Alex Casey talks to comedian Ed Gamble about his time impersonating a prince on Almost Royal, and how to catch a catfish. The BBC America series Almost Royal follows the aristocratic sibling duo Georgie and Poppy Carlton – supposed descendants of the royal family – as they travel to the United States to meet the … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we trawl their catalogue for shows you might want to watch. This week, we outline six things you need to know about Six. New to Lightbox this month, History Channel original action series Six follows the daily lives of the members of the Navy SEAL Team 6 … Read more
With the third season of Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul arriving on Lightbox tomorrow, José Barbosa makes his case for why the prequel may well be even better than the original. Remember around 2010, 2011 when everyone was talking about the continuing misadventures of Walter and Jesse? The show was so good people lost their shit, so much so … Read more
Everything Tara Ward knows, she has learned from Shane Cortese and the Nothing Trivial gang. Here she outlines the 10 stages of pub quiz grief. Watching three seasons of Nothing Trivial broadened my general knowledge more than the time I fell into a Buzzfeed Quiz vortex of time and space and spent seven hours discovering … Read more
With the two-part miniseries now available exclusively on Lightbox, Alex Casey tells you why you need to take a trip to the scary island of And Then There Were None. What’s the story? Imagine… if you were invited out to a mysterious island with a bunch of people you didn’t really know, who slowly started … Read more
Ahead of the arrival of Better Call Saul season three to Lightbox next month, José Barbosa sits down with star Bob Odenkirk to discuss the hidden details in the show, Saturday Night Live vs Trump and why Cinnabon gets the party poppin’. For a long time, Breaking Bad was the pinnacle of high quality, must-watch TV. The story of … Read more
In the final season of Parks & Recreation the timeline jumps ahead to 2017. The series was ultimately optimistic about the apparatus and people that constituted the American government. Real life 2017? Not so much. Jose Barbosa compares the two wistfully. Some time ago American illustrator and Law & Order aficionado Brandon Bird tweeted an insightful comment … Read more
With Stan Lee’s Lucky Man returning to Lightbox at the end of the week, we round up the luckiest charms of the big and small screen. If you haven’t seen it already, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man takes a step away from the explosive Marvel cinematic universe to gloomy Londontown, where James Nesbitt (the bloke from … Read more
In New Zealand to promote the return of Suits to Lightbox, Rick Hoffman revealed the secrets of mudding, catchphrases, and his mysterious assistant Norma to Madeleine Chapman. The first ever episode of The AM Show aired on Monday morning, and its first ever studio guest was actor Rick Hoffman – aka the man we love to … Read more
The ’00s are rightly remembered as a golden age for the hour-long teen-centric drama, thanks to The OC and Gilmore Girls. But Duncan Greive says Veronica Mars is the very best. The kids of Neptune High dress like absolute idiots. Platinum blonde hair feathered at every extremity, tartan bootcut pants, all the earth tones on Earth … Read more
Ahead of David Attenborough’s New Zealand live shows, Anthony Gardiner pens a heartfelt letter to the man in blue who made bat poo cool. Dear David, I can’t remember the first time you came into my life. For someone who means so much to us all, it is strange to not be able to recall … Read more
People keep saying The Path is a TV show about Scientology. Hayden Donnell sets out to demolish these false prophets and their suppressive allegations. Last weekend I snuck into Scientology’s new headquarters in Auckland. During my two hours inside, I was infused with new depths of knowledge about the perils of psychiatry, the drugs enslaving us … Read more
Ahead of David Attenborough’s New Zealand live show, superfan Anthony Gardiner assembles the great naturalist’s greatest television moments. Ahh David Attenborough <heart eyes>. More so than any other human on Planet Earth, Sir D.A has inspired generations of us to love nature. The modern environmental movement is said to have started in the ’60s. How … Read more
Brave scientist and television enthusiast Lucy Zee attempts to solve one of the last remaining mysteries of modern times: at what moment does Elliot in Mr Robot become irresistibly attractive? Originally posted September 22, 2016 There’s no doubt that Mr Robot is one of the most engrossing, trippiest shows of 2016. But apart from the intriguing storyline, … Read more
