All the best things to watch this Labour Weekend

From Small Prophets to Good Bones, we recommend 10 great shows and films to enjoy this long weekend. 

Small Prophets (Apple TV+)

Mystical recipes in dusty notebooks and supernatural entities who live in jars and predict the future. Based on its premise, I did not want to watch Small Prophets – but I’m so glad I did. Instead of the warped sci-fi show that the premise suggests, it’s another wry six-episode comedy from The Detectorists’ Mackenzie Crook and almost certainly the feel-good TV show of the year. Much of that has to do with Pearce Quigley, the show’s lead whose Lancashire accent makes everything sound like a very funny song. He’s helped by a great supporting cast, including Crook, who plays a hardware store boss that isn't too far from ol’ mate Gareth from The Office. Those little guys in jars have their moments too. / Chris Schulz

This is Home (Māori+)

If you want something warm and soothing to watch this long weekend, don’t miss This is Home. This six-part local drama follows sisters Kara and Nina as they move back to the family homestead, but Kara has a secret – she secretly mortgaged the house against her failed business and in a few weeks, the bank will take everything. Despite the tense set-up, This is Home is a funny, heartwarming depiction of multi-generational family life, as Kara and Nina’s whānau come together to save the most important thing in their lives: their home. With a brilliant cast that includes Jim Moriarty and Miriama McDowell and tender, thoughtful storytelling, This is Home makes for one of the local TV highlights of 2026. / Tara Ward

Blue Lights (TVNZ+)

This excellent Northern Irish police drama has largely flown under the radar in Aotearoa, but with the first three seasons recently landing on TVNZ+ (season four is currently screening in the UK), there’s no better time to dive in. The gritty BBC series follows a group of rookie police officers working in Belfast, where community policing comes with a unique set of political and social challenges. The new recruits are immediately thrown into the deep end, making Blue Lights a tense, fast-paced series that takes your average police procedural and drags it to a gripping new level. A must-watch for Line of Duty fans. / TW

East of Eden (Netflix) 

What better way to spend a long weekend than with a sprawling intergenerational epic from the pen of John Steinbeck? Minor rewrites aside, this Netflix original series, helmed by Zoe Kazan, is a brilliant adaptation of this classic novel. It’s a generous production; the pace is slow, the sets are detailed and the vistas are as endless as the questions around moral determinism. If the complexities of good and evil aren't your thing, a game of 'Where in New Zealand are they?' should keep the rest of the family entertained. / Emma Gleason

Tenor: My Name is Pati (Neon)

Directed by Rebecca Tansley, music documentary Tenor: My Name is Pati tells the inspirational story of Sāmoan opera singer Pene Pati and his brother Amitai, who rose from humble beginnings to perform on some of the most prestigious opera stages in the world. It’s a glimpse into the passion and dedication both brothers have for their craft, and the importance of family, community and culture in achieving your dreams. This doco broke records at the New Zealand box office when it screened in cinemas earlier this year, earning over $1m and becoming  the highest-grossing New Zealand film of 2026. Even if you’re not a fan of opera, I promise you’ll love Tenor: My Name is Pati. / TW

Gnomes (TVNZ+)

Well, well, well, the gnomes are finally fighting back. Once considered to be a whimsical garden ornament, this new Australian horror-comedy asks the question that nobody else dares to: what if gnomes were awakened by an evil spirit and went on a murderous killing spree? Asa Butterfield (Sex Education) plays Arnold, a police officer who discovers that the gnomes in his small Australian town have been rudely awakened, and now they're really, really mad. It's up to Arnold and his less-than-capable colleagues to bring the gnomey mayhem under control, ideally before the bloodthirsty little creatures find them first. Described as "Hot Fuzz meets Gremlins", Gnomes is an over-the-top comedy that finally lets angry garden gnomes have their long-overdue time in the spotlight. / TW

Celebrity Traitors UK (ThreeNow, Three)

You’ve probably heard the hype about Celebrity Traitors UK, but in this case, you should believe it. The BBC has taken the popular international reality format and made it even better by featuring a celebrity cast of well-known British stars, including Stephen Fry, Alan Carr and Celia Imrie in season one, and Richard E Grant, Bella Ramsey and Michael Sheen in the now-screening season two. On one hand, it’s a silly parlour murder-mystery game that’s extremely low-stakes, but on the other, it’s a fascinating insight into the ways humans behave under pressure. Season two’s UK ratings have been huge, proving that good TV still has what it takes to draw people together, even in the hellfire year of 2026. / TW

Good Bones (ThreeNow)

Aspirational property shows are all over the telly at the moment, but Three’s local dark comedy Good Bones suggests home ownership can turn into an absolute nightmare. Written by Dan Musgrove, Shoshana McCallum and Peter Salmon, Good Bones follows millennial couple Sal and Meghan (Josh Thomson and Aidee Walker) as they buy the cheap DIY-reno of their dreams, only to discover their new home hides an extremely troubled past. Sal and Meghan are now the proud owners of an unsolved murder-mystery, but amid all the chaos, corpses and carpentry, Good Bones comes with a sterling supporting cast that helps to provide plenty of laugh-out loud moments. / TW

Tenzing (Apple TV+)

It’s time to test out how good Tom Hiddleston’s New Zealand accent really is in Tenzing, the new film about the historic 1953 expedition to the top of Everest. Hiddleston plays Edmund Hillary, but the film focuses more on the life of Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok), the expedition’s head sherpa. We meet a young Norgay as he travels from Tibet to Nepal and grows up under the shadow of “Chomolangma”, and the film explores his fascination and spiritual reverence for the mountain. Willem Dafoe and Catriona Balfe also star. Reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with the Guardian praising the “NatGeo production values on high mountain peaks” and RNZ stating it’s a “must-watch” for New Zealanders. / TW

The Diplomat (Netflix)

I love The Diplomat for the way it manages to be both funny and serious, intelligent and soapy, and I can’t wait to hoover down the show’s fourth season, which dropped last week on Netflix. Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell lead a supremely talented cast (Alison Janney! Bradley Whitford! The guy from Poldark!) in this fun political thriller about reluctant US diplomat Kate Wyler, who is appointed ambassador to the UK just as her marriage collapses and an international crisis occurs. The drama moves along at a cracking pace, and just when you think things are getting too dry and political, it drops a banger of a personal crisis or unexpected cliffhanger to keep you hooked. Bingeable TV at its very best. / TW