Acorn TV Checks Into New Zealand’s ‘Blue Murder Motel’
Acorn TV has picked up another cozy crime series from Down Under, titled 'Blue Murder Motel'.
Acorn TV is heading back down under for its newest cozy crime acquisition. The streaming service has been having a banner year with its original in-house productions like Harry Wild, Art Detectives, You’re Killing Me, and Irish Blood. But the parent company, AMC Global, is a small-time player going up against deep-pocketed competition. To keep a steady stream of new debuts, it still relies on shows made for foreign networks like Australia’s ABC and New Zealand’s TVNZ, including its newest pick-up, Blue Murder Motel.
Reviews of the show when it aired down under called it “Brokenwood Mysteries on the Beach.” However, the new series is a better match for Acorn TV’s longest-running hits, My Life Is Murder, about a Sydney police officer who retires and returns home to New Zealand, only to find herself solving crimes as a private investigator. Executive-produced and starring Lucy Lawless, the series recently streamed its fifth season.
Blue Murder Motel is also about a pair of cops who retire from the Australian police force and move six hours southeast to the Kiwi coast, only to find themselves called on to solve crimes in between running their seaside hotel. While Lawless is not a producer on the new series, she directed two of the first season’s eight episodes.
Here’s the series synopsis via the TVNZ+ page:
Blue Murder Motel follows married detectives Vanessa and Peter Coleman as they step away from the Australian police force in search of a quieter life. They invest in a 13-room seaside motel in a peaceful New Zealand town, believing the hardest days are behind them. Their plans collapse when a dead body is discovered in Unit 3, just one week after opening. Old instincts resurface as they are drawn back into investigation mode. The town’s friendly charm begins to crack, revealing hidden secrets and unresolved grudges.
Michala Banas, Jaime McDermott, Brett Tucker, Stephanie Tauevihi, and Jayden Daniels in 'Blue Murder Motel' Season 1 (TVNZ)
The series stars Michala Banas (A Remarkable Place to Die) and Brett Tucker (The Residence) as married motel owners/private investigators Vanessa and Peter Coleman. The rest of the Season 1 ensemble includes Jaime McDermott (The Pact), Jayden Daniels (Mother Knows Best), Stephanie Tauevihi (The Panthers), and Susana Lei’ataua (The Strip). Supporting cast includes Christopher Stollery (Return to Paradise), Stephanie Liebert (Green Angels), and James Sexton (Please Don’t Break Anything).
The series was created by Kate McDermott (Head High) and Steven Zanoski (Step Dave), with McDermott as lead writer, alongside Paul Jenner, James Griffin, and Marina McCartney. Directors Joshua Frizzell (Under the Vines), Mark Beesley (Spartacus), Jacqueline Nairn (The Brokenwood Mysteries), and Lawless each directed two episodes across the show’s eight installments, with Zanoski producing. Executive producers include Kathleen Anderson, Philip Smith, Cate Calver, and Marc B. Lorber.
Blue Murder Motel does not yet have a premiere date set on Acorn TV, but it’s a good bet we’ll see it debut before the end of 2026. Season 2 has already been greenlit in New Zealand and is expected to follow in 2027.
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