already got this episode: (recently deleted)

[sub]

NextPVR has to trust the unique show identifiers provided by Schedules Direct. Regardless of whether it thinks it was recently deleted, you can always schedule a one-off recording for whatever shows you need recorded. (the 'avoid duplicates' logic only applies to recurring recordings)

So I'm unsure how a manual one-off recording is relevant here....

I was just meaning that if you know there is something wrong with the show identifiers, and can see it's not scheduling the episode you want it to record later in the week, you can do a one-off recording to ensure the show will be recorded. The "recently deleted" logic that is stopping it being scheduled is only applies to recurring recordings.

[gEd]

yep all good and sorry for not figuring out for myself first that it was an SD issue. 
I think i was recalling a feature from way back (v4?) when npvr generated its own unique ID. or that's just a false memory and I need to eat more broccoli.

[sub]

It's always used SD's unique ID. For other sources which don't have this (like xmltv or DVB epg), it will try to generate one if it can. (like name-season-episode)