Two new series and two new seasons from both Australia and New Zealand have their stateside premieres in June 2021, and there’s more besides.
For updates about shows from Australia and New Zealand added to US linear TV and streaming channels throughout the month, see the Down Under TV Viewing Guide.
Programs and dates are subject to change without prior notice.
Videos below may contain content that is not suitable for everyone.
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NATIONAL PREMIERES
Halifax: Retribution (AU)
Rebecca Gibney (Wanted, Winter, Packed to the Rafters) reprises her role as Jane Halifax (from Halifax f.p., which ran from 1994-2002) in this eight-part crime drama sequel. A string of random killings by a sniper prompts Police Commander Tom Saracen (Anthony LaPaglia, Without a Trace, Riviera) to contact his old colleague, Jane Halifax, for help, even though it’s been nearly 20 years since she’s worked with the police.
Currently a professor of forensic psychiatry, Halifax is a celebrated academic whose life seems complete — her longtime partner, Ben (Craig Hall, A Place to Call Home, The Doctor Blake Mysteries), is a gifted musician, and her daughter, Zoe (Mavournee Hazel, My Life Is Murder, Neighbours), is living life to the fullest and following in Ben’s musical footsteps. Although Ben is opposed to Jane joining the task force, she is tempted to return to the forensic profiling life at which she excelled. But after a traumatizing murder shakes the whole family, Jane must confront a terrible possibility: that after 20 years, the worst of the criminals she helped put in prison are being released.
The series costars Claudia Karvan (Newton’s Law), Rick Donald (800 Words), Ming-Zhu Hii (Sisters), and Mark Coles Smith (Picnic at Hanging Rock).
Halifax: Retribution premieres in the US on Tuesday, June 1, exclusively on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
The Gulf: Season 2 (NZ) (rescheduled)
Following the events in Season 1 that left D.S.S. Jess Savage (Kate Elliott, Wentworth, Dear Murderer) with severe memory loss, a dead husband and more, the new season of this psychological crime thriller finds her wanting to leave the past behind and make the most of her tentative new relationship with her pregnant daughter, Ruby (Timmie Cameron, Shortland Street). Jess is also remembering certain things. Devastating things. And she takes on the abduction case of Spencer Marris (Glen Levy, Westside), the husband of Jess’s old school friend, Lisa (Serena Cotton, The Brokenwood Mysteries). If all that wasn’t enough, Jess is being blackmailed, threatened with being exposed as a murderer…
Returning cast members include Ido Drent (Offspring), Ross Brannigan (Dear Murderer), Alison Bruce (One Lane Bridge), Dahnu Graham (Vegas), Mark Mitchinson (Straight Forward), Bede Skinner (The Brokenwood Mysteries), and Simon Prast (Go Girls). Joining the Season 2 cast are Vinnie Bennett (The Bad Seed), Madeleine Adams (Mystic), Fasitua Amosa (Harry), Mirabai Pease (Head High), Sara Wiseman (A Place to Call Home), and Romy Hooper (Nothing Trivial).
The Gulf: Season 2 premieres in the US with its first episode (of eight) on Thursday, June 3, exclusively on Sundance Now and its digital channels, including Sundance Now on Amazon Channels and the AMC+ streaming bundle. New episodes will debut weekly.
Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries: Series 2 (AU)
In the new season of this spinoff from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, murders continue to plague the streets of 1964 Melbourne, where Phryne Fisher’s niece, Peregrine Fisher (Geraldine Hakewill, Wakefield, Wanted), tackles her trickiest assignment yet: juggling her career as a private detective, her busy life as an Adventuress, and her romance with Detective James Steed (Joel Jackson, Mystery Road, Safe Harbour).
While Peregrine investigates cases at an air hostess school, a dog show, and a bowling alley, amongst others, Birdie Birnside (Catherine McClements, Tangle) reignites her spying career with an old flame, and Violetta (Louisa Mignone, Rake) and Samuel (Toby Truslove, Bad Mothers) struggle to contain their passion.
Reprising their roles for Series 2 are Greg Stone (Glitch) as Chief Inspector Percy Sparrow and Katie Robertson (Five Bedrooms) as Constable Fleur Connor.
Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries: Series 2, an Acorn TV Original series, premieres in the US on Monday, June 7, on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Amazon Channels. The new season will also have its premiere on the same date on Acorn TV in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — launching in these territories and the US with the first two of eight episodes, followed by singular episodes each week through July 19.
Rūrangi: Season 1 (NZ)
Set in the remote farming town of Rūrangi, this drama follows Caz (newcomer Elz Carrad), an LBGT activist. Rūrangi is where Caz grew up — where the townsfolk knew him as a girl. He left a decade ago after his transition from female to male caused a family rift. Now Caz, feeling tired and vulnerable from his work, is back in Rūrangi, hoping to reconnect with his estranged father. What he finds are a new cause and an old friend.
Costars include Arlo Green (Straight Forward), Kirk Torrance (The Dead Lands), and Awhina-Rose Ashby (Find Me a Maori Bride).
Rūrangi: Season 1 premieres in the US on Monday, June 14, exclusively on Hulu.
NON-PREMIERE PROGRAMS BEING ADDED TO LINEAR TV
The Brokenwood Mysteries: Season 1 (NZ)
Set in the seemingly quiet New Zealand town of Brokenwood, this awesome series follows Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea, Go Girls), Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland, The Almighty Johnsons), and Detective Constable Sam Breen (Nic Sampson, Step Dave) as they investigate mystifying, inventive, and macabre crimes in and around the eponymous country town. Cristina Serban Ionda costars as medical examiner Dr. Gina Kadinsky.
The Brokenwood Mysteries: Season 1 begins airing under Ovation TV‘s “Secrets & Crimes” block on Tuesday, June 29, at 12:30 AM ET (Monday, June 28, 9:30 PM PT).
NON-PREMIERE PROGRAMS BEING ADDED TO STREAMING SERVICES
Sweet Country (AU)
Inspired by a true story, this western set on the Northern Territory frontier in the 1920s sees justice itself put on trial after Sam Kelly (Hamilton Morris, 8MMM Aboriginal Radio), an aged Aboriginal farmhand, shoots a white man in self-defense and goes on the run as a posse gathers to hunt him down.
Costarring Ewen Leslie (The Luminaries, The Cry), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) and Bryan Brown (Bloom, Breaker Moran), Sweet Country begins streaming Monday, June 14, on Sundance Now and its digital channels, including Sundance Now on Amazon Channels.
Boy (NZ)
Written and directed by Oscar® winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit), this multiple award-winning comedy-drama film set in 1984 sees Boy (James Rolleston, The Dead Lands), an 11-year-old child and a devout Michael Jackson fan, getting to know his absentee criminal father (Waititi), who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
Boy begins streaming Monday, June 28, on Sundance Now and its digital channels, including Sundance Now on Amazon Channels.
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Did you miss any of the new shows from previous days, weeks, or months? Check the Down Under TV Viewing Guide and Archives to find out.
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For details about the June premieres of shows from the UK, Canada, and Ireland, visit The British TV Place. For info about the debuts of original-language, English-subtitled programs from Europe, visit The Euro TV Place.
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As an affiliate of Amazon and other companies, ads & affiliate links on this blog allow us to earn income from qualifying actions and purchases (at no extra cost to you).
