HD Heads-Up: March 13 – 19

➢➢The new season of The Casketeers (TVNZ 1, 8.00 Mondays from March 15), the reality hit about a Maori funeral home, will explore the difficulties of supporting grieving whānau during COVID-19 while another network newcomer, The Savoy (TVNZ 1, 8.35 Saturdays from March 13), will capture how staff at Britain’s first luxury hotel succumbed to COVID-19 during the course of filming events like celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s visit. Funnily enough, the series was made by Studio Ramsay …

➢➢ Said one UK reviewer: “Later episodes might offer some insight: how does one of London’s most prestigious hotels cope in a pandemic? Until then, though, it was an overfamiliar parade of pernickety French maître d’ (Thierry, prone to pronouncements like ‘hashtag ooh-la-la’), demanding head butler, and a concierge with Johnsonian powers of clairvoyance: ‘I think it’ll be a good year, like, y’know?'” …

➢➢ Another NZ premiere will be the true-life dramatisation, The Tender Trap (TVNZ 1, 8.30 Monday), in which Rima Te Wiata plays Sharon Armstrong, the Kiwi grandmother arrested in Argentina 10 years ago with 5kg of cocaine in her suitcase. “Based on Sharon’s published account, it is a story of a world we can’t imagine,” reads the blurb. “A massive and well-resourced world of call centres working to prescribed scripts, harnessing psychological insights, preying on the lonely, the disappointed and the vulnerable” …

➢➢ Maori TV will premiere NZ Wars: Stories of Tainui (8.30 Wednesday), a documentary about the events leading up to the 1863 Waikato invasion, the motivations of the people who fought, and its impact on history …

➢➢ TVNZ OnDemand’s Transplant will screen 11.00 Wednesdays on TVNZ 1 from March 17. It’s a Canadian drama about a Syrian doctor who flees his war-torn homeland to start over in the biggest emergency department of the best hospital in Toronto. “It’s not entirely original, but certainly superior to the usual and disarmingly different,” The Globe and Mail said …

➢➢ ABBA: Super Troupe (Prime, 8.30 Thursday) is a 2019 documentary that follows the band’s rise through archival interviews and performances, ahead of the 9.45 premiere of Louis Theroux: Selling Sex, which explores whether prostitution can ever be a healthy way to make a living (The Guardian thought it “a fine exploration of a potentially sensationalist, exploitative topic and an excellent showcase for Theroux’s softer skills – patience, reasoning, hanging back and letting subjects find their own words”) …

➢➢ Returning for a late-night run will be Claws (TVNZ 2, 12.30am Wednesdays from March 10) while ending the same week will be The Nest, Filthy House SOS and It’s Your Fault I’m Fat …

• The Golden Compass (TVNZ 2, 6.30 Saturday)
• Power Rangers (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Bend It Like Beckham (TVNZ 2, 8.40 Saturday)
• Red Eye (Duke, 8.35 Saturday)
• James White (Maori TV, 9.00 Saturday)
• The Shallows (TVNZ 2, 10.55 Saturday)
• Girls Trip (Three, 11.30 Saturday)
• Fantastic Four (TVNZ 2, 12.40am Sunday)
• Arthur (TVNZ 2, 2.25am Sunday)
• Jason Bourne (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• Tulpan (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday)
• Meet the Spartans (Duke, 9.35 Sunday)
• Alien 3 (TVNZ 2, 10.40 Sunday)
• Once Upon a Time in Venice (Prime, 8.30 Monday)
• Traffic (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Oblivion (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• Galaxy Quest (Duke, 8.30 Friday).