About

Despite relishing the leisurely ways and quaint charms of country life, Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) knows all is not well in the picturesque but murder-ridden town of Brokenwood. Along with his methodical partner, Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland), and eager young DC Sam Breen (Nic Sampson), Shepherd must confront the violent impulses and roiling passions that can mar even the most serene locales. In these four feature-length mysteries, the detectives face down poisonous spiders, a real-life Clue board game gone wrong, the death of a classic-car enthusiast and someone killing the Christmas spirit. Filmed on location in New Zealand's beautiful North Island.

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Episodes

1. The Black Widower

1h 33m

When the wife of a tourist-trap owner is discovered dead, the other local tourism operators are not particularly sad about her demise. The medical examiner traces her cause of death to New Zealand's only native venomous spider-the katipo. But how could one spider administer 10 times the lethal dose?

2. Over Her Dead Body

1h 32m

Brokenwood mourns when a beloved local poet, Declan O'Grady, passes away from cancer. But the town gets a shock when the coffin accidentally falls from the hearse, revealing that the corpse inside is not Declan but rather a young woman identifiable only by a scarlet tattoo.

3. The Killing Machine

1h 34m

On the morning of Brokenwood's annual classic-car show, the chairman of the Classic Car Restoration Society is found dead with a lungful of gasoline next to his beloved El Dorado. Shepherd and Sims try to determine if it was a petrol-siphoning accident or something more deliberate.

4. A Merry Bloody Christmas

1h 29m

It's Christmas in Brokenwood, but not all is merry and bright. When the mayor is murdered in his home after the annual holiday parade, Shepherd, Sims, and Breen question those locals vying for the mayoral position. But when more bodies turn up, the detectives believe there's a darker motive at work.