HDTV Heads-Up: May 26-June 1

Underbelly meets Sons of Anarchy in TV3’s new Wednesday night drama, Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms, which premieres on May 30.

It dramatises the true story of Father’s Day 1984, when motorcycle club rivals the Bandidos and the Comancheros went to war at a public Sydney swap meet.

Australia’s Herald Sun noted it had half the cast of Underbelly and the same writer on board when it went to air this week.

“And it certainly has the same levels of gratuitous violence and nudity as its Aussie crime predecessor.

“Before the first ad break we had binge-drinking, guns firing, a vigorous sex scene and more naked breasts than you would see at a strip club.

“Problem was they weren’t good breasts, but rather the sort that should be kept well-contained in a good support-bra.”

Otherwise, Bikie Wars is “well-acted and well-told. And the cast, which includes ex-Underbelly players Callan Mulvey, Damien Walshe Howling, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor and Todd Lassance as well as award-winning actress Susie Porter, is stellar.”

As for other HD highlights of the week starting May 26:

✮ The only network HD movie premiere is Crazy Heart on May 27 (TV3, 8.30), although there will be HD re-runs of Bank Job on May 28 (TV3, 8.30) and Lethal Weapon 4 on May 31 (TV One, 8.30).

✮ Revenge seems to be a dish best served over, and over, and over again — having aired re-runs late-night and at midday, TV2’s about to dish up another cycle from May 27, where it will screen after the Sunday Premiere Movie presumably in a bid to cement it as next year’s successor to Desperate Housewives.

✮ TV One’s 9.30pm Sunday double-bill of Call the Midwife and Enlightened ends on May 27.

✮ On May 29, Jarred Christmas goes in seach of his Funny Roots in Scotland (TV3, 8.00) and Steve Price travels to Nepal in Intrepid Journeys (TV One, 8.30).

✮ The same night, That ’70s Show’s Wilma Valderamma guest stars on Suburgatory (TV2, 8.00) and Jame Lee Curtis on NCIS (TV3, 8.30), which will be followed by part one of NCIS: Los Angeles’ two-part season finale (TV3, 9.30).

✮ June 1’s Glee pays homage to disco movie classic Saturday Night Fever (TV3, 7.30) — opposite TV2 instituting a third weekly re-run of The Big Bang Theory and ahead of Will Smith, Sir Tom Jones and Take That’s Gary Barlow appearing on The Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30).

✮ The same night will see TV One revert to season one re-runs of Sherlock (but not in HD and, confusingly, directly after the season two) while TV2 hits a bum note by replacing American Idol with The Voice Australia in SD when it aired the US original in HD.