Whakaata Māori’s brilliant new series follows a whānau who come together to fight for what’s most important: their home.

“Home isn’t just a place. It has life force,” a voice tells us in the opening moments of This Is Home. Yet-to-be-born baby Honey is traveling with her ancestors across the Pacific Ocean to her home in Tāmaki Makaurau, where family photos line the walls and the early morning sun streams in through the windows. Then, we see a woman being driven home, her sleeping head resting on the passenger seat window. The car drives into the garage, and the sleeping woman’s sister tries to wake her. “Kara,” she says, shaking her abruptly. “We’re home.” 

So begins This Is Home, the beautifully gentle new six-part family drama on Whakaata Māori about two sisters who need to save their family homestead. The series was inspired by the lives of sisters Awanui Simich-Pene, Mia Henry-Teirney and Putiputirā Simich-Pene, who created the show together. As well as directing, Awanui Simich-Pene wrote This Is Home alongside Scotty Cotter and Kura Forrester, and the show’s dialogue features 30% reo Māori. It follows Kara (Miriama McDowell), who is forced to sell her restaurant business after five years of struggling financially through Covid-19 lockdowns and floods. 

But the sale didn’t cover Kara’s debts, and now the bank needs to sell the family homestead to recoup their costs. The homestead is a rare find in urban Aotearoa these days – a solid standalone brick and weatherboard house on a spacious quarter-acre section, filled with abundant vegetable gardens and fruit trees. Kara’s father Pāpā Gray (Jim Moriarty) has lived there for 45 years (“this place is pretty much a part of me now”, he says) but Kara hasn’t told him that they only have 19 days until it’s sold by the bank. If Kara can’t find the money to save the homestead, they’ll lose everything. 

While Kara tries to find a solution (mostly, she cleans obsessively and then gets drunk on her restaurant’s wine), the family homestead has never been so full. As well as Pāpā and Kara, there’s Kara’s sons Huck (Makea Upu) and Mu (Naatana Mika). Kara’s younger sister Nina (Keporah Torrance) has just moved back home too, bringing her husband Sam (Dominic Ona-Ariki) and his teenage daughter Lani (Ariel Hanson) with her, while Kara’s adult daughter Tessa (Tatum Warren Ngata) is due home soon from Australia.

It’s the first time Nina and Kara have lived under the same roof since they were teenagers, and they’re quickly reminded that nobody can push your buttons quite like a sibling.  But amid all the arguments and financial pressures, Kara discovers she’s not the only one hiding a secret. As the mortgagee sale rapidly approaches, the sisters realise that working together is their only hope of saving their family home. 

What unfolds is a heartfelt story about a family coming together to fight for what’s most important to them. This Is Home takes place against a contemporary background of urban gentrification and the New Zealand housing crisis, but its themes of belonging and whānau make the show feel timeless. 

This is helped by several impressive performances from a stacked ensemble cast, who bring each character to life with humour and heart. As the desperate Kara, McDowell gives the show its emotional core, and Moriarty sprinkles magic through every single scene as Pāpā. Torrance is hugely compelling as hopeful mum Nina, Kingi and Cotter bring both energy and comedy as charismatic twin cousins MJ and Jah, while the young cast of Upu, Hansen and Mike prove there’s immense talent to be found in the next generation of Aotearoa actors.

It feels like This Is Home has been made with great tenderness and care. This is a show that understands the beauty in the small, familiar moments that fill every day – picking tomatoes from the garden, a sneaky vape in the garage, a shared kai – and lets them play out quietly against life’s bigger challenges, like the impending house sale that Kara is so desperate to avoid. It’s the little details that make somewhere feel like home, and This Is Home celebrates them all. Rather than being weighed down by tough times, the show focuses on the reassuring rhythms of family life and the connections that take place when people come together. 

There’s nothing fast-paced or action-filled about This Is Home, and that’s exactly why it’s worth watching. The show’s rich, authentic depictions of family life will pull you into its warm embrace, and the compelling family relationships will resonate with viewers, no matter where in the motu their own home might be. This is Home is a genuine, funny, and beautifully-made series. Don’t miss this local gem.

Watch all six episodes of This is Home on Māori+.