HD Heads-Up: May 11 – 17

➢➢ TVNZ 1 will ditch its 8.30 Friday drama slot for reality programming, with the return of The Hotel Inspector from May 17 following a new Jamie Oliver series. Jamie’s Quick & Easy Food showcases go-to recipes that, according to the blurb, are quick to cook and easy to remember given they use just FIVE ingredients. “Actually, he is using six ingredients,” corrected The Guardian, “because everything gets a generous sprinkling of Jamie-isms. ‘Whack it in a tray … smash it out … everything here is like best mates … crispy and gnarly … gorgeous oils just kind of cooking out of there… it’s fast, it’s furious, it smells incredible… happy days’” …

➢➢ Said The Telegraph: “Even when our TV screens are bloated to the point of bursting with culinary shows, a new series by Jamie Oliver has got to be worth a look. Jamie’s Quick and Easy Food (Channel 4) promised a panacea for our hectic modern lives – gloriously flavoursome food that can be conjured up  in minutes … For once, the lure of  the kitchen felt as strong as that  of the television.” It’s been a successful recipe, with the concept spawning three seasons so far …

➢➢ Prime will launch two documentary series in the week starting May 11: Massive Engineering Mistakes (7.30 Saturdays) and Heroes and Survivors (7.30 Wednesdays). In the first episode of the latter, heroic state troopers battle to save drivers and each other from imminent disaster on a frozen highway, and an afternoon drive goes horribly wrong, leaving one man lost, alone and miles from nowhere in the sweltering heat of the Arizona desert; the former investigates what caused an entire road to collapse onto a railroad in Baltimore and if engineers save an iconic Manhattan skyscraper with a deadly design flaw …

➢➢ TVNZ 1 and Duke will air Formula E racing live overnight on May 11 …

➢➢ Will & Grace will resume from episode nine of season 10 on May 14 (TVNZ 2, 8.40). Also returning will be The Resident (TVNZ 2, 10.15 Tuesdays from May 14) while ending their runs will be Family Rules, Ross Kemp: Extreme World, Scorpion, Best Foods Comedy Gala and Trial & Error …

➢➢ Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Jodie Comer, Daniel Radcliffe and Mabel will guest on the May 17 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00) …

➢➢ There will be three network movie premieres in the week starting May 11: The Purge: Anarchy (Three, 9.30 Saturday), Patriots Day (Three, 8.30 Sunday) and Rough Night (TVNZ 2, 8.40 Sunday). Other HD coming attractions will include:

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Italian Job (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Saturday)
• Con Air (TVNZ 2, 10.45 Saturday)
• The Silence of the Lambs (Three, 11.20 Saturday)
• The Ex (TVNZ 2, 1am Sunday)
• Enough Said (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday)
• Deliver Us From Evil (TVNZ 2, 11.40 Sunday)
• Last Knights (Prime, 9.30 Monday)
• Payback (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Smokin’ Aces (Three, 8.35 Thursday)
• Mars Attacks! (Duke, 8.30 Friday)
• Nightcrawler (Maori TV, 8.30 Friday).