HD Heads-Up: June 3-8

➢➢ TVNZ 1 continues to make Saturday nights worth staying in for with two promising British drama premieres on June 3: Ten Pound Poms (8.55) and Maternal (10.05). The former dramatises the post-war migration of Britons to Australia through the experiences of one family that struggles to assimilate in their new home, where they’re greeted as “whingeing poms”. Warren Brown (Trigger Point), Faye Marsay (Game of Thrones) and Michelle Keegan (Coronation Street) star …

➢➢ The BBC series drew 4.6 million viewers when it premiered on May 14. Reviews ranged from “a solidly enjoyable Sunday night drama, albeit one that feels slightly lacking” (The Telegraph) to “a bit broad, but it doesn’t sugarcoat the truth” (The Guardian) to “a character-led period drama that’s intriguing, yet crowded” (Radio Times) …

➢➢ Maternal stars Parminder Nagra (The Blacklist), Lara Pulver (Sherlock) and Lisa McGrillis (Somewhere Boy) as doctors returning to post-pandemic frontline medicine after maternity leave. London’s Evening Standard thought it “a refreshing, non-judgemental look at mothers in the workplace” and the Sydney Morning Herald “a radical TV drama that’s both heartfelt and darkly funny” …

➢➢ TVNZ 1 has programmed two specials for King’s Birthday Weekend: Cosentino Decennium (7.00 Sunday), a 90-minute magic special that pre-empts Hyundai Country Calendar and Sunday; and Good Sorts in Sports (TVNZ 1, 7.30), in which some of the biggest names in sport meet some of the smallest: the grass-roots volunteers (displaced Fair Go will screen at 7.00) …

➢➢ TVNZ 2 is injecting new blood into its overnight Friday schedule with the linear premieres of the Pete Davidson semi-autobiographical comedy Bupkis (11.15) and, with its strong female and queer leads, Vampire Academy (11.45), which Peacock axed after one season (despite mostly positive reviews) …

➢➢ Whakaata Māori is stripping 5.30 Monday-Friday ASB Polyfest 2023, a showcase for the best of Auckland’s secondary school kapa haka performing on Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Māori Stage …

➢➢ Prime’s newest behind-bars expose, Inside the Midlands Prison (9.45 Wednesday), is a 2019 four-part docuseries about Ireland’s largest prison …

➢➢ Engineering Reborn (Duke, 9.45 Thursday) explores “the mind-blowing engineering challenges behind the transformation of abandoned structures into the buildings of the future”, ranging from an abandoned airship hangar in Germany that’s now a tropical water park, to a derelict prison in Boston reborn as a luxury hotel …

➢➢ Returning for new seasons are Yellowstone S3 (Prime, 9.30 Tuesday) and Gowns to Geysers S2 (Whakaata Māori, 7.30 Thursday) while ending their runs are Hot Cakes, The Gone, Texas 6, Married to a Psychopath, Moving Houses, Taskmaster, Starstruck UK, Amanda and Alan’s Italian Job and Hurō Pēpi …

➢➢ HD coming attractions for the first week of June include:

• Ballerina (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Saturday)
• Enders Game (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Saturday)
• Begin Again (Eden, 8.35 Saturday)
• Chronicles of Riddick (Duke, 9.30 Saturday)
• Long Shot (TVNZ 2, 9.40 Saturday)
• The Goldfinch (TVNZ 2, 1.10am Sunday)
• Despicable Me (TVNZ 2, 4.10 Sunday)
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Three, 8.10 Sunday)
• The Boss (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Sunday)
• The Young Victoria (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Military Wives (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Sunday)
• Jason X (TVNZ 2, 11.20 Sunday)
• Pork Pie (Prime, 8.30 Monday)
• Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• Money Train (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Water (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• The Mask (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• The Big Lebowski (Duke, 9.25 Friday).