New to TVNZ+ in July

June 24, 2023 0 Comments

July is an epic month on TVNZ+, with the launch of its sports hub, the streaming premiere of Oscar-Winner The Whale, a Matariki celebration that includes the restoration of landmark documentary series Tangata Whenua, and a raft of newcomers led by season two of Creamerie.

The award-winning Kiwi series opens July 14 with Alex, Jamie, Pip, and Bobby trapped within Lane’s diabolical underground man-milking Facility, grappling with the devastating betrayal by Jackson. Reads the blurb:

Team Creamerie embarks on an epic road trip from a secret co-operative sanctuary hidden behind waterfalls, to the corridors of power in the capital city’s Government House, to an illicit black market thriving in the tunnels beneath the ports. Their mission is to rescue Pip, save the male survivors, bring Lane to justice and uncover the truth about the mandemic. But to save mankind, they’ve first got to save their friendship.

Then You Run (July 8) is a Sky German thriller about a group of friends who flee across Europe after one kills her estranged father in a drug-fuelled rage and steals his stash.

En route to find her long-lost mother, they have to navigate depleting funds, awkward romances, an inconvenient pregnancy, pursuit by the most feared gangster in Rotterdam and the spectre of a mythical serial killer known as The Traveller looming nearer.

Significant Other (July 10) stars Katherine Parkinson (Spreadsheet) and Youssef Kerkour (House of Gucci) as lonely neighbours who embark on a hesitant, obstacle-filled relationship after drastic events bring them together.

Chortle thought it “surprisingly watchable” because of the stars. “Even with such strong performances, Significant Other seems a little flat – especially when compared Colin From Account, which also dealt with a messily realistic fledging romance (albeit with younger leads) but in a much more joyous, funny way.”

The Chemistry of Death (July 18) is a psychological, cinematic crime thriller starring Penny Dreadful’s Harry Treadaway as a forensic anthropologist who reluctantly helps to solve a small-town murder case. Reads the blurb:

After a devastating personal tragedy, David started a new life as a country doctor hoping his past would stay buried. But when the bizarrely mutilated body of a young woman is found in the woods, he’s asked to help find the killer. When another woman disappears, everyone in the small community finds themselves under suspicion and David will have to call upon all his knowledge to find the twisted mind behind the killings.

Totally Completely Fine (July 20) stars Kiwi Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) in an acclaimed dark Australian dramedy created by writer-producer Gretel Vella (The Great). Reads the blurb:

Troubled 20-something Vivian’s grandfather has died and left her his house – which turns out to be situated on an isolated clifftop next to a notorious suicide hotspot. Using her own chaotic brand of off-the-cuff psychology, Vivian develops an unexpected knack for bringing people back from the brink, and in the process begins to pull her own life back together.

Twisted Metal (July 27) is billed as a “high-octane action series with a heavy dose of twisted humour”.

It stars Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and The Winter Soldier) as a motormouthed outsider who is offered a better life if he can deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Reads the blurb:

With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown (voiced by Will Arnett) who drives an ice cream truck that will be all too familiar to fans of the classic PlayStation game series.

Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Neve Campbell (Scream) and Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man: No Way Home) co-star.

TVNZ+ also picks up one of British TV’s best procedurals, Unforgotten (July 2), from S4 and the NZ premiere of S5, which is the first season without Nicola Walker, and The Mormons are Coming, a “lovely, kind and deeply unsettling” BBC documentary about the European centre of Mormonism.

Reality newcomers include I Kissed a Boy (July 1), a Dannii Minogue-fronted LGBTQ+ dating show about 10 single men looking for Mr Right; Secrets of Playboy S2 (July 11); E! competition Siwa’s Dance Pop Revolution (July 15); and I Like the Way You Move (July 25), a unique 2021 BBC Three series about professional dancers and dance-floor rookies looking for love.

There also are new library shows to binge — Elementary S1-7, Dawson’s Creek S1-6 (July 3) — while new to the branded channels from July 1 are:

Adult Swim