New to TVNZ+ in May

April 20, 2023 0 Comments

Four Australian dramas and a Kiwi thriller lead next month’s premieres on TVNZ+.

The NZ-Ireland co-pro The Gone (May 7) will launch ahead of Riptide (May 9), Bad Behaviour (full season, May 19), Black Snow (full season, May 24) and Turn Up the Volume (May 30).

Black Snow stars Vikings’ Travis Fimmel as a cold-case detective on the trail of a 17-year-old’s killer in 1994 small-town Queensland.

The fusion of crime mystery and coming-of-age drama unfolds across two timelines, following the victim in 1994 and the cop in 2019, with the suspicion cast over the entire town fracturing the harmony that took 25 years to rebuild.

“There’s a point, relatively early in the runtime, where it becomes clear the culprit or culprits must be drawn from a reasonably small pool of characters,” The Guardian says.

“This isn’t a criticism: it’s part of the format, and guessing who is part of the fun. But (with one or two exceptions) the side characters aren’t particularly engaging, and after a while the drama feels a little by-the-numbers.”

But the Sydney Morning Herald thought it “an effective crime drama that does pretty much all you could ask of it. But lurking inside there’s a whole legion of more challenging ideas.”

Flicks Australia said while Black Snow “doesn’t quite have the narrative drive to sustain itself over the six episodes that comprise the series … this is a moody, well-made crime drama that forefronts a little-explored area of Australian culture and history, and so definitely worth adding to your queue.”

In suburban noir Riptide, the widow of a drowning victim suspect foul play in his death. Both her ex-husband and stepson both had reasons to want him gone.

But could the affable neighbour she turns to for support be the chief suspect?

Jo Joyner (Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators), Peter O’Brien (Neighbours, Tidelands), David Berry (Outlander) and Ciarán Griffiths (Shameless) star.

The Daily Mail dubbed it “a downer, down-under” while The Times said: “This down under drama of sun, surf and suspense is no eye-catcher.”

Mean Girls meets Lord of the Flies in Bad Behaviour: When 25-year-old Jo Mackenzie bumps into her old high school friend Alice Kang, memories of the brutal year they spent together at the wilderness campus of an exclusive girl’s boarding school come flooding back.

With the teenage girls left to their own devices in the Australian outback, the emotionally and physically intense experience leads Jo to quickly make a decision – bully or be bullied.

Turn Up the Volume follows a group of female and gender non-conforming teenagers as they come together at music camp and form a rock band.

“It’s a rare production tailored to adolescents that’s also engaging for adults,” the Sydney Morning Herald said.

“Lively and well paced, it’s written with wit, designed with flair, cast with a keen eye, and makes Melbourne’s inner-west look terrific.”

Bupkis (full season, May 4) is an exaggerated version of Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson’s real life, based on his experience growing up in Staten Island and how he rose to fame.

The series features Edie Falco, Joe Pesci, Charlie Day, Ray Romano, Kenan Thompson, l Gore, John Mulaney, Charlamagne Tha God, Machine Gun Kelly and Steve Buscemi.

Kavos Weekender (full season, May 12) is a reality series set in the Greek party capital. Each week, it follows two sets of hedonistic holiday makers as they let loose in paradise.

Also new to TVNZ+ will be every season of cloning thriller Orphan Black (May 29), British teen comedy Some Girls (May 27) and women’s magazine drama The Bold Type.

Other newcomers will include true-crime series Killer Siblings S1 (May 13), Mark of a Killer S2 (May 13) and Accident, Suicide, Or Murder S1 (May 20), and from the back catalogue Friday Night Dinner S6 (May 1), Doctor Thorne S1 (May 6), Flack S1-2 (May 15) and The Devil’s Playground (May 31).

A slew of action movies will join the service on May 5 — I Am Legend, District 9, Salt, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Desperado, Dredd, Harry Brown, Safe, Transporter 3, Apocalypto, Get the Gringo — along with modern classics St Elmo’s Fire, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Big Chill and Steel Magnolias.