New to TVNZ+ in August

A four-part true-crime drama that reveals how Britain’s Metropolitan Police botched their investigation of a serial rapist will stream on TVNZ+ the same time it airs on TVNZ 1 (which has yet to be disclosed).

Believe Me stars Daniel Mays as John Worboys, the “black-cab rapist” who drugged and sexually attacked his victims.

“It showcases their preternatural determination to get the justice for themselves and his other victims that the police and judicial system seemed at best wholly uninterested in providing,” said The Guardian.

It hailed the Jeff Pope dramatisation as a “punchy, intelligent drama [that should be] a role model for other TV shows”.

The Oscar-nominated Pope’s credits range from Stan and Ollie, The Penguin Lessons and Philomena to the riveting true-crime dramas Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Little Boy Blue and Appropriate Adult.

“This is not your Netflix-style, slightly exploitative crime drama,” The Age said. “It’s an eye-opening insight into an extraordinary (very recent) history of police incompetence and misogyny, and is guaranteed to shock you.”

The Telegraph praised the “powerful performances” of Aimee-Ffion Edwards and Aasiya Shah as the victims but noted, “elsewhere, the drama has missteps”.

The Times warned the series “depicts harrowing medical examinations, and a scene of an attack on another woman in woodland is particularly hard to watch.

“One suspects the production team agonised over its inclusion, but it felt to me the right editorial call, demonstrating how Worboys grew ever more reckless as the net finally closed in.”

View the trailer here.

Other drama premieres include Two Weeks in August (August 2), which also airs the same weekend on TVNZ 1 (view trailer here), and season two of intense thriller The Crow Girl (August 18), starring Eve Myles and Katherine Kelly in Scandi-noir mode (Tech Radar says S2 “doesn’t disappoint … and that means a whole new level of shocking reveals“).

Another Paramount+ series, the third and final season of Aussie comedy Colin from Accounts (August 4, trailer here), picks up in the humiliating aftermath of Gordon’s failed proposal.

New from August 5 are S4 of Sullivan’s Crossing, S1-6 of This Is Us and award-winning documentary No Tears on the Field, which spends a season in the lives of female rugby players from Taranaki on and off the field (trailer here).

There’s more sport with live streaming of Hilux NPC games from August 1 and UFC 330, which is headlined by Islam Makhachev v Ian Machado Garry (August 16).

New documentaries include the premiere of Grand Designs NZ spin-off Coastal Wonders (August 2, trailer here) and the return of Documentary New Zealand with:

• Hacked –  Mother of teenagers and television reporter Mary Jane Aggett takes viewers on a personal investigative journey into the dark and distressing world of cyber hacks.
• What Happened to Sex? – Sex therapist Jo Robertson reveals how algorithms are reshaping the sexual behaviour of an entire generation.
• Exposure – A group of young New Zealanders living with obsessive compulsive disorder embark on a groundbreaking journey that could transform their lives.

Rounding out the season will be Robyn Malcolm: Menopause and Us, Sleep and Meet the Preppers.