HDTV Heads-Up: January 21-27

TV3 will screen a 24-style British thriller in HD on January 25-26.

Kidnap and Ranson stars Waking the Dead’s Trevor Eve as a hostage release negotiator and was written by former 24 scribe Patrick Harbinson as a three-part drama (TV3’s version is an international two-part edit).

The Guardian dubbed it a “proper thriller … Everything grabs you by the goolies and drags you along at 100mph,” it said of part one.

“Except that suddenly it stops, on a cliff-edge, with two more parts to come.”

“In all, it was a persuasive drama, the human trauma sufficiently realistic, sufficiently great as to render the viewer hooked,” echoed The Independent.

The Scotsman said Kidnap and Ransom “appears to be little more than a professionally mounted potboiler.

“But its star/producer makes it slightly more interesting simply by toying with bread and not finishing his sentences.

“You can’t underestimate talent like that.”

The same week will see two HD ‘toons go head-to-head at 7pm Sunday: TV2’s G-Force and TV3’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (the latter is a repeat, the former a premiere).

The week’s other HD movies are a repeat of Meet the Spartans (TV3, 8.50pm Sunday) and the network premiere of Land of the Lost (TV3, 7.30pm Tuesday).

From that week, TV3 also will re-run in HD Nurse Jackie from the beginning (midnight Mondays).