HD Heads-Up: November 12-18

➢➢ TVNZ 2 will premiere a slew of series off-peak in the week starting November 12, from the obscure 2016 romcom The Wrong Girl (1.50 Sunday) and its latest true-crime addition Deadly Power (3am Sunday) to stakeout cop comedy No Activity (1.05am Thursday) and the first free-to-air run of Bates Motel (3.55am November 19). Also new will be the 2022 UK comedies Hullraisers (10.30 Wednesday) and Cheaters (11.00 Wednesday) …

➢➢ The former is a Channel 4 series about the lives of three women in Hull who as “juggle life, love and a lot of mucking about”. Radio Times thought it “irreverent, but flawed … The three female protagonists deliver their lines as though determined to cram as many jokes as possible into their 24-minute episode: local footballers, postpartum bodies and meat pie-flavoured vapes are all fodder” …

➢➢ Cheaters stars Susan Wokoma and Joshua McGuire as stranded strangers who have a drunken one-stand unbeknownst to their partners back home. BBC One aired it in 10-minute episodes but the TVNZ 2 broadcasts will be half-hour compilations. The Guardian thought it funny but dubbed the twist “a whopper” while the Financial Times called it an “irreverent and non-judgmental look at infidelity that isn’t afraid to ask what happens if the ‘other’ person is better suited to you than your actual other half” …

➢➢ TVNZ 1 will screen what it portentously calls a “special television event” (7.30 Tuesday): 1 Climate Special interviews “the kiwis tackling climate changes head on” …

➢➢  Prime will double bill Waharoa: Art of the Pacific (7.30 Thursday) and Brave New Zealand World (8.30 Thursday). The former explores Maori and Pasifika art; the latter examines various existential threats to humanity, starting with  climate change and the recently heightened nuclear threat …

➢➢ Whakaata Māori will premiere the reality e-sports series Eke Panuku IRL (7.00 Thursday), in which 10 passionate te reo Māori gamers who live under one whare compete to be the best in NZ …

➢➢ The same night at 10.30  it will debut Unsettled, a Canadian drama series about a woman with no connection to her Indigenous roots who returns to her First Nation for a traditional homecoming ceremony …

➢➢ Returning from November 12 will be Travel Man S11 (TVNZ 1, 8.00 Monday), Cold Case S3 (TVNZ 1, 8.30 Tuesday) and Whanau (Prime, 7.55 Saturday), the fourth instalment in the longitudinal documentary series, which catches up with the lives of four Maori as they turn 21 …

➢➢ Ending their runs will be South Seas Spearo, Up 2, The Flight Attendant, Ambulance, Guilty Party and Embarrassing Bodies …

➢➢ Paul Mescal, Michaela Coel, Winston Duke, Emma Corrin, Richard Ayoade and Loyle Carner will guest on November 17’s The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.35) …

➢➢ HD coming attractions for the week starting November 12 will include:

• Pitch Perfect (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Swan Princess and the Secret of the Castle (Whakaata Māorim 7.00 Saturday)
• Training Day (Eden, 8.30 Saturday)
• Trumbo (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Saturday)
• Bridget Jones’s Diary (TVNZ 2, 9.00 Saturday)
• Fighting With My Family (Three, 9.45 Saturday)
• Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (Duke, 10.10 Saturday)
• The Witches of Eastwick (TVNZ 2, 10.55 Saturday)
• You Can’t Say No (Three, 11.55 Saturday)
• Pet Sematary (TVNZ 2, 1.10am Sunday) 
• Batman – Death in rhe Family (TVNZ 2, 3am Sunday)
• Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (TVNZ 2, 4.20 Sunday)
• Creation (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Once Upon a Time in America (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Sunday)
• xXx – Return of Xander Cage (TVNZ 2, 8.35 Sunday)
• Hacksaw Ridge (Three, 9.00 Sunday)
• The Grudge (TVNZ 2, 10.55 Sunday)
• The Australian Dream (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• Straight Outta Compton (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Barbershop 2: Back In Business (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Men in Black (Three, 7.30 Friday) 
• Meatballs (Duke, 9.25 Friday).