Looking for a family friendly drama to enjoy this lockdown? TVNZ’s new teen series Mystic might be the perfect choice. Out in the television galaxy, somewhere between the giddy orbit of Paw Patrol and Riverdale, lies a dark void where young adults wait patiently for their next favourite series. While there are plenty of TV … Read more
The dancing plague of Strasbourg in 1518 is fertile artistic ground to explore – so much so that two identically titled productions have been released in the same year. Alex Braae reports on why that has left a New Zealand artistic company feeling aggrieved. After more than two years of development, NZ performing arts company … Read more
The Man Booker prize-winning novel makes its way to our screens courtesy of BBC and TVNZ, but does it make the transition unscathed? Linda Burgess reviews. Oh god, wild seas. A sailing ship – ah, so it’s the olden days – all creaking wood tossed on those heaving seas, the moon a ghostly galleon, with … Read more
The stars of one of the year’s most anticipated TV series, The Luminaries, tell Jordan Hamel about what drew them to their roles and their experience of filming in Aotearoa. How do you an adapt an ocean? How do you harness something with such inevitable, knowing rhythms and put it on the screen? How do … Read more
Noughts + Crosses is set in the present day, but if our history had run a wildly different course. Sam Brooks brings you up to speed on what you need to know before you dive into the show. First things first, what is Noughts + Crosses? Noughts + Crosses is a BBC series adapted from … Read more
It was meant to ‘draw a line under the whole episode’. So how did it turn into an unmitigated PR disaster, asks former Edelman executive David Brain. The thing about the Royal Family is that everything they do is PR really. I mean in the old sense of image and spin. There’s no product or … Read more
A lot of British migrants are making the move to New Zealand – so why shouldn’t there be a TV show documenting the process? Elle Hunt watches BBC reality show Wanted Down Under. A family of four wheels a trolley through an airport’s arrival hall. Far away from home, they look tired but hopeful. Today … Read more
Ten Brits run around the countryside being chased down by investigators (and also a camera crew) in order to win £100,000. Don Rowe watches the show and finds the hunting bizarre and, quite frankly, lacking in actual hunting. Self-improvement is often a matter of asking yourself better questions: where do I want to be in … Read more
Tara Ward watches British sitcom Mum, a show for anyone who has found themselves in an inescapable family mess. What’s the story? Mum is a family comedy seen through the eyes of newly widowed Cathy. The show follows Cathy as she negotiates the first year after her husband’s death, beginning in January on the day … Read more
The second season of English drama Doctor Foster might be the best thriller on television, despite its everyday subject matter, writes Duncan Greive. Doctor Foster has headed upstairs from a party and is walking around a house in silence, picking up photos and smelling cosmetics. The stakes are not much higher than her being caught … Read more
Sam Brooks watches the new Eva Longoria vehicle Decline and Fall and finds a show more British than a pint of lager and a packet of crisps. Decline and Fall is maybe the most British show I’ve ever watched. How British is it? First of all, it’s based on a 1928 satirical novel by Evelyn … Read more
When Duncan Greive reviewed Filthy Rich earlier this year he was overwhelmed with messages from a depressed New Zealand TV industry. Here he summarises what they had to say. Part of an ongoing series assessing our publicly funded television. Read part two, comparing TVNZ with the BBC, here. Originally published February 29, 2016 A couple of weeks … Read more
For Monitor this week, Aaron Yap watches BBC series Criminal Justice, the lesser-known original version of HBO sensation The Night Of, and compares the two gripping murder mysteries. David Fincher, the notoriously exacting American director behind such lurid, ultra-stylish thrillers like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl, is a master of making cinematic … Read more
Forget Mummy bloggers, Tara Ward collates all you need to know about pregnancy and childbirth from the 1950’s nuns of Call the Midwife. Call the Midwife follows a group of 1950’s nurse midwives in the East End of London, who spend every episode pretending they’re not shitting themselves at the thought of being responsible for bringing … Read more
Stop blaming TV commissioners for the quality of our local output, says Chris Hooper, who last year left TVNZ for a role at the BBC. It’s time to hold the Government’s feet to the fire. Part of an ongoing series assessing our publicly funded television. Read part one, covering the role of commissioners, here. People look upon … Read more
This Throwback Thursday, ex-cinema usher Alex Casey watches an Aardman claymation built entirely around real conversations between real foyer girls. You will know Aardman Animations now for the dynamic moon-eating duo Wallace or Gromit, or perhaps, for the more culturally unrefined, the screaming toilet slugs of Flushed Away. They’ve really done it all – Chicken … Read more
This is no April Fool’s joke, the critically adored BBC series is coming to New Zealand exclusively on Lightbox on April 1. Trust us, we wouldn’t joke about something of this televisual magnitude. Based on the iconic Hilary Mantel novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, the series is a historical drama straight out … Read more
More like Flop Gear Jeremy Clarkson was officially fired by the BBC this week, after punching the producer of Top Gear during a lovely steak dinner. After fronting Top Gear for 12 years, Clarkson has had his fair share of controversies. Racism. Sexism. Class Wars. His sacking could cost the BBC around £67million a year, with … Read more