Alex Casey can’t stop watching Jojo Siwa’s vlogs on Youtube. With the documentary Jojo Siwa: My World arriving to Lightbox this month, here’s your much-needed introduction to a young internet sensation. Most nights I find myself falling down a Jojo Siwa rabbit hole, lying on my side with 400 chins as I let vlog after … Read more
It’s one of New Zealand’s most picturesque locations, but what are the best bits? Piha local Mark Mitchinson, who plays rockstar-turned-radio DJ Terry Huffer in the Lightbox series High Road, takes us on a tour of West Auckland’s famous beach suburb. High Road is a Lightbox Original. Season two of High Road is available to … Read more
The business of news is as dirty as the ink its printed in – or at least that’s what Press thinks. Sam Brooks reviews the news drama from the BBC, which drops on Lightbox today. There are no heroes in Press. Whether you’re Holly Evans (Charlotte Riley), the righteous news editor for the Herald, who chases up corporate cover-ups and … Read more
They said he couldn’t do it, but what else are you going to do in seven days? Sam Brooks watched 42 episodes of Outlander in a single week to catch up before the fourth season premiere. This post was originally published 4 November 2018. One week ago today I sat around The Spinoff’s story-pitching firepit, and … Read more
Alex Casey gets to the bottom of a pop culture obsession: what’s the deal with Doc Martin? It’s getting to the time of year where many of us return home to roost like big drunk chooks incapable of doing anything more than chugging prosecco, eating fistfuls of ham and blobbing out on the couch. In … Read more
It was the *other* double murder that defined the nineties – the one that wasn’t OJ-related. Coming to Lightbox today is its TV dramatisation: Law and Order True Crime: The Menéndez Murders. But who are all these people? Sam Brooks has the info you need. I was not yet born when Lyle and Erik Menéndez walked on … Read more
McDreamy’s new show, a mid-aughts mum classic and two of the year’s most fun films – they’re all on Lightbox this month! Plus, what you need to catch before it leaves. Book Club (movie from December 5) 2018 is the year that I embraced the book club, and it has enhanced my life in ways I … Read more
Get It to Te Papa follows journalist Hayden Donnell on an ambitious quest to collect underappreciated Kiwi cultural artefacts and get them into New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa. And you can watch the second episode right here – for free. But first, watch episode 1, in search of the Waitangi Dildo, here. In episode … Read more
Get It to Te Papa follows journalist Hayden Donnell on an ambitious quest to collect underappreciated Kiwi cultural artefacts and get them into New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa. And you can watch the first episode right now, for free. The first episode sees Hayden and José embark on a desperate quest to find the … Read more
The hairiest show on TV (and online streaming services) is back, and there are legitimate questions to be asked – mainly, why is Ivar such a loser? But while Vikings characters may break our hearts, their beards are forever. The Spinoff’s resident facial hair expert Madeleine Chapman ranks them. You can watch all of Vikings … Read more
What do the TV gods have in store for the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, as season 5 of Vikings returns? Alex Braae recaps the first episode back. Perhaps fitting for a show about an era where murderer and plunderer were legitimate occupations, Vikings got a bit messy for a while there. The first half of … Read more
The new world ain’t so new anymore – especially when you’re killing bears who might not actually be bears, and when your mum has already been there for approximately two hundred years. Tara Ward recaps episode four of season four of Outlander. Holy guacamole, mates, Outlander is BACK. I know it never really went away, although … Read more
Claire finds the foundation for her very own American Dream, while Brianna encounters second wave feminism – same difference, right? Tara Ward recaps episode three of season four of Outlander. There’s an old Scottish proverb that says “he who finds the strawberries, must smoulder at the horizon until his donkey flees and his wife loses her … Read more
Inarguably the best sports drama of all time, Friday Night Lights, dropped in its entirety on Lightbox last week. Sam Brooks on why you should watch it – and the other cult classics you might not know are on the service. Friday Night Lights (S1-5) I’m surprised this show didn’t incorporate some sort of partnership with … Read more
Claire and Jamie aren’t in Lallybroch anymore. They’re in Kansas (or somewhere south of there). Tara Ward recaps the second episode of season four of Outlander. When we last left Outlander, things were more desperate than the time Jamie had to eat Mrs Crook’s lumpy bannocks. The Fraser’s journey to Aunt Jocasta’s plantation River Run … Read more
