HD Heads-Up: August 8-14

July 30, 2026 0 Comments

➢➢ Three premieres a new-look The Traitors Australia within a week of its launch on Channel 10 (7.30 Sunday, continues Monday). The Aussie network has reinvented the show two years after axing it. Celebrities have replaced citizen contestants, there’s a new host (Big Brother’s Gretel Killeen) and, for the first time, twins are competing. Many faces will be familiar from the likes of MasterChef Australia, Australian Survivor, The Block, Drag Race Down Under and Love Island Australia. Providing a close-to-home connection is the location: the same manor where Traitors NZ was shot. South Pacific Pictures made both series back-to-back. Here’s a guide to who’s who …

➢➢ Also returning for fresh runs are The Capture (TVNZ 1, 10.30 Saturday), Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy (TVNZ 1, 12.30 Sunday), Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Monday), Mel Giedroyc: Unforgiveable (TVNZ 2, 9.40 Wednesday) and The Great Aussie Bake Off (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Thursday) …

➢➢ Critics were captivated by S3 of The Capture. “This juicy return for the deepfake conspiracy thriller is full of truly outrageous twists,” raved The Guardian. “Holliday Grainger’s superlative drama, and its focus on shady digital practices, has never looked more timely. Its latest series is a seriously impressive feat.” Echoed Radio Times: “If this really is the final instalment, the BBC drama is going out on a thrilling high.” The Telegraph was slightly more sceptical: “This BBC tech dystopia is ridiculous – but you won’t be able to stop watching.” It recommended bingeing the six-part series rather than tuning in weekly — which you can do on TVNZ+ …

➢➢ New to Sky Open’s reality block on Tuesdays are Aussie Snake Wranglers: Deadly Pursuit (7.30), First on Scene (8.00) and Fatal Fall: Murder Or Accident? (9.30) while premiering Friday is the engrossing Robson Green cat-and-mouse thriller, The Game (which aired earlier this year on Three) …

➢➢ Another Three cast-off, LA’s Finest, a female spin on Bad Boys that first screened six years ago, is being resurrected for an overnight strip on TVNZ 2 from 12.35am Tuesday while Duke is picking up comedic men-behaving-badly thriller Stags (9.50 Friday), which already streams on TVNZ+ …

➢➢ Buried overnight on Sundays is Teacup (TVNZ 2, 3.05am), another TVNZ+ property. Despite a stellar cast and largely positive reviews, this eight-part frightfest about rural Georgians fighting mysterious invaders lasted only one season on Peacock. Rotten Tomatoes summed it up thus: “Stylish and genuinely scary, Teacup‘s human drama has some spillage but the atmospheric frights of this horror series leave a pleasing aftertaste” …

➢➢ Ending their runs are:

Swamp People: Serpent Invasion
Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story
What Not to Eat
Celebrity Sabotage
The Summit UK
Hoff Roading
Tribe With Bruce Parry …

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

NPC Rugby: Auckland v Wellington (TVNZ 1, 2.00 Saturday)
Football: Chelsea Women v Auckland FC Invitational XI Women (TVNZ 2, 3.30 Saturday)
NPC Rugby: Hawke’s Bay v Tasman (TVNZ 1, 7.00 Saturday)
Celebrity Feature Fight: Liam Messam v Luke Siaki (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
NRL 2026: Dolphins v Brisbane Broncos (Sky Open, 7.00 Saturday)
NRLW: Warriors v Knights (Sky Open, 12.15am Sunday)
UFC Fight Night: Mateusz Gamrot v Quillan Salkilld (Duke, 9am Monday)
NPC Rugby: Otago v Canterbury (TVNZ 1, 2.00 Sunday)
Sal’s NBL: Final (Sky Open, 3.00 Sunday)
SailGP: Portsmouth (There, 4.30 Sunday & Monday) …