New to Blu: June 2-8

Four TV shows that screen here in SD are this week being released on Blu-ray.

Season three of Heroes arrives eight months overdue because of a broadcasting holdback while the third season of Mad Men lands here two months after its US bow.

Also new from Wednesday are the latest instalments of two BBC staples: the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas special, The Next Doctor, and Top Gear 3: Great Adventures – South America, Romania and Bonnevile USA.

The pick of these will be Mad Men, given the TV-on-DVD benchmark its previous seasons set.

US reviewers have scored The Complete Third Season highly not only for its video and audio specs but also the extras, ranging from two commentaries on each of the 13 episodes to two substantial documentaries, one on tobacco company advertising of the ‘60s, the other about the slaying of civil rights activist Medger Evers.

Another series being released on DVD this week that should be out on Blu-ray, too, is season one of Nurse Jackie – but Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has elected not to release it in HD here.

Instead, it’s putting its HD replication efforts into such humdrum back-catalogue Blu-ray releases as The Craft, The Mask of Zorro and Snatch.

Other movies new to Blu-ray from Wednesday include Invictus, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (plus a Rock Hero Edition of its predecessor), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Out of Africa, Kundun, Angel Heart, Universal Solider, Raw Deal, Red Heat and Red Sonja.

If you can’t get enough of the muscle-bound action from Arnie and the gang, then there’s always WWE Wrestlemania XXVI – Collector’s Edition.