Is Roger alive? Can Marsali predict the future? Will Fraser’s Ridge ever have enough candles? Tara Ward recaps season five, episode eight of Outlander. If you were planning on escaping through the stones to 1771 for some light relief from this mad old world of ours, think again. Turn back, you shall not pass. It … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews the third season of Killing Eve, which trades a razor-sharp focus for a wide lens and pays the price. Spoilers for the first two seasons of Killing Eve follow. In the space of three years, Killing Eve has turned from unlikely success – a cult pulp series of novels adapted by a … Read more
The low-down on the lockdown educational TV channels, which launch tomorrow. We’re still in lockdown, but term two begins this week. What’s the story with the new TV channels? This week sees the launch of two new television channels dedicated to broadcasting educational programmes for school students during the Covid-19 lockdown. The first is Home … Read more
A rom-com thriller? Produced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge? Sign us up. Sam Brooks reviews Run, which arrives on Neon tonight. Picture it: You don’t like your life very much. You have a shitty dead-end job, a husband you’re fond of but no longer love with, and kids to whom you feel obligated but not necessarily devoted. … Read more
Let’s meet the brave Australians who threw caution to the wind in search of $250,000 and a free trip around the planet. It’s been yonks since we last took a trip with The Amazing Race, so it’s ironic that the latest season hits our screens during a time when we can’t go anywhere. Who wants … Read more
Wondering how to spend a long weekend when you can’t leave the house? Emily Writes has a guide to all the other wild documentary series you could watch. Netflix’s true crime/poverty porn series Tiger King is a hit, there’s no doubt about it. It’s been the streaming service’s most popular title for nine days straight … 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
Sam Brooks takes a look at new American streaming service Quibi, and asks what sets it apart from all the rest. So what is Quibi and what makes it different? Quibi is a new streaming service based out of the US with one twist: you can only watch it on your phone. Or, to use … Read more
Tara Ward talks to Spencer Stoner, the producer of Go Further South, the slow TV sensation that hits our screens this Easter. Let’s change Good Friday’s name to “Great Friday”, or maybe “Even Better Friday”, because Prime is giving us the television tonic every lockdown needs. Go Further South, the slow-TV sequel to 2019’s … Read more
If you’re a movie-lover but don’t feel like funnelling more money to a giant global corporation right now, good news: there are plenty of free – and legal – streaming options out there. You just have to know where to look. The number of people with access to linear television is growing smaller and smaller … Read more
Sam Brooks, a lifelong Studio Ghibli fan, presents a guide to the Japanese studio’s animated films, including which ones to show your kids when. Just heard ‘Let It Go’ for the billionth time? Sick of those class-traitor dogs that make up the cast of Paw Patrol? Look no further than the delightful films of Studio … Read more
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is set. I felt hope and … Read more
What are you going to be watching in April? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. Click here to read our listings from March. The Biggies Run (Season 1 on Neon weekly from April 13) I’m calling it: This … Read more
As the new season of Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It drops, Tara Ward investigates how the gurus can help us with our own interpersonal property dilemmas. We’re approaching the second week of national lockdown, and it’s about now that many of us will begin to have the “love it or list it” … Read more
The Real Pod assembles one more time to dissect the final week of The Bachelorette NZ, with special thanks to Nando’s. We’ve reached the end of our love journey in more ways than one, as this season of The Bachelorette NZ coincides with end of The Real Pod in its current form. Lesina chose nobody, … Read more
It’s been a tough week in both 2020 and 1771, but things just got a whole lot worse for Jamie and Claire. Contains very big, very sad spoilers for season five, episode seven of Outlander. We are locked in a bubble of our own distress, we are self-isolating in a heavy cloud of emotion, we … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her last power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where Lily and Lesina make their final decisions. Click here for previous instalments. Well me homies, we have reached the end of our journey together. At times it was slow, like a food tech teacher dragging his brogues through the black sands of Piha … Read more
Tips on how television can help educate your kids, for parents who have to keep working. It feels as if a great many parents are simply flourishing during this lockdown with fairy gardens, bird song and mason jars, daily bongo drum dancing and essays written by three-year-old prodigies about how satisfying it is to be … Read more
The new true crime documentary sensation shares many of the flaws of its own subject, writes Sam Brooks. Joe Exotic, the man at the centre of Netflix’s new documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, is a star. There’s an unnerving charisma that burns through the tattooed eyeliner, the sickly bleached hair and the … Read more
Whether it’s a robot uprising, a woman catfishing into the publishing world or a bunch of lovestruck islanders, Neon has you covered. Here’s what we’re bingeing on Neon for the foreseeable future. Westworld Just in time for lockdown, there’s a buzz-worthy show with endless discussion points coming out on a weekly basis. Yup, it’s Westworld. … Read more
Simon Day and Calum Henderson celebrate some iconic matches from the Black Caps’ back catalogue. The only thing better than watching live cricket is watching classic cricket. It’s a sport that’s built on characters and narratives, and to be honest, four out of five games are just a bit disappointing. But with nostalgic games, you … Read more
The Real Pod assembles (virtually) to dissect the penultimate week of The Bachelorette NZ, except this time we are in a national lockdown. The lads on The Bachelorette NZ knew all about what it was like to be in lockdown, so in a lot of ways we should have been prepared for this. Coming at … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where everything is made up and Covid-19 didn’t matter yet. Click here for previous instalments. Time for walls down, hearts on sleeve, arms outstretched (from two metres away). I’ve found it increasingly hard to focus on this here reality television programme, which feels even more … Read more
Don’t panic, Outlander is still going strong. Tara Ward recaps episode six of season five. Oh, my sweet little Outlander cherubs, just look at very state of us. We are living in a world that now makes an episode of our beloved Outlander seem relatable, a thing I never thought I’d see with mine own eyes. Suddenly, … Read more
An unscheduled Covid-19 special ran in place of Seven Sharp last night, and Duncan Greive says it brought out the best in both its participants and the medium itself. Over the past decade there has been an inexorable gravity sucking us toward social media. Young men, whipsmart and in a hell of a hurry, created … Read more
Looking for something safe to watch on the telly? Tara Ward has some suggestions. Chucking on the old gogglebox is the perfect way to escape the bewildering shitstorm we currently call “the real world”, especially if you’ve built yourself a comfortable throne out of your many, many stockpiled rolls of toilet paper. That’s why we’ve … Read more
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the seventh week of The Bachelorette NZ, with special thanks to Nando’s. The good news is that we are all back in the same country for the first time in a long time, the bad news is that it is definitely not because of The Right Reasons. In a … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her eleventh power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where two more lads veto themselves from this get-up. Click here for previous instalments. The Bachelorette NZ is no longer a televised search for love, but a bizarre time capsule from a pre-pandemic era that feels so long ago that the sepia finally makes … Read more
Jamie kills a man, Claire invents penicillin, and somebody adopts a cat. It’s a big week in Outlander, as Tara Ward recaps episode five of season five. We open with some important news, friends: the first verse of the Outlander theme song is the perfect length to wash your hands to. That’s science for you, so … Read more