HD Heads-Up: April 17 – 23

➢➢ TVNZ 2 will use the second week of Popstars to bed in a new local line-up on Mondays from April 19: Vegas (8.30), Creamerie (9.30) and Frickin Dangerous Bro On The Road (10.05). Vegas is a Rotorua-based drama about a publican (Cousins’ Cian Elyse White) who becomes the prime suspect in a botched drug deal the same night her hotel is robbed. Katie Wolfe, Miriama Smith, Alex Tarrant, Xavier Horan, Rena Owen, Dean O’Gorman and Te Kohe Tuhaka co-star …

➢➢ Creamerie is set in a world where only women have survived a global plague — but unless they can find a way to rid their own bodies of the virus to sire males, the human race will be extinct within two lifetimes. Eight years after all the men have been wiped out, three dairy farmers accidentally run over a stranger who turns out to be a man. If you want to binge the series, all of it can be steamed on-demand the same day as its network premiere …

➢➢ Frickin Dangerous Bro on the Road already has been streaming. It’s about a stand-up trio who takes their show on the road to small-town NZ, starting in Oamaru …

➢➢ Another on-demand series that TVNZ 2 will premiere on April 19 is the Australian thriller The Gloaming — but it’s being buried post-midnight despite rave reviews and a cast that includes Kiwis Martin Henderson and Rena Owen …

➢➢ The same week TVNZ will refresh its Wednesday schedule with the return of Bradley Walsh: Breaking Dad (7.30) and The Million Pound Cube (8.00), and the premiere of Secrets of The Driving Test (9.10), an Alan Carr narrated variation on Driving School. Breaking Dad will launch opposite Prime’s Sewer Squad, which follows the construction of one of Britain’s biggest freshwater pipelines …

➢➢ Returning that week will be Massive Engineering Mistakes (Prime, 8.30 Saturday), Doctor Doctor (TVNZ 1, 8.50 Saturday) and Forensics NZ (Prime, 9.30 Thursday) while ending their runs will be The Truck Files: A New Zealand Story, Top Gear, The Gulf, Dog Squad: Puppy School, Dog Squad, The Great British Bake Off, Lap of Luxury, Border Security, Extreme Love Stories, NZ Hunter Adventures and Wild Kai Legends …

➢➢ Appearing on the April 22 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 9.30 Thursday) will be Sharon Stone, Octavia Spencer, Melissa McCarthy, David Schwimmer, Nick Mohammed, Frank Skinner, Michelle Visage and Steps …

➢➢ There will be two network movie premieres in the week starting April 17: Custody (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday) and Capital in the 21st Century (Maori TV, 8.30 Monday). Other HD coming attractions will include:

• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (TVNZ 2, 6.30 Saturday)
• The Boss Baby (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Shutter (Duke, 8.30 Saturday)
• The Taking Of Pelham 123 (Three, 8.55 Saturday)
• Columbiana (TVNZ 2, 9.00 Saturday)
• Hell or High Water (Maori TV, 9.00 Saturday)
• The Purge: Anarchy (Three, 11.00 Saturday)
• Hall Pass (TVNZ 2, 11.10 Saturday)
• Inherent Vice (TVNZ 2, 1.05am Sunday)
• Thor – Ragnarok (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Sunday)
• Elysium (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• The Gallows (TVNZ 2, 9.30 Sunday)
• Mortal Kombat (Prime, 8.30 Monday)
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Hellboy (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• The Internship (Duke, 8.30 Friday)
• True Grit (Maori TV, 8.30 Friday).