HD Heads-Up: July 2 – 8

➢➢ TVNZ 1 will refresh Saturday nights with new seasons of Tipping Point Lucky Stars (S8, 7.00) and Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport (S7, 8.05), and a re-run of Grand Designs UK (S18, 8.35) ahead of the 9.30 premiere of crime drama Grace. Based on the novels by novelist Peter James, it stars John Sim as a world-weary, down-on-his-luck Brighton detective investigating the sudden death of a former schoolteacher. S1 will screen as two two-hour mysteries; a three-part S2 aired last month on ITV …

➢➢ The Guardian said Grace was “full of immensely satisfying action – plus a star lead performance”, the Independent thought it “a cut above the average detective drama”, Radio Times dubbed it “tonally confused, but thrilling fun … Grace shouldn’t work – yet somehow, inexplicably, it mostly does” and The Times acknowledged “it wasn’t totally terrible” …

➢➢ Also new to TVNZ 1 will be The Big Body Hotel (8.30 Tuesday), in which plus-sized guests spend a week at the specially designed Catamaran Hotel on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where they can holiday free from prejudice and face their fears about their bodies …

➢➢ The S3 premiere of Taskmaster NZ (TVNZ 2, 8.45 Wednesday) will push back UK quiz show Guessable to 9.45. New to Taskmaster will be Celebrity Treasure Island’s Chris Parker, comedic surrealist Josh Thomson, queen of comedy Justine Smith, Billy T Award-winner Kura Forrester and 7 Days vet Paul Ego …

➢➢ In Along for the Ride with David O’Doherty (Duke, 8.30 Sunday), the comedian, author and biking buff goes on on a series of two-wheeled adventures with celebrity companions like Richard Ayoade. “Laidback, lighthearted and unapologetic about going nowhere, the latest entry into the comedians-on-holiday genre is utterly dispensable,” said The Guardian. The same weekend Duke will air Extreme E (12.05 Saturday), 2022 National Squash Championship (1.00 Sunday) and the S2 premiere of Ultimate Rides (6.35 Saturday) …

➢➢ The belated broadcast premiere of TVNZ+ drama For Life (TVNZ 1, 11.45 Thursday) will coincide with the season finals of Star Trek: Discovery, A New Zealand Food Story and And Just Like That …

➢➢ Screening free-to-air for the first time in the first week of July will be 100% Wolf (TVNZ 2, 4.05 Sunday) and Playing With Fire (Three, 8.30 Sunday). Other HD coming attractions will include:

• City of Ember (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Angry Birds Movie 2 (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Maya the Bee: The Honey Games (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
• Once Were Warriors (Eden, 8.30 Saturday)
• Loving (Whakaata Māori, 8.40 Saturday)
• The Island (TVNZ 2, 8.45 Saturday)
• The Nanny Diaries (Three, 8.50 Saturday)
• After (Three, 10.55 Saturday)
• Lights Out (TVNZ 2, 11.20 Saturday)
• 100% Wolf (TVNZ 2, 4.05 Sunday)
• Playing With Fire (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• Hyde Park on Hudson (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Last Flag Flying (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Sunday)
• Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (TVNZ 2, 8.35 Sunday)
• Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• American Gangster (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Bad News Bears (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Killers (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• American Pie 2 (Duke, 8.30 Friday).