‘Blue Murder Motel’ to Close Out Summer on Acorn TV
Acorn TV has set a check-in date for its latest New Zealand series, 'Blue Murder Motel.'
Acorn TV is wasting no time in checking into its latest acquisition, Blue Murder Motel. The new series, which airs on TVNZ in its home country, is 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.
If that sounds similar to Acorn TV’s other hit series, My Life Is Murder, which stars Lucy Lawless, about a Sydney police officer who retires and returns home to New Zealand, only to find herself solving crimes as a private investigator, you’re not wrong. While Lawless is not a producer on the new show, she did direct two episodes, so expect the same sort of flavor, if not the exact same dish.
Acorn TV has been having a banner year with its original in-house productions like Harry Wild, Art Detectives, You’re Killing Me, and Irish Blood, while importing shows over from Sundance Now, which has switched to a new format so the two don’t overlap nearly as much. This newest pick-up is a reminder that parent company AMC Global started out as an importer of foreign-made shows, especially from the Oceania area, like Australia’s ABC and New Zealand’s TVNZ, and that they hold a particular delight for viewers.
Here’s Acorn TV’s version of the synopsis:
Married couple Vanessa and Peter Coleman leave their cop careers behind to run a motel in a sunny beachside New Zealand town, believing their hardest days are behind them. But plans soon collapse when a dead body is discovered in Unit 3, just one week after opening. The retired detectives’ 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 (Acorn TV)
Michala Banas (A Remarkable Place to Die) and Brett Tucker (The Residence) star as married motel owners/private investigators Vanessa and Peter Coleman. The Season 1 cast also includes Jaime McDermott (The Pact), Christopher Stollery (Return to Paradise), Jayden Daniels (Mother Knows Best), Stephanie Tauevihi (The Panthers), Susana Lei’ataua (The Strip), 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 Season 1 premieres on Acorn TV on Monday, August 24, 2026, and will stream weekly episodes through mid-October. Season 2 is already greenlit.
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