The aftershocks keep coming in gripping new psychological drama Friends Like Her
Three's new drama is a winner. Plus: an all-star royal drama, a new blockbuster sci-fi series and a harrowing New Zealand documentary makes for essential viewing.
Happy Friday Rec Roomers, and congratulations for making it through another week. As the weather turns and the nights grow darker, we’re seeing plenty of TV gems to keep us going through the winter. I really enjoyed Three’s new drama Friends Like Her, which kicks off on Monday, while Alex Casey and Stewart Sowman-Lund watched two very different – but equally essential – new series. We’ve also got the update you’ve all been waiting for about the extra-long, extra-special episode of Bluey. Enjoy!
Set in small town Kaikōura, Three’s sharp new local drama follows two best friends and a surrogacy pact that goes wrong.
Kaikōura has never looked better than in new psychological drama Friends Like Her, with its snowcapped mountains, lush green land and blue skies. The scenic setting is the perfect foil for the drama lurking beneath the surface, with the series set in the small coastal town one year after the 2016 earthquake. The community is still recovering from the disaster that saw them cut off from the rest of the country, and while Kaikōura may be a beautiful place to live, this is a town that’s learned to rely on their friends and family to survive.
That’s great, as long as your friends and family aren’t trying to ruin your life.
Created and written by novelist Sarah-Kate Lynch, Friends Like Her series follows best friends Nicole (Morgana O’Reilly) and Tessa (Tess Haubrich), whose relationship turns toxic after a surrogacy arrangement falls through. O’Reilly is brilliant as Nicole, the capable mother of three who’s pregnant with a surrogate child for Tessa and husband Rob (Vinnie Bennett). Through flashbacks, we see how Tessa and Nicole met while backpacking through Thailand years ago. Having now both settled in Kaikōura, each marrying brothers, the friends appear to have an unbreakable bond – Nicole is giving Tessa a much longed-for baby, after all.
But the reality is different. Nicole and husband Liam (Jarod Rawiri) are struggling financially after the quake, while Tessa and Rob’s helicopter business has boomed. There’s a quiet, simmering tension between the families, made worse by a mysterious event from Tessa and Nicole’s past, which we see glimpses of through flashbacks. Their lives are jolted again when the surrogacy agreement is torn apart, bringing years of resentment and jealousy to the surface. “You owe me!” Tessa screams at Nicole, referring to a secret debt that will be recalled in the most dramatic of fashions.
As the ground fractures beneath them, Nicole and Tessa’s lives begin to crack too. O’Reilly brings a strength and fierceness to Nicole, who is only just holding her life together, while Haubrich gives a welcome hint of vulnerability to the manipulative Tessa. The two women are surrounded by a community of richly drawn and relatable characters, from Liam and Rob’s stern foster mother Fran (Elizabeth Hawthorne) to Rob’s ex-wife Stacey (Bree Peters) and nosey shopkeeper Andi (Jodie Rimmer). These characters all feel like people we know, and they help to build a picture of small town life that is equally as claustrophobic as it is comforting.
From the book club meetings where the women would rather talk about how annoying Tessa is, to the endless river of Nicole-related gossip that flows from the local shop, nothing in Friends Like Her will remain secret for long. Nicole and Tessa have plenty to hide, but the show is assured and restrained enough to not give us all the answers at once. Instead, it treats the viewer with intelligence, giving us just enough information to hook us in, and adding plenty of twists to keep us guessing.
Friends Like Her is a compelling and intriguing psychological drama that’s easy to watch, but doesn’t show its hand too soon. Sure, the first few moments are a bit – ahem – shaky, but once the show jumps forward in time and the story begins to unfold, Friends Like Her becomes a confident local drama full of dynamic characters, smart writing and clever twists. The aftershocks just keep coming, and having hoovered up the first two episodes, I’d have happily binged the rest in one sitting.
Friends Like Her premieres on Three on Monday 15 April at 8.40pm and streams on ThreeNow.
Coming soon on The Spinoff: Checkered Flag
In 2023, Gary Stirling, circuit manager at the Pukekohe Park Raceway closed the gates for the last time. The raceway had hosted professional and community motorsports events for 60 years and is now being demolished to make room for horse racing facilities. “Time moves on, Puke’s gone,” he said.
Checkered Flag is a one-off documentary coming to The Spinoff on Tuesday, April 16. It follows Stirling and his daughter in the months leading up to the last day ever at the racecourse. They register drivers, clean up after the Auckland floods, and say goodbye to what is so much more than a paddock with asphalt on it.
Checkered Flag is made with the support of NZ On Air.
