ScreenScribe

Patrick Melrose | SoHo, 8.30 Tuesday ➢ “News that a TV adaptation of the Patrick Melrose novels was in the works quite rightly raised some eyebrows. Edward St Aubyn’s pentalogy, a semi-autobiographical series about a young aristocratic addict who was sexually abused by his father, would surely be impossible to film. The stories are all character […]

The Frankenstein Chronicles | Netflix, from Tuesday ➢ “The Frankenstein Chronicles does have Sean Bean, and for that we should be thankful. The legendary Yorkshireman is the star copper of this beguiling and very dark period drama, which takes as its inspiration Mary Shelley’s Gothic classic about the fictional monster … The imagery is bleak, windswept and […]

  The latest Star Wars adventure goes back to the future on Blu-ray in a stellar week for new releases. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was digitally photographed but practically passes for filmic texturing,” Blu-ray.com said. “Disney’s 1080p transfer is gorgeous (and one can only imagine what might have been/will be with a UHD release; […]

TVNZ 1 will premiere the latest series of Broadchurch within a week of the UK. The David Tennant-Olivia Colman reunion will go to air on ITV on February 27 and screen 8.30 Sundays on TVNZ 1 from March 5. The network will be hoping it succeeds in a slot where other high-profile crime dramas, like […]

Sherlock (TVNZ 1, 8.35 Sundays) “It’s fair to say that the Season 4 premiere of Sherlock was met with a good deal of criticism. The first modern-day adventure of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Holmes and Martin Freeman’s Watson in three years was hailed by some critics as disappointing and even cringe-worthy, with shocking plot twists that felt deeply out of character even to fans.” — Vanity Fair. “Begins with an […]

New Zealand’s definitive guide to what’s airing nightly free-to-air in 1080i   Saturday  Expedition Tiger (TV3, 4.55, F) Series Premiere: Ultimate Fishing With Matt Watson (TV1, 5.00) Pets Make You Laugh Out Loud 2 (TV2, 5.00, R)  The Simpsons (TV2, 6.00, R) Newshub Live at 6pm (TV3, 6.00)  Prime Rugby: HSBC Wellington Rugby Sevens (Prime, 6.00)  The Middle (TV2, 6.30, 5.1, R) Posh Pawn (TV1, 7.00, R) […]

  TVNZ 1 will premiere the fourth and possibly final series of Sherlock on January 29 — two weeks after the finale aired on BBC1 (to a record-low number of viewers). Why the network has waited so long to screen what may be the ultimate season is as big a mystery as anything Holmes and Watson investigated. Granted, Sherlock […]

The latest season of Sherlock will screen shortly on TVNZ 1. The network’s confirmation that it is “coming soon” follows season four’s top-rating premiere in the UK over the weekend. The New Year’s Day launch drew 8.1 million viewers overnight, making it the day’s most-watched programme. The sleuth’s return was viewed by 300,000 fewer viewers than last […]

Midsomer Murders (Prime, 8.30 Sundays) “Like death and taxes, Midsomer Murders remains one of life’s less palatable certainties. Amid a veritable morgue’s worth of sub-par detective shows on ITV, since the demise of Poirot this is now the oldest and stinkiest of the lot. Mostly, it’s the smell of out-of-date cheese, with only the occasional whiff of self-awareness that […]

TV1’s Doctor Foster was just what the network ordered, with last night’s premiere averaging 5.1% of its target audience, 25-54 year-olds, and 8.4% of viewers aged 5+. It won the hour in both demos, beating TV2’s Tangled and Scary Movie 5, which overlapped it, and TV3’s network movie premiere of GI Joe: Retaliation. But the movies dominated […]