HD Heads-Up: June 21

➢ Prime’s Elizabeth (7.30 Tuesdays from July 3) is an eight-part Channel 5 series about the Queen that interviews her Prime Ministers, members of the Royal Household and closest friends to build a uniquely personal picture. Incidentally, if you watched TVNZ 1’s live coverage of the Royal Wedding last month, you may have wondered why it kept alternating from HD to SD. According to a spokesperson: “We carried two agency feeds – Reuters and APTN – which were SD. We also utilised the BBC feed which was in HD. The agencies feeds on the night were faster than the BBC at following the pre-wedding movements. The director took a mix of their material and the BBC’s in order to showcase as much as possible. We can take steps to get HD from the agencies, but are ultimately at the mercy of what they supply” …

➢ TVNZ 2’s latest bid to pump up Friday nights is Ellen’s Game Of Games, which will followThe Simpsons, at 8.00 from July 6. The series features features bigger versions of games that have been on Degeneres’ daytime talk show, such as Blindfolded Musical Chairs, Dizzy Dash and Scary Go Round. NBC has commissioned a second season …

➢ For tennis fans, the game of games is Wimbledon. TVNZ 1 will screen live overnight coverage from 11.00 starting July 2, with 2pm highlights the following day. There also will be live coverage on Duke and on-demand …

➢ TVNZ 1 will premiere In a Flash, the true story of the tragedy that occurred at Mangatepopo Gorge in April of 2008, on July 1 at 8.30 while belatedly beginning new seasons that week are Chicago Med (Three, 8.40 Saturday), The Exorcist (TVNZ 2, 10.35 Sunday), Quantico (TVNZ 2, 11.25 Sunday) and Code Black (TVNZ 1, 8.35 Wednesday) …

➢ The return of Chicago Med marks a return to series programming on Saturdays for Three, with the medical drama inexplicably being double-billed with dated season one re-runs of NCIS (from episode 10) …

➢ Ending their runs in the week starting June 30 are Phil Spencer’s Stately Homes, Dancing With the Stars, Grand Designs and World’s Wildest Fights …

➢ Appearing on Prime’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert are: Trevor Noah, Liza Koshy and a musical performance by Two Feet (10.30 Thursday); and Seth Rogen, Mike Colter and a musical performance by Death Cab for Cutie (10,30 Friday) …

➢ The network movie premieres of The Secret Life of Pets (Three, 7.00 Saturday), Florence Foster Jenkins (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday) and The Boss (Three, 9.00 Sunday) head the HD coming attractions for the week starting June 30. Also scheduled are:

• Planes (TVNZ 2, 5.20 Saturday)
• The Dark Knight Rises (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Alex & Eve (TVNZ 1, 11.10 Saturday)
• Black Hawk Down (TVNZ 2, 9.55 Saturday)
• At Any Price (TVNZ 2, 12.40am Sunday)
• Clash of the Titans (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Sunday)
• Blair Witch (TVNZ 2, 12.15am Monday)
• The Rookie (Prime, 9.30 Monday)
• American Heist (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• X-Men: First Class (Three, 8.30 Thursday)
• LA Story (Duke, 8.30 Friday).