HD Heads-Up: February 15-21

➢➢ TVNZ 1 and 2 continue to roll out new shows, ranging from series premieres to returning staples. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth (TVNZ 1, 8.35 Sunday) essentially is the dramatisation of the documentary Lockerbie that screened last year on Sky Open. It stars Colin Firth as Dr Jim Swire, who embarks on an obsessive decades-long quest to expose those behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over a Scottish village on 21 December 1988 with his daughter on board. The miniseries was well-reviewed, with The Hollywood Reporter describing it as “consistently watchable, but lacking the necessary focus to be truly exceptional” …

➢➢ Also new to TVNZ 1, in its weekend graveyard slot for premium drama, are The Crow Girl (11.55 Saturday) and Black Snow (12.45am Sunday), both of which already stream on TVNZ+. The former is a serial killer thriller with female leads; the latter stars Vikings’ Travis Fimmel as a cold-case detective on the trail of a 17-year-old’s killer in 1994 small-town Queensland, with the narrative split between the victim’s fate and the cop’s investigation 25 years later …

➢➢ Premiering within weeks of its top-rating Fox debut in the US is Doc (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Monday), a hospital drama about a brilliant doctor, Amy Larsen (Molly Parker), who returns to work after a catastrophic brain injury wipes out the last eight years of her memory. Said TV Guide: “During that time, she lost a child, got divorced and alienated nearly everyone except the handsome resident (Jon Ecker) with whom she’s been secretly cavorting. That’s a loaded plate of melodramatic angst, even without the resentful new chief of internal medicine (Scott Wolf) who has his own reasons for sabotaging her comeback. Parker deftly defines the pre- and post-accident Amy, making it easy to root for the reformed and humbled (though still, naturally, gifted) doc as she earnestly labours to rebuild bridges in her life and career. It’s OK to say ‘awww’” …

➢➢ Rob and Romesh vs (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Monday-Wednesday, 8.00 Thursday) has comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan tackling challenges outside their comfort zone, starting with modelling on the runway of New York Fashion Week and continuing with becoming superstar DJs, country singers and budding artists exhibiting in a gallery. The series dates to 2019 and is up to season seven …

➢➢ Same-night repeats of Rob and Romesh vs follow game show-musical comedy Never Mind the Buzzcocks (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Tuesday-Thursday). It’s been running since 1996 in the UK; TVNZ 2 is picking it up from S29 of 32 and counting …

➢➢ Returning for new seasons are:

• Hyundai Country Calendar (TVNZ 1, 7.00 Sunday)
• NCIS: Sydney (TVNZ 2, 10.55 Sunday)
• Te Ao With Moana (Whakaata Māori, 8.00 Monday)
• Fire Country (TVNZ 2, 9.30 Monday)
• The Hotel Inspector (TVNZ 1, 8.25 Friday)
• Love It or List It: Brilliant Builds (TVNZ 1, 9.25 Friday) …

➢➢ Ending their runs are:

• Bob Hearts Abishola
• Catching Kelce
• The Summit 
• Miriam Margolyes In New Zealand
• The Responder  
• Bad Host: Hunting The Couch Surfing Predator
• Dead Hot 
• The Hardacres
• The Time Traveler’s Wife
• There She Goes
• The Teacher: Body in the Lake
• Rabbit Hole … 

➢➢ Appearing on The Graham Norton Show (Three, 7.30 Thursday) are Renee Zellweger, Leo Woodall, Sterling K Brown, Anthony Mackie, Cyndi Lauper and Lola Young …

➢➢ ICC CWC 2023 – Made in India (Sky Open, 7.55 Saturday) explores India’s passion for cricket ahead of Wednesday’s ICC Champions Trophy: Pakistan v NZ (Sky Open, 9.30 Wednesday). Other live/delayed free-to-air sport includes:

• SRP: Blues v Chiefs (Sky Open, 7.00 Saturday)
• SRP: Western Force v Moana Pasifika (Sky Open 9.30 Saturday)
• A-League: Men: Western United v Auckland FC (Sky Open, midnight Saturday)
• Premier League: Goal Rush (Sky Open, 10am Sunday)
• NRL Premiership (Sky Open, 1.00 Sunday)
• ISPS HANDA Halberg Awards (Sky Open, 8.00 Tuesday)
• FIBA – Asia Cup (Duke, 11.50 Thursday)
• SRP: Queensland Reds v Moana Pasifika (Sky Open, 9.30 Friday) …

➢➢ HD coming attractions include:

• Tom & Jerry (Three, 6.30 Saturday)
• Bill and Ted Face the Music (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
• Night School (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Saturday)
• Savage (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Saturday)
• Dune (Three, 8.35 Saturday)
• The Mitchells vs. The Machines (TVNZ 2, 2.40 Sunday)
• Aquaman (TVNZ 2, 8.10 Sunday)
• Wonder Woman 1984 (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• Stockholm (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Moja Vesna (Whakaata Māori, 8.45 Sunday)
• The Craft: Legacy (TVNZ 2, 12.45am Monday)
• Men in Black (Sky Open, 8.30 Monday)
• Us Kids (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa 0.5 (Duke, 9.30 Monday)
• Universal Soldier: The Return (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Monster’s Ball (Duke, 10.05 Tuesday)
• Everybody Hates Johan (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Jumanji (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Friday)
• We Bare Bears: The Movie (Sky Open, 7.00 Friday).