You’ve heard of them. All your cool friends and your coolest aunt watches them – but what the heck are these blonde dramas with subtitles? Sam Brooks is here to school you on the ubiquitous Scandi-drama. Lock the doors, lower the blinds, fire up the smoke machine and put on your heels, because I know … Read more
Tara Ward recaps the rollicking premiere of Outlander season four, available exclusively on Lightbox. Contains major spoilers. The season premiere of Outlander was, as Queen Oprah would say, a full circle moment. Mostly because Claire Fraser kept wanging on about all the circular things she could think of – her wedding rings, the hangman’s noose, those soft … Read more
They said he couldn’t do it, but what else are you going to do in seven days? Sam Brooks watched 42 episodes of Outlander in a single week to catch up before the fourth season premiere tonight on Lightbox. One week ago today I sat around The Spinoff’s story-pitching firepit, and said I thought it would … Read more
Time travel, a bleak dalliance with the French King, and some dubious flatmates – is Jamie and Claire’s relationship actually worth it? Fictional relationship expert Madeleine Chapman passes judgement. Season Four of Outlander drops weekly on Lightbox from Monday November 5, and you can binge the three previous seasons there as well!
Your Northern hemisphere favourites are back this month (Outlander and Vikings) but there be gold on these here Lightbox shores too, yarr. The Spinoff staff run through what’s new to Lightbox in the month of November. Outlander (Season 4, weekly every Monday from November 5) Guy Fawkes Night will go off with a bang when the much-loved … Read more
Halloween is coming up, and you’re panicking. We know, and we’re here to help. Costume designer Christopher Stratton has your solutions, both easy and not! As someone whose livelihood is costuming though – I have zero tolerance for boring out of a bag costumes. I also understand that time is a precious, limited resource – … Read more
In episode two of Get It to Te Papa, a Lightbox Original made by The Spinoff, Hayden Donnell goes in search of the animatronic veges that instilled both delight and horror in ’90s kids across the nation. Watch Get It to Te Papa on Lightbox here. My memories of the Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges … Read more
Get It to Te Papa follows journalist Hayden Donnell on an ambitious quest to collect underappreciated Kiwi cultural artefacts and get them into New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa. Together with his director José Barbosa, Hayden scours the country for artefacts including the Waitangi Dildo, the animatronic fruit and vegetables from defunct supermarket chain Big … Read more
A bee-based riff on The Hunger Games, a remake of your favourite problematic 80s film, and The Spinoff’s very own new doco-series. This is what’s new to Lightbox in October! Get It to Te Papa (weekly from October 16) “Get It to Te Papa began in great and abiding failure,” says Hayden Donnell, host of The Spinoff’s … Read more
It’s school holiday time again, and to help us survive the next two weeks of quality time with the fruits of our loins, we must turn to everything that is right and fair about the world: the television. It’s the friend we’ve always needed, in good times and in bad, in sunshine and in rain. … Read more
Chris Warner, House, Shaun Murphy, Meredith Grey, Mindy Lahiri – there are a lot of doctors on our television, but who is the goodest? Madeleine Chapman investigates, and the results may surprise you. The Good Doctor season two drops on Lightbox weekly, starting from today. You can watch the entire first season on Lightbox right … Read more
To celebrate Hobbit Day (September 22), Alex Casey binges the entirety of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies on Lightbox. I’ll never forget the sunny afternoon that I spotted Andy Serkis on the imaginatively named “Main” street of “Grey” town during the height of The Lord of the Rings madness. I would’ve … Read more
The Stephen King super-series hits Lightbox in its entirety tonight, and thankfully, it’s come with A Plan and An Answer to all its mysteries. Uther Dean reviews. In the small town of Castle Rock, shit is going down. The head warden of the local prison kills himself. The new warden discovers a haunted, silent man … Read more
This month on Lightbox you can raid the Met Ball with Sandra Bullock, visit Castle Rock with Melanie Lynskey or share some delicious hot tea with four dames. Ocean’s 8 (drops Sep 5) If there was a film that better summed up the feeling of lounging back with a bottle of prosecco, a large bucket … Read more