Television
The Best of the Week
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 9
Baked in Vermont (Food Network, Sky 018, 5.20pm) The US state of Vermont recently freed the weed, but no, it’s not that kind of baked. Self-taught baker, teacher and cookbook author Gesine Bullock-Prado acts out her belief that anyone can bake – and have fun doing it. There are cookie, cakes, parties and freezer tips.
Midsomer Murders (Prime, 7.30pm) Fans of comedian
Bill Bailey will want to catch his cameo turn as a tetchy but revered comic artist who turns up in Carver Valley for the seventh annual FranCon Comic Book Convention. A supermodel is found dead, choked by a comic book – has the comic foretold the grisly event?
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 10
Harry and Meghan: the First Tour (TVNZ
1, 8.10pm) Before the infamous unruly tourists, there were the born-to-rule tourists. This
ITV documentary covers the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 16-day tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand last year. Notably, it ventures beyond mere royal-watching to explore issues in the places they visit – in New Zealand, those include Māori suicide rates and introduced animal pests. ITV royal editor Chris Ship’s breathless claim that “stoats and possums are killing 68,000 ground birds like the Kiwi every night” might need a citation.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 11
2019 61st Grammy Awards (TVNZ 2, 2.00pm) Miley Cyrus, Janelle Monáe, Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile and Cardi B all perform in this year’s Grammys – and, somewhat inexplicably, Post Malone teams up with Red Hot Chili Peppers in what organisers promise will be an “unforgettable Grammy moment”. The one to watch is Carlile, whose six nominations are the most for any woman this year and who has just staged her own all-female music festival. There’s an encore screening at 8.30pm on TVNZ Duke and Sky’s E! channel has redcarpet action from 11.30am.
British Academy Film Awards (UKTV, Sky 007, 7.30pm) More awards! The 2019 Baftas air here about 12 hours after
the event. Yorgos Lanthimos’ absurdist comedy-horror of the English Restoration, The Favourite, is, well, a favourite – it’ll have to vanquish A Star Is Born – and Rami Malek gets another nomination for his turn in Bohemian Rhapsody. But the main thing, really, is that Joanna Lumley is hosting again.
Fair Go (TVNZ 1, 7.30pm) Pippa Wetzell, Hadyn Jones and the team are back for another season of consumer advocacy. There are no major changes
Manifest, Monday. signalled – it’s just Fair Go doing what it does.
Manifest (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm) After a few months’ streaming on OnDemand, this supernatural drama series graduates to a broadcast timeslot. A group of passengers on an international air voyage survive some turbulence only to disembark and discover that while they’ve been in the air, more than five years have passed on the ground.
Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railway Journeys (Choice TV, 8.30pm) Tarrant’s show has been described as a sort of Rick Stein for rail lovers: he’s amiable, interested, a bit bumbling. In this season, he explores the history of mountain rail via the Alps, inspects crumbling Cold War leftovers in
Ukraine and rides the rebuilt Reunification Line from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.
The Walking Dead (TVNZ 2, 10.05pm) The extremely dark opening minutes released as a preview for The Walking Dead’s second half of its ninth season indicate that things aren’t going to get any more sunny for the plucky band
of survivors. Jesus is dead, the Whisperers are abroad and Negan is on the loose. Although the Whisperers’ story has been told in the original Walking Dead comic series, new showrunner Angela Kang reportedly adds some new twists. Fans are being promised a second-half season with a distinctive tone to each episode. Oh, and more Negan.
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12
Back to the Land (BBC Earth, Sky 074, 8.30pm) A series showcasing the folk going back to the land and reinventing rural Britain.
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13
New Zealander of the Year
(TVNZ OnDemand, 9pm) One News will dip into proceedings, but the whole event will be streamed live from the Cordis hotel in Auckland on OnDemand. The hosts are Toni Street and Scotty Morrison and the three finalists for the big award are public-health researcher and tobacco harm reduction advocate Dr Marewa Glover, Eat My Lunch founder Lisa King and mental-health campaigner Mike King.
Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (TVNZ 2, 8.30pm) The third season of McIntyre’s popular variety show (season four is currently screening in Britain) features former Labour MP and celebrity dancer Ed Balls, singer Emeli Sandé and standup comic Joe Lycett, as well as the usual regular features and games.
NZ Hunter Adventures (TVNZ
Duke, 8.30pm) Father and son team Greg and Willie Duley return with a fifth season of the cult hunting show. They’re out in the wild as usual, but this season also sees them break out the tweed for an oldfashioned day out shooting waterfowl. It’s an episode they promise will be “truly epic”.
Live PD (TVNZ Duke, 9.25pm) In the US, Live PD is a show built on live video feeds from eight different law-enforcement agencies. It’s a formula which breaches some traditional TV boundaries – in one case the family of a man killed in an alleged drug deal learnt the bad news when his body was shown on screen. It’s not live in New Zealand, of course.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14
Jamie Cooks Italy (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm) The accompanying cookbook might have been rightly scorned, but the series itself is agreeable viewing – especially where it involves Jamie Oliver charming Italian nonnas out of their culinary secrets.
Temptation Island (TVNZ OnDemand) Because nothing says Valentine’s Day like a reality show that separates couples, moves them in with sexy, willing singles and challenges them not to get jiggy. This is a reboot of Fox’s 2001 original, which enjoyed a brief flare of controversy before nosediving in the ratings. Since then, more than 20 territories have licensed the format from its Dutch creators and several copycat shows have been made. So they got the band back together – including presenter Mark Wahlberg.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (TVNZ On Demand) It’s allstars time again as the top queens from episodes take to the runway to try for a place in the Drag Race Hall of Fame. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, Friday.