Lockdown, Lowdown… Ringside Report Looks Back at the TV Show The Brokenwood Mysteries

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

New Zealand is kinda like Scotland in the Southern Hemisphere! Windy, less sunny than its neighbor, Australia, rugged and a perfect fit for a story of short people like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It therefore comes as no surprise that I love a New Zealand crime series that delivers a healthy slice of sleuthing with some very credible characters.

Set in the fictional town of Brokenwood, the mysteries which bear its name is a procedural police drama based upon an unorthodox cop with an unhealthy penchant for Country and Western music. If there was ever a genre of music more suited to the drama and tragedy of crime, then I am unsure of where to find it!

Over 7 series and with 30 episodes this follows more of a British than an American style of cop show as we get time to ponder rather than each episode fitting into a 40-minute dash to the truth. In the UK, Acorn TV promote and broadcast it.

The team are led by Mike Shepherd – played by Neill Rea, with Detective Kristin Sims – played by Fern Sutherland and assisted initially by Detective Constable Sam Breen – played by Nic Sampson and then by Detective Constable Daniel Chalmers – played by Jarod Rawiri. The tour de force is the medical examiner, Dr. Gina Kadinsky – played by Serbian actress, Cristina Ionda – who has a huge crush on Mike, and this serves as a narrative arc which is very amusing. The Maori element comes from Jared Morehu – played by Pana Hema Taylor, though you could argue that they could do with having a more prominent roles for the indigenous population…

The setup is simplicity itself.

Shepherd has come from the capital, Auckland, to investigate a local police officer and loves it so much he just stays there. He takes the demotion which accompanies his decision, and he now has an able team and a simpler life. The initial relationship with his sergeant, Breen, is testy. She is unsure of Shepherd to start with but over time she begins to appreciate how inciteful he is.

Brokenwood seems a sleepy backwater but also appears to be a massive magnet for crime! Criminals seem strangely drawn to it… it reminds me a little of Midsomer Murders both in its approach, and the feel of how crime gets solved – all is sedate enough to catch on but also quickens towards the end as realization after realization means the guilty are in their sights. There also seems to be quite an unbelievable number of murders in such a small locality!

The strength comes too from the characterizations. Of course, the principal, Shepherd has a past and that occasionally intrudes. There are several marriages, a nephew with Downs and I am sure plenty more to be uncovered.

His new skeptical sidekick, Sims has a difficult love life, mainly down to dating failures whilst her initial partner, Breen finds love and moves away whilst his replacement, Chalmers has yet to reveal much about himself.

The comedy turn, which is Dr. Kadinsky’s pursuit of Shepherd, is quite the most awkward thing but a beautiful thing to behold. The good Dr. is Russian and carries all the bluntness, directness and lack of social skills that heightens how her desires are obvious but her failures equally explicit!

There is also Jean.

Mrs. Jean Marlowe, – played by Elizabeth McRae – who is the local gossip and often the source of much information. Having arrived in series two, has a recurrent role that often breaks a case!
The Brokenwood Mysteries are an indulgent afternoon which stretches out beyond the initial opportunity to cover yourself with such delight. It’s a Sunday afternoon kinda feel. They are now a staple part of my kick back, relax and take in the cheeseboard and let it wash over you. There is no Sherlock Holmes looking for your approval or the opportunity to marvel at his deductive reasoning, but it has charm aplenty to keep the pause button active if you need to nip out for something to be topped up. I love it and it has that multi layered effect that good writing, decent direction, characters that shine and scenery that is enchanting gives you.

British television is a curious affair. Begun through the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) it is funded through the universal license fee. In essence, if you wanted to watch the television, you had to pay the license fee. The BBC got it all and is state run, albeit at arms-length. Then came along commercial television in the form of the Independent Television (ITV) in 1955. Designed to bring a bit of competition to the BBC, it was paid for through advertising but still free to air… well they didn’t add another license fee to it. By the time that I was born, 1965, there was BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. And that was it. It was still years before Bruce Springsteen would moan that there were 55 channels and nothing on but here in the UK, we kept this going until in 1982, we added a fourth channel and in 1997, a fifth. With sparkling imagination, they were called Channel Four and ehm Channel Five… In between came Sky and we understood what Springsteen meant. And so, my childhood and leading up to early adulthood we had three options… But the programs made were exceptionally good. And so, here is some critical nostalgia as the lockdown has brought a plethora of reruns, new formats and platforms and old classics trying to make their way back into our consciousness as broadcasters flood their schedules with classics… or are they classics at all? Let me take you through an armchair critics’ view of what we have to see, to find out… Welcome to the Lockdown Lowdown…