What to watch on Sky and free-to-air TV this week
Kiwis get a local version of a popular reality competition, and Joanna Lumley stars in a new British drama, writes
You have to hand it to Danish company Lego – it has built a massive empire out of tiny blocks. Normally the film franchise comes first, and the toys come second, but Lego did it the other way around.
Normally, adults watch kids stacking the plastic units, then applaud their architectural acumen, but Lego Masters NZ (Mondays and Tuesdays, from May 9, 7.30pm, TVNZ 2) reverses the formula.
Modelled on the global hit format, this local version is hosted by Dai Henwood and features six pairs of competitive Kiwi enthusiasts whose creative constructions will be judged by ‘‘Brickmaster’’ Robin Sather. Plus, to get you in the mood, you can enjoy The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part this weekend (Saturday, 7pm, TVNZ 2).
Another new local show, Down For Love (Mondays from May 9, 8.30pm, TVNZ 2), follows six people with Down syndrome keen to put themselves out there in the difficult world of dating.
A Netflix show along similar lines but featuring those with autism, called Love on the Spectrum, is thoroughly engaging, thoughtful and kind, so it is cool to see a local variation.
Made in consultation with the New Zealand Down Syndrome Association and with a down-to-earth Kiwi twist to it, this should be great.
Local left-field laugh generator Rhys Darby is enjoying a wave of welldeserved popularity thanks to pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, so it is timely to enjoy some of his surreal stand-up.
Filmed in Galway, Ireland,
Rhys Darby: Mystic Time Bird (Thursday, 8.30pm, Three) is a fantastical journey attempting to solve humanity’s problems by delving into past lives and the murky world of mysticism. It’s a comical trip into a weird and wonderful imagination.
Marie Curie’s life story gets the silver-screen treatment in Radioactive (Sunday, 8.30pm, Mā ori TV), which stars Rosamund Pike as the
scientist who changed the world. Back then, the powers that be thought women had no place behind the bunsen burner, but her tenacity and brilliance forced the patriarchy to eat their sexist hats.
A retired piano teacher undertakes a seemingly impossible task when he promises to deliver a 100-yearold piano to a school in the Himalayas. Piano To Zanskar (Monday, 8.30pm,
Sky Arts) is a documentary that follows Desmond O’Keefe, sherpas, yaks and ponies, as they journey to a remote village in Northern India. Beautifully shot and told in understated tones, this is a simple story about a complicated adventure.
Finding Alice (Thursdays from May 5, 8.30pm, Eden) is a six-part drama/comedy starring Keeley Hawes, Joanna Lumley and Nigel Havers. On the first night they move into their dream home, Alice discovers her husband of 20 years dead at the bottom of a staircase he designed. Alice then discovers her husband’s hidden secrets, forcing her to re-evaluate her life.
Before Peter Jackson gave us Get Back, another famous director, Ron Howard, made
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (Monday, 8.30pm, Mā ori TV), which takes us back to the madness that was Beatlemania, and features modernday interviews with the band’s surviving members.