Blue Murder Motel is basically Brokenwood on the beach, writes Tara Ward. 

Small towns can be deadly, and nobody knows that better than the residents of Brokenwood. For 11 dramatic seasons, the endangered folk of the sleepy bucolic community have been drowned in vats of wine, poked to death by pitchforks or murdered on the ghost train at the annual A&P show. Despite all those homicidal hijinks, The Brokenwood Mysteries has become one of our most popular television exports (the show screens in over 150 countries, with over three million French viewers watching each episode), and New Zealand audiences can’t get enough of the dry wit and dark humour that comes with carking it in a small country town. 

Great news then, because TVNZ’s latest murder mystery is filled with more kooky small town killings, wrapped up in a light and entertaining format. Created by Kate McDermott and Stephen Zanowski and written by McDermott (Head High, My Life is Murder), Blue Murder Motel is set in a rundown motel on an idyllic coastline called Mōwai Bay, located somewhere near Auckland. New owners Vinny (Michala Banas) and Cole (Brett Tucker) recently retired from the Australian police and moved to Aotearoa for a fresh start, but the motel plumbing is stuffed and the conference centre’s a mess. Vinnie and Cole want to breathe new life into the joint – but there’s a corpse in unit three that they’ll need to deal with first.  

We’re only four minutes into episode one when the first murder is discovered. Mitchell (Johnny Barker) was enjoying a boys’ weekend to mark the one year anniversary of a friend’s death, but when his dead body is found sunken ghoulishly in the bath, it seems crime has followed Vinny and Cole to Aotearoa. Despite vowing to keep out of the investigation (really, shouldn’t they be suspects too?) the couple can’t help themselves from solving the puzzle. They sneak into motel rooms to collect evidence, follow suspicious locals into shops and tackle suspects on the beach. Once a detective, always a detective – even if Vinny and Cole are hiding secrets of their own. 

There’s a bright and breezy retro charm to Blue Murder Motel, from the classic car that Vinnie drives to chase suspects through town to the nostalgic soundtrack (Prince Tui Teka’s ‘Let’s Fall in Love’ was a beautiful way to end episode one). The series taps into the quirks of small town New Zealand without being condescending, and feels a lot like Brokenwood with sea and sunshine. This too is a quietly confident show that knows exactly how it wants to entertain its viewers, with easy to watch storylines, understated humour and a familiar New Zealand setting.  

Banas and Tucker starred together in the beloved Australian drama McLeod’s Daughters, and have a warm, relaxed chemistry here. They lead a small but solid cast of experienced New Zealand acting talent. Jayden Daniels (Tangata Pai) is charming as Jamie, the inexperienced local constable who turns up to the crime scene in board shorts and jandals (“surf was up”), Jamie McDermott plays sarcastic motel cleaner Saffron and Stephanie Tauvehi makes a welcome return as Maxine, a glamorous local resident who moves into the motel.

As far as the murder mystery goes, the show’s small cast meant that the killer could have only been one of a handful of characters, which resulted in a slightly anticlimactic reveal that hinged on a lot of off-screen drama. Still, you know exactly where you are with Blue Murder Motel, and that’s not always such a bad thing. Fans of Brokenwood and My Life is Murder will find plenty to enjoy here, and as the world falls apart around us, there’s something reassuring about watching this type of comfortable murder mystery. In Vinnie and Cole’s world, good people unite to hold the baddies to account and every problem can be solved – even the dodgy plumbing.

No matter who carks it at Blue Murder Motel, the sun will keep shining, the waves will keep breaking, and Vinny and Cole will have fresh towels for everyone. This might just be the deadly escape we all need right now.

Blue Murder Motel streams on TVNZ+ and screens on TVNZ1 on Sundays at 8.30pm.