Saturday Night at the Palladium

Tonight at the London Palladium will return on July 29 (TVNZ 1, 8.05) for an eight-week run, presumably to bridge the gap between Britain’s Got Talent, which ends Saturday, and the premiere of The X Factor UK.

It will follow MasterChef Australia at the earlier hour of 7.00 and guest star James Blunt, Jennifer Hudson, Rick Astley, Lea Michele, Banarama, Barry Manilow, Blondie and the casts of the musicals The Addams Family, Half a Sixpence, Bat Out of Hell, Annie, School of Rock and Les Miserables.

“Despite this being a modern revival of variety at the London Palladium, the vibe of the show still skews towards the old school,” The Guardian said of the 2017 season while The Times said of the premiere: “ITV hasn’t nailed the formula for a late-night chat show, but it’s hard to fault its ability to put on a mainstream variety show – if you like that sort of thing …

“The line-up ticks a few boxes. Joining the host, Bradley Walsh, are the Brit award-winning singer Emeli Sande; the magician Pete Firman; the returning pop ensemble Steps, performing their comeback single Scared of the Dark, Ben Forster singing The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera; and talent from the Chinese State Circus, who will leave mouths agape.”

TVNZ 1 will follow Palladium with yet another re-run of Miranda at 9.10 when, on the eve of Coronation Street increasing from four episodes a week to six in the UK, it should be adding another half-hour of the soap to its Saturday schedule to avoid falling further behind now that it’s ‘narrowed’ the NZ-UK gap to about 18 months.