Why you should watch: Scoop (Netflix)
Everyone remembers the infamous 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, which the palace hoped would improve the prince’s public reputation after his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to light. Instead, the Queen’s favourite son came across as pompous and unrepentant, and viewers around the world were left wondering how on earth such a train wreck of an interview came to be. That’s the story of Scoop, which shows how three determined women at BBC’s Newsnight convinced the palace to allow such unprecedented access to a member of the royal family.
It’s a fun watch, and most of that is down to a stellar cast that includes Billie Piper (who plays producer Sam McAllister), Gillian Anderson (journalist Emily Maitlis) and Rufus Sewell (who could be Prince Andrew’s identical twin). If you’ve been following the story for a while, you might not learn anything new, and what happened in front of the camera is still more interesting than what went on behind it. But it’s worth watching simply to see acting powerhouses Piper and Anderson on the small screen together, and it’s a fascinating reminder of how astonishing the whole situation was.
You might also like: The Greatest Hits (Disney+): “If something happened to you, and I could stop it but it would mean we could never meet, would you want me to?” That’s the intriguing premise behind the new movie The Greatest Hits. Lucy Boynton stars as Harriet, who experiences an unusual connection between memory and music that allows her to travel back in time and relive precious moments with her last boyfriend. But what happens when Lucy meets someone new in the present? Should she change her playlist, or keep living in the past?
You might also like: Nadia’s Farm (ThreeNow): If you’re looking for a wholesome and uplifting show, the new season of Nadia’s Farm won’t disappoint. Also, don’t miss Alex Casey’s charming interview with Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie on why they swapped the hustle for the harvest.
Why you should watch: The Lost Boys of Dilworth (Sunday, TVNZ1 and TVNZ+)
While it is about the furthest you can get from easy breezy Sunday night viewing, The Lost Boys of Dilworth is an essential watch. Telling the stories of former Dilworth students, all of whom were abused during their time at the school, Lost Boys mixes their brave first person interviews with authentic dramatisations of their experiences as kids. The combination of techniques creates a harrowing and highly effective portrayal of systemic abuse in our own backyard, and serves as a reminder of how many people can be quietly complicit in the most horrific of crimes. / Alex Casey
More pop culture links on The Spinoff:
Check out all the new shows and movies dropping on your favourite streaming service this week.
Vinnie Bennett – who stars in both local dramas Testify (TVNZ+) and Friends Like Her (ThreeNow) launching this week – told us about his journey from What Now to Hollywood in My Life in TV.
Alex Casey watched the news report the end of the news, again.
Meet the contestants cooking for glory in the new season of My Kitchen Rules NZ (TVNZ+).
With the unsettling news that long running soap Shortland Street is under review, we can only hope it wasn’t because of Chris Warner’s beard.
Join The Spinoff members, now with comments
Spinoff members are now able to comment on certain stories. It’s another way for us to bring to life the value of belonging to the community of Spinoff supporters. I explain why we’re doing this here, and if I ever publish another big food ranking, you have my permission to give me your worst. It’s just one of the perks of being a Spinoff supporter.
Today you can also chime in on:
Help Me Hera: I set up two of my closest friends and I bitterly regret it
Do you know where your hair goes after it’s cut?
Log in, let us know what you think, and as always, we’d be grateful if you’d consider becoming a Spinoff supporter if you’re not already.
See you in the comments,
Madeleine Chapman, editor
Why you should watch: Fallout (Prime Video)
Game adaptations are notoriously hard to get right. There’s always plenty of hype, but typically, they fall flat. Prime Video’s Fallout looks to be bucking the trend. Early reviews for the post-apocalyptic series based on the long-running (and very popular) video game franchise suggest it’s going to be a hit. It has all the right ingredients: a Nolan (Jonathan, not Christopher) behind the camera, an incredible cast, a massive budget, a heap of secrecy and a splashy marketing campaign. Described to me by someone lucky enough to have had an early watch as somewhere between The Boys and Westworld, expect healthy doses of cartoon violence and top notch visuals to boot. All episodes are available now and I cannot wait to dive in. / Stewart Sowman-Lund
You might also like: Franklin (Apple TV+): This based-on-a-true-story drama ticks every box: gorgeous costumes, incredible sets, and Michael Douglas hooning around France in a carriage. Douglas plays electricity fan Benjamin Franklin, who went to France in 1776 on a secret mission to gather support for American independence. It took him eight years, which begs the question: was Franklin truly a good negotiator, or did the French just suck at making decisions? Can’t wait to find out.
You might also like: Relentless (TVNZ+): A docuseries that takes us into the world of elite martial arts, as it follows six MMA hopefuls aiming to win a coveted year-long scholarship at City Kickboxing. The gym is run by head coach Eugene Bareman and known for producing heavy weights like Kai Kara-France and Israel Adesanya.
Before we pop off…
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.