HD Highlights: August 19

Sky Movies Premiere: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Sky 20, 8.30, 5.1) They saved the best boy wizard adventure for last. As The Hollywood Reporter declared: “Fully justifying the decision, once thought purely mercenary, of splitting JK Rowling’s final book into two parts, this is an exciting and, to put it mildly, massively eventful finale that will grip and greatly please anyone who has been at all a fan of the series up to now.” Concurred Variety: “With its accelerated rhythm, relentless flow of incident and wizard-war endgame, Part 2 will strike many viewers as a much more exciting, involving picture than the slower, more atmospheric Part 1.” (2011) ✭✭✭✭

❑ The Zoo (TV One, 7.00) Shilo the zebra fights for her life; the great otter swap is on; and mischievous keas renovate their new home. ✭✭✭✩

❑ The Big Bang Theory (TV2, 7.00, 5.1, R) Sheldon takes on his greatest challenge when he attempts to help Penny understand physics, and Wolowitz becomes jealous when Leonard starts hanging out with his new girlfriend. ✭✭✭✭

❑ Modern Family (TV3, 7.00, 5.1, R) Claire hatches an anniversary surprise for Phil by hiring one of their favourite musicians to give a private performance. Edward Norton guest stars. ✭✭✭✭

❑ Sunday Theatre: Audi NZ Season – Tangiwai (TV One, 8.30, R) The story of New Zealand cricketer, Bob Blair and his fiancé, Nerissa Love, whose lives were shattered by the 1953 Tangiwai Disaster. ✭✭✭

Movie: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (TV3, 8.30, 5.1, R) As The Washington Post observed of this uneven dramatisation of a British intellectual’s Big Apple baptism in celebrity journalism: “The movie based on [Toby] Young’s 2002 memoir is a good bit blunter. One early laugh comes at the expense of a pig urinating on a woman’s feet at the BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars. And it doesn’t get much better, or much smarter, than that.” Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and Megan Fox star; Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Robert B Weide directs. (2008) ✭✭✩

❑ Homeland (TV3, 10.35, 5.1, R) Reeling after losing key players in Nazir’s plot against America, the CIA orders polygraphs on everyone who came in contact with them. ✭✭✭✭

❑ The Good Wife (TV3, 12.10, 5.1, R) As her husband’s legal team continues to mount the case for his appeal, Alicia discovers evidence of possible jury tampering in her firm’s class action law suit against a major pharmaceutical company. ✭✭✭✭