HD Heads-Up: August 17 – 23

➢➢ Three will try to steal the local limelight from TVNZ 2 when it launches the Jonah mini-series the same weekend that Celebrity Treasure Island goes to air. TVNZ 2 will strip the latter three nights a week (7.00 Sundays, 7.30 Mondays and Tuesdays) while the legendary rugby player’s life story will screen over two nights (8.30 Sunday and Monday). Three will use the heightened interest in Jonah, which will screen the day after the Bledisloe Cup match, to promote the 9.45 Friday launch of another local newcomer, New Zealand Today, in which ‘volunteer journalist’ Guy Williams investigates “the big stories” in rural NZ, starting with a racism scandal …

➢➢ Three’s programming of Jonah already has claimed one scalp: TVNZ 1 was going to premiere British police drama Wild Bill on August 19 but has replaced it at the 11th hour with a single-episode re-run of the Kent Police observational series, Manhunt: Catch Me If You Can. Rather than pit Wild Bill’s launch against what’s bound to be a ratings blockbuster, the Rob Lowe vehicle will screen 8.30 Mondays from August 26 …

➢➢ Kicking off ahead of Jonah will be TVNZ 1’s The Story of Rugby (8.40 Saturdays from August 17), a series which promises “an unprecedented exploration into the world’s fastest growing major sport”. It chronicles a cross-section of rugby across 20 countries during the 2018/19 season, combining interviews with the sport’s legends, historians, and cultural commentators with an examination of national cultures and identities through larger-than-life personalities and behind-the-scenes anecdotes …

➢➢ The return of Poldark (Prime, 8.30 Tuesdays from August 20) for the last time has our hero resolving to put Westminster behind him and spend more time with his family. But when an old friend needs help, he is compelled to challenge the establishment and question his own loyalties to king and country. The Guardian headlined its review: “Still ridiculous – but I wouldn’t have it any other way” …

➢➢ Le Ride (Maori TV, 8.30 Monday) is a 2016 documentary that retraces the 1928 route of an under‐resourced and untested team from NZ and Australia that competed in the Tour de France. Following the original course and schedule on a vintage bike, Phil Keoghan averaged 150 miles a day for 22 stages. Le Ride first screened on Rialto but this will be the first time it’s aired here in HD …

➢➢ The three-part series Life at the Limits (ThreeLife, 7.30 Sundays from August 18) explores how life on Earth has flourished from humble single-celled beginnings and spawned an abundant array of bizarre and miraculous creatures …

➢➢ Also new will be The Single Wives (TVNZ 2, 9.30 Mondays from August 19), in which four Australian divorcees re-enter the dating scene. Channel Seven launched it in a 7.30 slot but such were the ratings and reviews that TVNZ 2 has opted to burn it off two hours later …

➢➢ Ending their runs that week will be Massive Engineering Mistakes, Inside the Tower of London, Funny As: The Story of NZ Comedy, Autopsy USA, The Neighbourhood, Living With Tourette’s and The Titan Games …

➢➢ HD coming attractions for the week starting August 17 include:

• Planes 2: Fire & Rescue (TVNZ 2, 7am Saturday)
• Into the Woods (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Legends of Oz (Maori TV, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Guilt Trip (Three, 8.55 Saturday)
• The Matrix (TVNZ w2, 9.15 Saturday)
• One Hour Photo (Duke, 9.25 Saturday)
• Girl Missing (Three, 10.50 Saturday)
• Survivor (TVNZ 2, 11.55 Saturday)
• Winter’s Tale (TVNZ 2, 1.40am Sunday)
• Moana (TVNZ 2, 5.10 Sunday)
• Ant-Man (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Sunday)
• Moon (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday)
• Alien: Covenant (TVNZ 2, 10.15 Sunday)
• Olympus Has Fallen (Prime, 8.30 Monday)
• American Heist (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Robin Hood (Three, 8.30 Thursday).
• Evolution (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Friday).