HD Heads-Up: April 2-8

➢➢ Julia (Prime, 8.40 Thursday) is the strongest sign yet of the channel’s prestige TV drama ambitions. The HBO Max take on chef Julia Chlid’s life will screen free-to-air here the week of its US premiere. Normally a series of this calibre first would screen on Sky’s SoHo or Neon platforms. Starring Sarah Lancashire and David Hyde Pierce, it was dubbed “sweetly comic” by Vanity Fair: “Julia examines its eponymous heroine’s second act of celebrity as a budding television personality, having just introduced French cooking to the American masses via her groundbreaking cookbook … Lancashire’s powerhouse performance marks both a staggering change of pace for the actor and a long time coming” …

➢➢ Your Honor (Prime, 9.35 Tuesday) wins a FTA run a year after its SoHo/Neon premiere. It’s a juicy if ultimately overwrought crime drama about a New Orleans judge (Bryan Cranston) who’s compromised when his son’s involved in a hit-an-run accident that kills a mobster’s son …

➢➢ Hollyoaks (TVNZ 1, 1.00 weekdays from April 5) is a veteran UK soap that will air here (and OnDemand from April 2) from the 2022 season. TVNZ is picking up the 27-year-old serial, which revolves around the lives of villagers just outside of Chester, in the wake of a large number of key departures and new characters settling in. Here’s a who’s who catch-up …

➢➢ The Simpsons – Adult Edition (TVNZ 2, 9.55 Monday) will showcase a two-part Fargo spoof that’s said to be a cross between a normal episode of The Simpsons and a Treehouse of Horror special, hence the late-night slot. Watch for a “Simpflix” logo in the opening credits of A Serious Flanders, that sees Homer and Ned Flanders sucked into the “artfully violent world” of prestige TV when a ruthless debt collector comes to Springfield …

➢➢ Childhood’s End (Duke, 9.30 Saturday), which depicts a peaceful alien invasion of Earth, will anchor the channel’s sci-fi night six years after it first screened on Sky’s The Zone. “While it doesn’t quite live up to the book that inspired it, Childhood’s End has a balanced narrative and sympathetic performances,” was Rotten Tomatoes’ summation of the 26 reviews that earned an aggregated rating of 69% “fresh” …

➢➢ Maori TV will launch two series in the week starting April 2: Blue Water Empire (7.30 Sunday) is a docudrama about the history of the Torres Strait Islands, from its pre-colonial era to now; Kairākau II (9.00 Thursday) focuses on the lives of three prominent pre-colonial Maori chiefs …

➢➢ Returning for new seasons will be Lap of Luxury (TVNZ 1, 8.00 Tuesday), The Million Pound Cube (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Wednesday) and Kirstie & Phil’s Love It or List It (TVNZ 1, 8.30 Wednesday) while ending their runs will be Joanna Lumley’s Britain, Informer 3838, MacGruber, Ambulance and Ambulance Australia …

➢➢ Two movies will have their FTA premieres in the first week of April: Sonic the Hedgehog (Three, 7.00 Saturday) and Hope Gap (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday). Other HD coming attractions will include:

• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (Maori TV, 7.00 Saturday)
• Silver Linings Playbook (Eden, 8.30 Saturday)
• The Trip to Spain (Maori TV, 8.40 Saturday)
• Backdraft (TVNZ 2, 9.00 Saturday)
• Dirty Grandpa (Three, 9.00 Saturday)
• The Midwife’s Deception (Three, 11.00 Saturday)
• The Ant Bully (TVNZ 2, 4.15 Sunday)
• The Croods (TVNZ 2, 5.50 Sunday)
• Snow White and the Huntsman (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Sunday)
• Atomic Blonde (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• The Last Full Measure (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Mavis (Maori TV, 8.30 Monday)
• Casino (Duke, 9.40 Tuesday)
• Paris Can Wait (Maori TV, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Mad Max: Fury Road (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• The House (Duke, 10.40 Friday)
• Step (TVNZ 2, 2.35am Saturday).