What to watch on Sky and free-to-air Tvthisweek
A popular 2020 programme is back, and the colour and craziness of Ru paul’ s drag race comes down under, writes Alexbehan.
We all want to Eat Well For Less (tonight, 7.30pm, TVNZ1), so it makes sense that the New Zealand version of this wellmeaning series returns for a second bite of the apple. Each episode, Mike van de Elzen and Ganesh Raj help one family work smarter, not harder, to provide healthy meals and hopefully save money in the process. As well as providing a supermarket hack or two, the show also gives us the skinny on nutrition misconceptions and aims to bust myths about different diets.
Reporter David Lomas returns for another series where he tries to resolve unsolved family mysteries. Does Paula, now 39, have a right to know who her biological father is, despite him being assured of anonymity when he donated sperm? Can he find Julia’s parents six decades after they abandoned her wrapped only in newspaper, so she can find out why? David Lomas Investigates (tonight, 7.30pm, Three).
If you found the stranding of the Evergiven in the Suez Canal fascinating, then Mega Shippers: Land, Air& Sea (tomorrow, 9.30pm, TVNZ Duke) is for you. With 20 million shipping containers moving 90 per cent of the world’s trade, this complex world of tariffs and transport keeps our commercial world turning. Filmed in the United Kingdom, with exclusive access to its biggest ports, the scale of this show truly is ... ahem ... mega.
Rupaul Charleswas quick to recognise the opportunity Aotearoa’s Covid-free corner would provide and so it is with great fanfare we begin Rupaul’sdrag Race Down Under (Saturday, 8.30pm, TVNZ 2). A ratings behemoth, the drag race has 13 seasons under its belt and is adored by millions the world over. Filmed in Aotearoa, with an antipodean cast, this is our chance to see whether our drag stars can compete with the pettiness and high drama the show is so well known for.
In 2019, an album in full te reo Ma¯ori topped local charts for the first time in history and now documentary series
Waiata Anthems (Saturday, TVNZ Ondemand) takes us behind the scenes to the genesis of those songs. It features live performances and interviews with Che Fu, Bic Runga and Annie Crummer, and is a chance to celebrate the long-overdue changing attitudes towards our indigenous language in music.
This year’s Comedy Gala (Sunday, 8.30pm, TVNZ 2) features a strong lineup, hosted by Justine Smith. Warming up for the upcoming New Zealand Comedy Festival, it’s a chance to see snippets of shows from Angella Dravid, Guy Montgomery, Urzila Carson and Rhys Darby.
A historical drama set in 1950s Poland, Cold War (Sunday, 8.40pm, Ma¯ori TV) won seven awards, including Best Film, at the 2018 European Film Festival. This is highbrow cinema, centring on a complex, ill-fated romance that crosses borders and spans decades.
A limited, 10-part series filmed in 2015, Dig (Sunday, TVNZ Ondemand) is a globetrotting thriller starring Jason Isaacs. An FBI agent investigating the death of an American woman in Jerusalem, he begins to uncover what he believes to be a global cabal thousands of years in the making. How does a cult in New Mexico fit in? This conspiracy-laden drama is like a cross between The Da Vinci
Code and The Bourne Identity.