HD Heads-Up: July 6

➢ TVNZ 2’s network movie premieres of The Avengers: Age of Ultron and 300: Rise of an Empire will square off against the launch of a Sunday Theatre mini-season on TVNZ 1. The Avengers sequel will debut July 16 opposite The Dance Exponents – Why Does Love?, an NZ On Air-funded dramatisation of the rise, fall and resurgence of the ’80s Kiwi band. It will be followed by Resolve, the true story of Chris Crean, who took a stand against gang violence in his community only to become a target himself, and Catching the Black Widow, which concerns murderer Helen Milner …

➢ Because Age of Ultron will start at 7.00 and 300 at 9.45, they will overlap another free-to-air premiere: Three’s Paper Towns, which will screen from 8.30. Surprisingly, TVNZ has opted to sideline another FTA premiere, Chappie, to Duke, where it will screen in SD on July 17 at 9.35. Other HD coming attractions that week include:

• Wreck-It Ralph (TVNZ 2, 5.05 Saturday)
• Transformers (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Independence Day (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Manson’s Lost Girls (Three, 9.35 Saturday)
• Casino Royale (Three, 7.30 Thursday)
• Dark Tide (Prime, 9.30 Friday) …

➢ Prime’s true-crime documentary newcomer, Deadliest Lovers (8.35 Mondays from July 17), opens with a case that was dramatised in the James Nesbitt vehicle, The Secret, which aired last year on TVNZ 1: that of an Irish dentist and a Sunday school teacher whose affair led to a double-murder …

➢ Deadliest Secrets is being double-billed with a new season of Mayday. It will be the first time the emergency docudrama has aired here in HD. The new-look line-up replaces the Monday movie and continues a mid-winter refresh of Prime’s schedule that includes tonight’s return of Modern Family in double-eps from 7.30, Sunday’s premieres of Planet Earth II and Top Gear, and new seasons of Poldark and QI in the Prime Rocks slot from Tuesday …

➢ Also returning in the week starting July 15 is River Monsters With Jeremy Wade (TVNZ 1, 4.55 Saturday) while ending their runs that week are Antiques Roadshow, Ambulance and The Kennedys: After Camelot …

➢ TVNZ OnDemand will stream new episodes of The Fosters from July 13 and Three is offering Westside fans the chance to watch the first episode of season three before it premieres on Monday: register by 10pm tonight and you’ll receive access to watch 5pm tomorrow. Star Antonia Prebble will also answer questions for a video on Three’s Facebook …

➢ Guesting on the July 21 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00) are: Sir Elton John, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz and Jack Black …

➢ Appearing this week and next on Prime’s The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon: 

• Chris Rock, Andy Cohen and musical guest Phoenix (11.30 tonight)
• Tom Cruise, Kate Mara and musical guests Bleachers (11.30 tomorrow)
• Derek Jeter, Katherine Langford and Father John Misty (10.50 Monday).