New to ThreeNow in June

June premieres on ThreeNow include three local series, including one that goes inside the closed community of Gloriavale, and a bonkers Channel 5 thriller.

Number One Fan (June 9) stars Jill Halfpenny as a daytime TV host who’s rescued from a mugging by her self-proclaimed “number one fan” (Sally Lindsay). Reads the blurb:

Head Girl was pitched to NZ On Air as a “darkly comedic, artistically ambitious drama” about three estranged friends based on the poetry of Freya Daly Sadgrove.

Expect raw emotions, absurdity, and plenty of Kiwi awkwardness. Reads the blurb for the six-parter:

Flo, Sadie, and Dee are 20-something year old Wellington flatmates – BFFs, apparently. When we first meet them, their very different lives look equally compelling. Flo is about to become a superstar in the poetry world, much to the delight of her status-seeking mother, Petra, and fellow poet pal, Emily; Dee is living her fun, party-harder life screwing half of Wellington and tending to her rescue hedgehog; and Sadie is on the verge of launching a ground-breaking translation app with her handsome entrepreneur boyfriend, Djarad, all while completing her Master’s thesis.

But all is not right in paradise. Flo’s hiding a massive secret – she’s not well – mentally. And she’s stealing ideas for her new poetry from her flatmates. Dee is full of guilt and self-loathing, especially as her problematic behaviour drags innocent ingenue, Elijah, into the vortex of her self-destructiveness. And Sadie’s picture perfect persona is about to crack. She, too, is running away from something – her feelings. The truth is, she hates her studies, she feels like an imposter, and she’s not happy. Something big is about to go down as each of the girls start spinning out of control.

In Celebrity Escape, seven comedians enter elaborate, cinematic escape rooms built for logic, teamwork, and calm under pressure:

They must solve a fully themed room while Rove McManus, our mischievous Games Master, watches from his Control Room, ready to intervene with Panic Buttons, strategic Gifts, or theatrical Wraths. Success secures temporary safety. Temporary being the key word.

After every challenge, the comedians face elimination, dissecting who solved, who stalled and who confidently explained something completely incorrect. One player is voted out and sent upstairs to join the Games Master in his Control Room – where hindsight is 20/20 and commentary is ruthless.

It’s high-stakes puzzle solving colliding with big personalities and even bigger reactions. You’ll solve clues from the sofa. They’ll argue about them.

Celia Pacquola, Josh Thomson, Hayley Sproull, Chris Parker, Luke McGregor, Abby Howells, and Frank Woodley star.

Devotion: Inside Gloriavale traces the religious community’s progress from radical religious experiment to accusations of historical physical and sexual abuse. Reads the blurb: