HD Heads-Up: August 29-September 4

August 20, 2026 0 Comments

➢➢ Documentaries dominate the week’s free-to-air premieres, kicking off with One for the Roadie (TVNZ 1, 9.20 Saturday), a six-part sports travel series in which Scottie Stevenson and netball star Maia Wilson undertake provincial rugby challenges. DNZ: Exposure (TVNZ 1, 8.30 Monday) shows how a group of young Kiwis with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder face their worst fears in a groundbreaking treatment. The Day Diana Died (Sky Open, 9.30 Sunday) is a 90-minute documentary about “the critical hours following the news of her death” and how the Royal Household, newsrooms and Tony Blair’s government reacted. Toxic (Three, 10.10 Monday) is a true-crime docuseries made for the ID channel and Animals On Drugs (9.30 Wednesday) a Discovery series about the impact of human drug use on wildlife (“thrilling and meaningful at the same time” — Decider) ……

➢➢ From ThreeNow comes Summerwater (Sky Open, 10.30 Monday), a six-part miseryfest set in a gloomy Scottish holiday park that earned miserable reviews: “This bleak drama is a mess … the acting is melodramatic, the tone bewildering and the plot is full of cartoonishly grim situations that go nowhere” (The Guardian); “stodgy” (The Financial Times); “successfully builds tension towards a dramatic finale [but] you probably won’t stick it out that long” (The Telegraph) …

➢➢ TVNZ 2 is splitting up Fire Country and Sheriff Country. The latter continues to air Mondays, but an hour later at 9.50, while stablemate Fire Country is shifting to 9.45 Tuesdays. The changes are due to lead-in MasterChef Australia running extra-long and will continue through September and October …

➢➢ Big Fat Quiz: Best Bits (TVNZ 2, 10.00 Wednesday) recycles 20 years of highlights, dividing episodes into themes …

➢➢ Returning for new seasons are School Spirits S3 (TVNZ 2, midday Saturday), Catching a Killer (Duke, 9.30 Sunday), and, in unusually late slots, Bradley Walsh and Son: Breaking Dad S7 (TVNZ 1, 8.45 Wednesday) and For the Love of Dogs With Alison Hammond (TVNZ 1, 9.15 Wednesday) …

➢➢ Ending their runs are:

Believe Me
Ridley
Clarkson’s Farm
The Hardacres
Michael McIntyre’s Big Show …

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

NPC Rugby: Taranaki v Canterbury (TVNZ 1, 2.00 Saturday)
NRL: Roosters v Dolphins (Sky Open, 6.55 Saturday)
NPC Rugby: Otago v Waikato (TVNZ 1, 7.00 Saturday)
UFC Fight Night: Umar Nurmagomedov v Song Yadong (Duke, 7.00 Saturday)
Rugby: The Classics v Brazil Tulips (TVNZ 1, 8am Sunday)
Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United (Sky Open, 10am Sunday)
Rugby: Springboks v All Blacks (Three, 10.50am Sunday)
NRLW: Warriors v Dragons (Sky Open, 1.30 Sunday)
NPC Rugby: Wellington v Counties Manukau (TVNZ 1, 2.00 Sunday)
NRL 2026: Warriors v Knights (Sky Open, 6.30 Friday) …