HD Heads-Up: July 20

July 20, 2017 0 Comments

➢ TVNZ 1 will continue its Friday lightweight drama slot with the return of Ordinary Lies on August 4 at 8.40. Series two is set in a Cardiff sportswear firm. Said The Telegraph of the season premiere: “While Ordinary Lies lacks the vim and vigour of its antecedent Clocking Off … there was enough narrative tension for it to remain compelling”. And although The Guardian thought it stretched credibility, it “does ask some interesting moral questions, about relative evil and similar crimes, about revenge, about how well you know the people closest to you” …

➢ Also back the same week is Quantico but season two of the FBI rookies drama has been reassigned to late-night. From July 30, it will screen 10.35 Sundays in double-episodes. TVNZ 2 has had success with drama series in this slot previously, most notably 24: Legacy, which retained most of its 8.30 viewership, and Dead of Summer …

➢ Quantico will square off against TVNZ 1’s premiere of Jekyll and Hyde, which stream-ed months ago on-demand. The 2015 adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic actually was inspired by Indiana Jones and classic horror movies of the 1930s, writer Charlie Higson (The Fast Show) said. But ITV commissioned it for a “teatime” slot and there were nearly 500 complaints about its “violence and graphic imagery” …

➢ Critics liked what they saw — “imaginative, ambitious clever” (The Guardian), “damn fine bogey tale” (The Times) — but ITV’s hopes of Jekyll and Hyde becoming a crowd pleasing rival to Doctor Who were quickly dashed and it was axed after one series …

➢ TVNZ 1 will precede its true-crime dramatisation Catching the Black Widow on July 30 with a 7.30 Sunday Special that investigates Secret Lives of Fussy Eaters. It will explore what turns that childish refusal to eat your greens into a psychological phobia that could even take your life …

➢ TVNZ 2 will screen the belated network movie premiere of Grudge Match on July 30 while Three will end its James Bond season with Skyfall on August 2. Other HD coming attractions for that week include: