HD Heads-Up: June 13 – 19

➢➢ Don’t dismiss Critical Condition as just another reality series about emergency workers when it eventually surfaces on TVNZ 1 (it was due to air 8.45 Wednesdays from June 17 but has been postponed). For once, the publicity may not be just hype: “A powerful, highly emotional and ultimately awe-inspiring look at how staff at the Royal University Hospital in Stoke work to save the lives of their sickest and most injured patients.” The Guardian headlined its review “the most nerve-shreddingly hardcore hospital doc ever” and said “this no-holds-barred series vividly conveys the life and death drama of being an emergency doctor” …

➢➢ Echoed The Times: “Critical Condition was an extraordinary documentary that has spoilt watching Casualty for ever. An unfiltered, non-narrated, visceral reveal of what the ‘golden hour’ — when patients arrive in hospital trauma centres from car crashes, heart attacks, stabbings or strokes — really looks like, it wasn’t for the faint-hearted.” Channel 5 aired the first series in March 2019; a second series will screen later this year …

➢➢ Unnatural Selection (Three, 3.20 Saturdays from June 13) is a four-part series about how humans have changed the course of evolution. “Filmed between 2016 and 2018, Unnatural Selection chronicles the ambitions and struggles of scientists, doctors, patients, conservationists, and biohackers as they seek to wrest control of evolution from nature itself,” Wired said. “They are all navigating the profound ethical dilemmas of a world where it’s possible to rewrite the code of life inside any organism, including humans.” If you haven’t already streamed it in 4K on Netflix, set the PVR …

➢➢ The latest celebrity travelogue, Richard Wilson’s Highland Fling (Prime. 7.30 Sunday), has the 80-year-old One Foot in the Grave star exploring the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Reads the blurb: “Based on board the Belmond Royal Scotsman, evocative of the golden age of rail travel, Richard embarks on one of the world’s most luxurious train trips while passing through stunning scenery” …

➢➢ Also new that week will be High School Mums (TVNZ 1, 8.30 Tuesday), which follows young parents completing their secondary school education, while ending their runs will be McMillion$, Eat Well for Less NZ, You Got This! and Weather Gone Viral …

➢➢ There will be three network movie premieres in the week starting June 13: The Happytime Murders (TVNZ 2, 9.15 Saturday), First Man (Three, 8.10 Sunday) and Loving (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday). Other coming attractions in HD will include:

• The Karate Kid Part II (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Hollow Man (Duke, 8.30 Saturday)
• Going in Style (Three, 8.50 Saturday)
• Entourage (TVNZ 2, 11,05 Saturday)
• She’s Funny That Way (TVNZ 2, 1.05am Sunday)
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets (TVNZ 2, 8.10 Sunday)
• Year One (Duke, 9.40 Sunday)
• June (TVNZ 2, 11.15 Sunday)
• Elysium (Prime, 8.30 Monday)
• A Few Good Men (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• The Spy Next Door (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Thursday)
• Ghost in the Shell (Three, 7.30 Friday).