Black Coast Vanishings is your new true-crime obsession
Three’s gripping new mystery docuseries investigates six unexplained disappearances on Auckland’s west coast. Plus, the mind-bending finale of The Curse and the addictive pull of Vanderpump Rules
Welcome back to Rec Room and a brand new set of recommendations for you to wrap your eyes and ears around over the coming days. I’ve spent this week in reality TV heaven, enjoying the final episodes of both The Block Australia and The Traitors UK (both on ThreeNow), a delicious new season of The Great Kiwi Bake Off (TVNZ+), and Love Island All Stars (TVNZ+) putting all their eggs in one basket. I also finally watched Emerald Fennell’s divisive film Saltburn on Prime Video (loved the house, will never bathe again), plus the first episode of Three’s new true-crime mystery series, Black Coast Vanishings. Is it worth checking out this weekend? Let’s find out. / Tara Ward
Black Coast Vanishings is a dark, compelling journey into a small town’s secrets
“There’s a lot of secrets at Piha,” a sombre voice tells us in the opening moments of Black Coast Vanishings. “You need to be careful,” another warns, as shots of wild surf and steep volcanic cliffs loom through the screen. “I think this is a very sinister story,” former Waitakere City mayor Sir Bob Harvey declares. It’s one heck of a spooky opening to Black Coast Vanishings, Three’s new true-crime docuseries that investigates the mysterious disappearances of six people at Piha since 1992.
It’s the perfect recipe for compelling television: tragic true life stories, a ruggedly remote setting, and a series of quirky characters from a small town on Auckland’s West Coast. Each of these disappearances occurred in different circumstances, but Black Coast Vanishings pulls them together by one common thread: Piha. Episode one revisits the disappearances of teacher trainee Iraena Asher and French exchange student Éloi Rolland, who visited Piha decades apart but both vanished without a trace.
Hearing the recordings of Asher’s phone calls to police is both chilling and heartbreaking, but Black Coast Vanishings isn’t just the story of those who disappeared. We also meet Rolland’s heartbroken parents, who asked their son to bring them some black sand from Piha as a souvenir, and Asher’s former boyfriend, who didn’t answer her phone call the night she disappeared. The pain and anguish of these family and friends is quiet and constant, anchoring the series in the grief of those who remain behind.
And then there’s the Piha locals, who have seen it all, heard it all, and have their own theories about what really went on in their backyard. We hear from the Piha camp ground kaitiaki and a couple of local surfers, as well as residents Julia and Bobbie, who recount how they brought Asher into their home on the night she disappeared. These different perspectives bring an energy to the series and helps to create a rich portrait of small town New Zealand, a place where everyone notices everything and the length of the fire siren signals the seriousness of a situation.
Piece by piece, Black Coast Vanishings builds a picture of Piha as a foreboding place where dodgy dealings were rife. Are these disappearances a terrible coincidence, or are there more sinister forces at play? With police declining to comment on the majority of these missing persons cases, we’re left with a lot of theories and supposition about what might have actually happened – as one local puts it, “until there’s evidence, we can’t be sure of anything”. If you’re looking for definitive answers, Black Coast Vanishings can’t give them to you, but it does provide a thought-provoking, gripping insight into an awful set of real life events.
True crime is always a TV winner, and it’s not often New Zealand audiences get to watch a mystery docuseries about ourselves. Black Coast Vanishings is set to change that. With the series screening on Three across four consecutive nights (the entire season drops on ThreeNow on Sunday), this will be a treat for true crime fans. It’s slickly made and full of atmosphere and suspense, but never forgets the tragedies at the heart of the series.
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Why you should watch: Planet Earth III
Who doesn’t love a Sir David Attenborough nature series? Nobody, that’s who. Attenborough’s latest series Planet Earth III (TVNZ+) is another stunning journey around the world to celebrate our most unusual and awe-inspiring creatures, most of whom are now being forced to adapt to the rabid hellfire of a planet that we’ve made for ourselves. Planet Earth III lets you park that existential dread for a bit (just a bit) to savour the stunning photography, the majestic beauty of our natural world and the calming voice of Attenborough, one of the greatest humans on planet earth (I, II and indeed, III). Cute flamingos! Smiling turtles! Monkeys watching the sunset! What more do you need?
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There’s still a few days to watch documentary Your Fat Friend, screening exclusively in New Zealand on DocEdge this month. Award-winning director Jeanie Finlay follows Aubrey Gordon’s journey from blogger to bestselling author as she tackles issues around fatness and body positivity. It’s on my watchlist for this weekend, but Rec Room reader Carol reckons Finlay’s work is “always kind, always tender”.
Dancing with the Stars NZ winner, Celebrity Treasure Island castaway and youth advocate Jazz Thornton shares her thoughts on resilience and finding hope in a new episode of This is Kiwi podcast.
Why you should watch: The Curse
I can’t stop thinking about the bonkers finale of genre-bending pitch-black comedy series The Curse (Neon). It’s 26 minutes and 45 seconds into the finale where the series goes entirely topsy turvy. Actually, that sounds too cute, too much like a nursery rhyme. It’s 26 minutes and 45 seconds into the finale where the series gleefully shreds the entire fabric of its own universe. It’s 26 minutes and 45 seconds into the finale where the series proudly jumps the shark and, quite literally, yeets itself into another stratosphere.
With a hefty spoiler warning (seriously, if you haven’t seen it, drop everything and catch up before reading) I have done my damn best to dissect all the theories on The Spinoff here without my brain totally melting. / Alex Casey
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Why you should watch: Vanderpump Rules
Despite the huge amount of reality TV on our screens at the moment, there’s one show whose return is being eagerly anticipated by reality fans. Vanderpump Rules follows a group of beautiful people who work at a Los Angeles restaurant owned by ex-Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump, and a new season drops next week (Hayu from January 31). After reading about the huge scandal of season ten, I decided to see what all the fuss was over, and launched myself into the chaos from episode one.
A few weeks later, I’d hoovered up all 10 seasons, having been quietly sucked into the complicated lifestyles of the show’s wannabe rich-and-famous. VPR is American reality TV at its finest/trashiest, and season 11 promises to be even more dramatic/toxic/addictive than the rest. If you’re a Real Housewives or Kardashians fan who hasn’t yet ventured into VPR’s turgid waters, you won’t regret it.
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If American reality TV isn’t your thing, maybe you’d like to watch Vinnie Jones fall in love with hedgehogs? Vinnie Jones in the Country (ThreeNow) follows the football hardman’s new life on a 400 year-old West Sussex farm. The Guardian calls it “a fascinating portrait of masculinity”; no verdict from the hedgehogs though.
Before we pop off…
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Everything is fine: this crab scuttled into a Mt Maunganui bank and joined the queue
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.