HD Heads-Up: April 18-24

April 9, 2026 0 Comments

➢➢ Leading a slew of reality show premieres are transTasman trucking rivals Rookie Truckers (Duke, 8.30 Thursday) and Aussie Road Train Truckers (Sky Open, 7.30 Monday). The former is from the team behind Outback Truckers that follows novice drivers as they learn the ropes from the best in the business. The latter is an eight-part Nine Network series about truckies who “haul monster pay loads across the Outback in some of the biggest trucks on the planet”. Also new are Police 24/7 (Sky Open, 9.30 Thursday), which one US critic said “offers all the expected calls, chases, and arrests these types of TV series feature”, and First Class Travel Show (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Wednesday), a three-part Channel 5 series about the booming luxury travel sector, from first-class airlines and safari excursions to five-, six- and even seven-star hotels where the nightly room rates top $20,000. Returning are Space Invaders S4 (Sky Open, 8.30 Wednesday) and Running Wild With Bear Grylls S9 (Sky Open, 7.30 Thursday), which opens with our intrepid hero traversing Norway’s alpine wilderness with Matthew McConaughey …

➢➢ New dramas are limited to Firebite (TVNZ 2, 12,45am Monday) and S2 of The Hunting Party (TVNZ 2, 9.30 Monday). Firebite is a 2021 horror romp set in an Australian mining town that’s said to be the last colonial stronghold for vampires. “Indigenous vampire hunters fight blood-sucking monsters in this effortlessly cool gorefest,” was The Guardian’s verdict of this “exhilaratingly different” eight-part series. “It isn’t surprising that it works — it totally does — it’s just surprising that more Australian producers are not this adventurous,” echoed the Sydney Morning Herald …

➢➢ Ending their runs are:

RPA
Charter Boat Wars
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Here We Go
Deadly Cults
Fear Factor: House of Fear
Australian Survivor: Redemption …

➢➢ Friday’s The Claudia Winkleman Show (TVNZ 2, 7.30) features Phil Dunster, Cush Jumbo and Josh Widdicombe …

➢➢ Live/delayed free-to-air sport includes:

Netball: ANZ Premiership: Steel v Stars (TVNZ 2, 4.00 Saturday)
A-League Men: Wellington Phoenix v Western Sydney Wanderers (Sky Open, 4.30 Saturday)
Netball: ANZ Premiership: Magic v Mystics (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
NRL: Warriors v Titans (Sky Open, 7.00 Saturday)
NRL: Tigers v Broncos (Sky Open, 9.30 Saturday)
Goal Rush – Premier League: Spurs v Brighton (Sky Open, 10am Sunday)
Netball: ANZ Premiership: Tactix host the Pulse (TVNZ 2, 4.00 Sunday)
Super Rugby Pacific 2026 (Sky Open, 6,30 Friday)
NRL (Sky Open, 9.30 Friday) …