Sunday's TV highlights

7PM, TV2
THE ZOO
Now into its eighth series, the show heads to zoos in South Africa, Australia and Israel, as well as our own in Auckland. This season deserves a too-cute rating: Trent bonds with cheetah cubs, orang-utan Melur gives birth, and Auckland Zoo welcomes its first zebra foal in 13 years. Also coming up on the series: the Siamang gibbon, Saigon the golden kitten and the cotton-top tamarins. Aww.

7.30PM, TV2
NZ IDOL
Oh boy. Round three. The first few episodes feature the preliminary auditions, and they're the best part - so make sure you tune in. Voices break, windows crack and dreams are shattered. As new judges Iain Stables and Megan Alatini cast an eye and ear on the wannabes, we'll be critiquing them, too.

9.30PM, TV ONE
ROME
As Caesar advances from the north, the city is in uproar with the nobility ordered to evacuate by Pompey, who fears he won't be able to defend the city and considers heading south so he can rally his legions. Caesar continues to insist he's no tyrant but just exerting his rights.

9.30PM, TV3
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs returns for a second season of mathematically inspired crime-busting with FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow), who gets his mathematical genius brother Charlie (David Krumholtz) as a ring-in on cases which require a good grasp of chaos theory and the like. Tonight, the brothers solve the murder of a judge's wife.


MOVIES
[rated out of 5]

6PM, SKY MOVIES 2; 8.30PM, SKY MOVIES 1
LAYER CAKE
Herald rating: * * *
Competent British gangland thriller with new James Bond Daniel Craig as a successful drug dealer whose plan for early retirement looks like it might just happen until a crime kingpin orders him to find the missing daughter of a rival crime boss. (2004)

8.30PM, TV2
50 FIRST DATES
Herald rating: * *
Adam Sandler plays Henry, a marine life veterinarian living in Hawaii. He spends his evenings with gorgeous tourists who are looking for a holiday fling with no strings attached. He meets Lucy (Drew Barrymore) and they hit it off, but the next day he discovers that she suffers from short-term memory loss and has no recollection of their meeting. Instantly forgettable. (2004)

9PM, MAORI TV
MARK II
Herald rating: * * *
Eddie Aranui buys his uncle's restored two-tone Mark II Zephyr and heads out of Auckland with Matthew, his cousin, and Kingi, their friend, to escape the confines of their suburban existence and find freedom on the road. They confront racism, youth issues and the effects of urbanisation on Maori. (1986)

10.35PM, TV2
DARKNESS FALLS
Herald rating: * *
Horror about a nasty spirit who takes the form of the tooth fairy. Decays rapidly. (2003)


SPORT

11.55PM, SKY SPORT 1 LIVE
FORMULA ONE: FRENCH GRAND PRIX
Fernando Alonso won in his Renault at Magny Cours last year, and he heads into this race as defending champion with a comfortable lead on the points table. However, he knows that if he makes one mistake, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher will be all over him like a rash.