Sam Heughan is farmer, fugitive and all round Scottish spunkrat Jamie Fraser in fantasy-drama Outlander, the second season of which arrived exclusively to Lightbox on April 10 this year. Longtime fan Tara Ward swallowed her nerves and spoke with Sam ahead of the premiere (please note, contains spoilers from season one). Originally posted March 24, 2016 Last … Read more
Lucy Zee salutes Chanel Oberlin of Scream Queens, the alpha of the comedy-horror series who never wears the same fur twice. The late 90s and early 2000s gave us the best teen films and TV shows of all time: Mean Girls, Clueless, Bring It On, Buffy and Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Sadly, in more recent … Read more
Alex Casey rejoices in the return of a humble New Zealand television icon to Mozart in the Jungle, of all places. The other day my beloved colleague Madeleine Chapman regaled me with her joy at seeing the return of fruity fizzy drink ‘Mirinda’ to the shelves of her local Pak ‘n Save. I have to agree. … Read more
Lightbox are currently running their grand annual People’s Choice Awards, giving you the chance to win a trip for two to New York. Alex Casey and Madeleine Chapman aren’t allowed to win, but that won’t stop them explaining who they would be voting for and why. Best hero: Captain Flint, Black Sails The pirate market … Read more
Neil Cross, the acclaimed NZ-based novelist, scriptwriter and creator of Luther, tells Duncan McLachlan about violence and drama, being scared of the dark, and what makes him headbutt walls. Alert: contains spoilers for Luther. And Moonlighting On 4 May 2010, the BBC introduced us to DCI John Luther. His friends called him John. To the rest of … Read more
To celebrate the start of Movember, Pete Douglas gives a run-down of his favourite TV moustaches through the ages. It’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years since Outrageous Fortune hit our screens and set the tone for the next decade of local TV drama. People loved the show for a range of reasons, but … Read more
Everybody loves a good ghost story. And the only thing better than a ghost story is a Celebrity Ghost Story. We asked some of New Zealand / the world’s hottest celebrities (who we had contact information for) for their spooky tales. Wallace Chapman Once when I was 18, we were sitting around listening to heavy … Read more
It’s Saturday and all of a sudden people have realised that Halloween falls on a Monday this year. Nobody throws a party on a Monday, so now you need a kick-ass costume for tonight. Luckily, Madeleine Chapman is here to help. It’s hard to tell what’s worse: being the only one at the party with … Read more
It’s Labour Weekend this weekend to commemorate the 8-hour work day by not going to work for any hours. It makes sense. To celebrate, Madeleine Chapman and Calum Henderson combined brains to find the best and worst places to work on Lightbox. THE BEST 1) Pawnee Parks Department (Parks & Recreation) With Leslie Knope being … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we pluck out shows from Lightbox‘s extensive back catalogue. This week, Pete Douglas presents a guide to all the best popstars who gave telly a whirl. I bloody love a good popstar cameo on a TV show. Ever since Stevie Wonder accidentally crashed into Theo and Denise … Read more
This Throwback Thursday, Alex Casey recalls a television scandal combining both home renovation and face-lifts that made the internet explode. Recently, swept up by the same nauseating force of nostalgia that once saw me fork out $30 for a rusty Chupa Chups Spice Girls tin, I Googled ‘Bob the Builder’ just to see what me friendly … Read more
Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal makes elite home cuisine look possible with little more than an old mushroom and an iron. But how achievable are his recipes? Tara Ward watches How to Cook Like Heston to find out. For those of you who think being adventurous in the kitchen means using a non-stick frypan, How to Cook … Read more
Christchurch local Moata Tamaira looks into the greatest sitcom map-related mystery of the 21st century: why was the New Zealand city chosen as a mappelganger for Parks and Recreation’s Pawnee? This post was published in October 2016. Once upon a time the best you could hope for in terms of pop culture references to Christchurch … Read more
Brave scientist and television enthusiast Lucy Zee attempts to solve one of the last remaining mysteries of modern times: at what moment does Elliot in Mr Robot become irresistibly attractive? There’s no doubt that Mr Robot is one of the most engrossing, trippiest shows of 2016. But apart from the intriguing storyline, the Emmy-winning acting and the … Read more
With Jeffrey Tambor taking home his 4000th Emmy award yesterday and the new season arriving exclusively to Lightbox on Saturday, Sam Brooks tells you exactly why you need to catch up with Transparent. When Transparent was announced as a pilot for Amazon TV, a pilot where Arrested Development patriarch Jeremy Tambor would be playing a … Read more