Saturday's TV highlights

6.30PM, TV2
FRIENDS
It's time to reminisce with some of your old friends. When Rachel turns 30, the gang think back to their 30th birthdays and, in typical Phoebe fashion, she finds she's really 31.

7PM, TV ONE
COUNTRY CALENDAR
There's no shortage of prime cuts of steak when the Williams family throws a party. They've run an Angus bull stud farm on the east coast north of Gisborne for 100 years and Country Calendar was there when they celebrated with staff and clients.

8.30PM, TV ONE
LADETTE TO LADY
This reality show is as low-brow as TV One has got in years. Ladette To Lady takes a bunch of randy, beer-swilling babes, and tries to turn them into ladies by running them through a finishing school.

9.35PM, TV ONE
MR HARVEY LIGHTS A CANDLE
On the face of it, a BBC drama about an ageing school teacher coming to terms with his past doesn't sound like gripping viewing. But when veteran character actor Timothy Spall stars you know it's going to be well worth a look.

Ever since he played Barry the gormless electrician in the critically acclaimed 80s TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, the dumpy-looking Spall has marked himself out as a master of his craft. For that role he mined his working-class roots (his father was a postal worker, his mother worked in a chip shop) and they've been handy in his work with film director Mike Leigh, a champion of the working class.

One of their collaborations and one of Spall's finest moments was the award-winning film Secrets and Lies, in which he played Brenda Blethyn's conflicted brother. But about that time he was diagnosed with myeloid leukaemia and underwent chemotherapy.

After making a startling recovery, he has been busier than ever portraying characters ranging from obnoxious slimeballs to timid losers. He has been seen recently in the Harry Potter films, The Last Samurai and the movie version of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Tonight, he plays Malcolm Harvey, a shambling and melancholic teacher haunted by a tragedy. With fellow teachers Miss Davies (Celia Imrie, Bridget Jones's Diary) and Mr Cole (Ben Miles, A Thing Called Love), he sets off on a school trip to Salisbury Cathedral. It soon becomes apparent the journey is more than a simple school outing for Mr Harvey and along the way the unruly students learn some life lessons.


MOVIES
[rated out of 5]

7PM, TV2
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
Herald rating: * * *
Made-for-TV movie about two teens who meet at a karaoke contest and discover their mutual love for music. (2006)

8.30PM, TV3
THE MUMMY
Herald rating: * * *
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz star in this action fantasy about a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who awakens a centuries-old mummy while on an archaeological dig. Indiana Jones meets film monsters, with tongue firmly in-cheek. (1999)

9PM, TV2
DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS
Herald rating: * * *
An American girl moves to Cuba with her parents in 1958 and defies her parents' wishes when she falls in love with Javier, a waiter who is also a dab hand on the dance floor. The pair practise their dance steps covertly, in preparation for a national dance competition. (2004)

11.15PM, TV ONE
THX1138
Herald rating: * * *
Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence star in this early film from Star Wars director George Lucas. It's about an attempt to escape from a futuristic society living beneath Earth's surface. The society has outlawed sex, and drugs are used to control civilians.

THX 1138 (Duvall) stops taking the drugs, and gets a woman named LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) pregnant. Jailed for a sex crime, they meet SEN 5241 (Pleasence) and plot their escape.

The film was made as a result of Lucas' student film short project, entitled THX-1138:4EB. He was given the chance to direct this feature-length version, produced by his mentor Francis Ford Coppola. Warner Brothers didn't like the finished film, but the critical attention gave Lucas career a kickstart into American Graffiti and then Star Wars. Lucas has since worked the title into some of his other films as an in-joke.

8.30PM, SKY MOVIES 1
THE SIXTH SENSE
Herald rating: * * *
A chilling psychological thriller about a boy (Haley Joel Osment) who sees dead people and shares his secret with child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). Crowe tries to uncover the ominous truth about the boy's supernatural abilities, with surprising results. This film propelled writer-director M. Night Shyamalan to instant fame. (1999)


SPORT

TRI-NATIONS: NEW ZEALAND V AUSTRALIA
5.20PM, SKY SPORT 1 LIVE; 7.30PM PRIME
Providing the wheels don't fall off in South Africa, this is the All Blacks' big chance to claim the Tri-Nations.

NRL: WARRIORS V STORM
9.30PM, SKY 1 LIVE, 10.45PM (SUNDAY) PRIME
The Warriors have been playing error-free footy but they will need more than that to survive against a rampant Storm outfit at Olympic Park (aka the Graveyard).

BASKETBALL: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS NEW ZEALAND v SPAIN
9.50PM, SKY SPORT 1 LIVE; 10.45PM, TV2
The Tall Blacks came fourth in 2002 but their form has been mixed heading into this event: inspired wins over Australia followed by a tough South American tour.