New to TVNZ+ in April

March 24, 2023 0 Comments

Movie spin-offs and reboots abound on TVNZ+ next month, complete with new takes on Django, Fatal Attraction and Grease, as well as the belated premieres of US comedy Party Down and UK drama The North Water plus the launch of Kiwi and cult catering comedies.

Django (full season, April 13)

Until season one of the acclaimed Billy the Kid finds a platform here, this brooding 10-part western will have suffice. It stars Matthias Schoenaerts as a man haunted by the murder of his family eight years earlier. The search for his surviving daughter, Sarah (Lisa Vicari), takes Django to a town at the bottom of a crater, where all outcasts are welcome and where everyone is equal and free. Here, Django discovers his daughter is alive and set to marry John Ellis (Nicholas Pinnock), the founder of New Babylon. “It is preposterous and overblown and gory, but if you settle in for the long haul then there is potential in this stranger who has come to town to raise hell.” — The Guardian.

Fatal Attraction (April 30)

Joshua Jackson (Dr Death), Lizzy Caplan (Fleishman is in Trouble) and Amanda Peet (Togetherness) star in this “deep-dive reimagining” of the 1987 psychosexual thriller. When an affair threatens the seemingly perfect life of charming and well-respected lawyer and his wife, when the feelings of the woman he’s had an affair with turn from affection to obsession. How far will he go to protect his family and his illustrious career?

Mayflies (full season, April 7)

In the summer of 1986, Jimmy and Tully ignite a friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. Thirty years on, Tully tells Jimmy he’s dying and asks a favour that tests their bond to its limit. Told across two timelines, the story charts the highs, vitality and promise of Tully and Jimmy’s adolescent friendship in the 1980s – and their still lively but now honest and tender adult friendship in 2017 as tragedy strikes. Tony Curran (Ray Donovan) and Martin Compston (Line of Duty) star. “A devastating, daring ode to life, death and friendship.” — The Telegraph.

The North Water (full season, April 19)

In this thrilling 2021 drama of struggle and survival in the 1850s Arctic, disgraced ex-army surgeon Patrick Sumner (Rogue Heroes’ Jack O’Connell) signs up as the ship’s doctor on an ill-fated whaling expedition. He’s hoping to escape the horrors of his past, but the ferocity of the elements is matched by the violence of his crew mates, including brutal harpooner Henry Drax (Colin Farrell). As the true purpose of the expedition becomes clear, confrontation between the two men erupts, taking them way beyond the safe moorings of civilisation. “Doesn’t always hold together, but its brooding atmosphere and strong performances … keep it afloat.” — Rotten Tomatoes.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (April 6)

Musical-comedy prequel set four years before the movie, at Rydell High in 1954, that bills itself as “a love letter to the original film with a fun, fresh twist”.

Party Down (April 1)

S1-2 of the underground cult comedy can be binged ahead of the S3 debut. About a group of misfit caterers stuck working for tips while waiting for their big break, it stars Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, Martin Starr and Megan Mullally as well as new cast members Jennifer Garner and James Marsden.

Hui Hoppers (full season, April 28)

Hui hopping half-sisters Anahera (Roimata Fox) and Kura (Tomai Ihaia) are Mara caterers who reconnect after years apart — until tensions erupt as they compete for acceptance, accolades and aroha. Each episode of this unfolds at a different type of hui, “with the diverseness of settings forming a lively backdrop to the growing relationships between characters and the dynamics of an extended family”.

Consent (April 22)

Teen drama set in a British private school, where a pupils who’s part of a toxic WhatsApp group that posts pictures of their sexual conquests, is accused of sexual assault by a girl he secretly adores. “A searing commentary that couldn’t come at a more opportune moment – miss it at your peril._ — Evening Standard.

Secrets of the Chippendales Murders (April 3)

Four-hour documentary that recounts the wild origins of the male revue club that became a pop culture phenomenon, the unbelievable tales of excess that took place there, and the shocking violence that led to its demise.

Top British comedies, Outnumbered S1-5 (April 6) and Catastrophe S1-3 (April 17) lead the rest of the month’s TV newcomers:

Poi-E: The Story of Our Song (April 8)
Michael Jackson’s This Is It (April 8)
Trawlermen: Hunting the Catch (April 10)
Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies (April 14)
Zoo S1-3 (April 17)
The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes S1 (April 24)
Deep Heat S1 (April 25)
Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project (April27)

Movie premieres include Easter novelties Pudsey the Dog: The Movie, Matilda, Look Who’s Talking, Look Who’s Talking Too, Baby Geniuses, Khumba, Muppets From Space, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Annie and The Dark Crystal plus: