slightly underdeveloped script), it could be mistaken for HBO’sBig Little Lies. The cocktail scenes are […]

Manifest | TVNZ 1, 8.30 Monday/TVNZ 2, 9.30 Wednesday ☆☆☆☆ “The epitome of what Hollywood calls high-concept story-telling. A plane takes off from an airport in the Caribbean one afternoon and, despite a little rough weather, arrives seemingly intact in New York … five and a half years later. If that sounds weird but not particularly […]