The final month of 2021 brings five new series from Australia and New Zealand to the States, including titles in the documentary, drama, horror, mystery, and sci-fi genres.
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.
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).
NATIONAL PREMIERES
Under the Vines (NZ)
This humorous, six-part romantic drama series follows two city slickers who inherit a failing vineyard in rural New Zealand. Sydney socialite Daisy Munroe (Rebecca Gibney, Wanted, Packed to the Rafters, Halifax: Retribution) heads to Peak View, New Zealand, for a vacation at her recently deceased stepfather’s winery, which she intends to sell. Little does she know that the vineyard has a co-owner — grumpy UK-born lawyer Louis Oakley (Charles Edwards, The Crown, The Terror, Downton Abbey) — who also travels to this Kiwi wine region to escape a spiraling series of unfortunate events in his life. Despite neither having done a hard day’s work in their lives and both despising each other, the two must somehow make Oakley Winery successful so they can sell up, split up, and get out.
The ensemble cast includes Dean O’Gorman (One Lane Bridge), Sara Wiseman (A Place to Call Home), John Bach (Janet King), Matt Whelan (The Sounds), Simon Mead (Nothing Trivial), Sarah Peirse (Offspring), Cohen Holloway (Top of the Lake), Carrie Green (Mystic), Catherine Wilkin (Stateless), Robbie Magasiva (Wentworth), and newcomer Trae Te Wiki.
Under the Vines, an Acorn TV Original series, premieres in the US and Canada with its first two episodes on Monday, December 6, exclusively on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Amazon Channels. Subsequent episodes will debut singly on Mondays through January 3, 2022.
Creamerie (NZ)
Set in the not too distant future, this sci-fi comedy series opens eight years after the near-mass-extinction of men from a viral plague that swept the earth and killed 99% of them in a matter of weeks. The 1% who didn’t die from the virus were sent to a facility in New Zealand, but they didn’t survive there, either. Or did they…?
Creamerie premieres in the US on Thursday, December 9, exclusively on Hulu.
Small Claims (AU)
Three mystery stories comprise the “Small Claims” telefilm series, and all of them star Claudia Karvan (Newton’s Law, Jack Irish) as divorced, 30-something cop Jo Collins, and Rebecca Gibney (Back to the Rafters, Winter) as Chrissy Hindmarsh, a married, near-40 lawyer-turned-caterer. Together Jo and Chrissy, both ordinary women and working mothers, become unlikely yet formidable sleuths.
In the award-winning Small Claims, the two help Melinda Fehlers (Freya Stafford, Five Bedrooms, Offspring), aka Leanne, an ex-drug dealer who is on the run from her old life and the people who are out to get her. Small Claims: White Wedding finds Jo and Chrissy investigating a murder with a link to Jo’s about-to-be-married stepsister, Kiara (Alyssa McClelland, One Step Closer to Home, Canal Road). And in Small Claims: The Reunion, the two women delve into the mysterious death of the husband of Louise Page (Lisa Chappell, McLeod’s Daughters, Shortland Street), one of Chrissy’s former colleagues.
All three telefilms — Small Claims, Small Claims: White Wedding, and Small Claims: The Reunion — premiere in the US and Canada on Monday, December 13, exclusively on Acorn TV and its digital channels, including Acorn TV on Amazon Channels.
Firebite (AU)
This eight-episode horror series follows two Indigenous Australian hunters — the reckless, swaggering Tyson (Rob Collins, Mystery Road, Cleverman), and 17-year-old orphan Shanika (Shantae Barnes-Cowan, Total Control, Operation Buffalo) — on their quest to battle the last colony of vampires in the middle of the South Australian desert.
Costarring Yael Stone (Orange is the New Black) and Callan Mulvey (Avengers: End Game), Firebite, an AMC+ Original series, premieres in the US on Thursday, December 16, exclusively on AMC+. New episodes will debut weekly.
LOCAL PREMIERES
Australia in Colour (AU)
Narrated by actor Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings; The Matrix), this docuseries tells the story of how the sixth-largest country came to be the nation it is today, reflecting on its character and attitudes, politics, and the struggle to value its indigenous and multicultural past — all brought to life for the first time in stunning color.
The four-episode Season 1 of Australia in Colour is confirmed for airing on the following public TV stations starting on or after December 1: KQEH, KUEN, WDSE, and WSBE.
NON-PREMIERE PROGRAMS BEING ADDED TO STREAMING SERVICES
The Gulf: Season 1 (NZ)
This psychological thriller captures the moral disintegration of Detective Jess Savage (Kate Elliott, Wentworth), who investigates crimes in Waiheke Island, New Zealand. After losing her memory in a car crash that killed her husband, Jess is determined to bring the killer to justice. She’s convinced that someone is trying to kill her because of something she uncovered in a recent case, so she begins investigating herself, retracing her steps over the weeks prior. While her colleagues become increasingly uncooperative, Jess suffers from paranoia and begins fighting an addiction to morphine. As she gets closer to the truth, Jess discovers that her world is not so morally black and white.
Costars include Ido Drent (Offspring), Jeffrey Thomas (Spartacus: Gods of the Arena), Mark Mitchinson (Nothing Trivial), Alison Bruce (The Almighty Johnsons), Pana Hema Taylor (The Brokenwood Mysteries), and Timmie Cameron (Shortland Street).
The Gulf: Season 1 begins streaming as a no-extra-charge offering on Prime Video from Wednesday, December 1, through the end of the month.
World’s Greatest: Seasons 1-8 (AU)
There are many inspirational places throughout the world, ready to be found and explored. This epic series takes viewers on a timeless tour of the world’s finest cities, natural wonders, animal encounters, voyages and adventures, monuments, and islands.
In World’s Greatest Cities, viewers circle the globe on a quest to discover the beating heart of the world’s most extraordinary places. In World’s Greatest Animal Encounters, explore where killer whales cruise the coastlines, grizzlies catch fish in the wild, and more. World’s Greatest Journeys travels along Route 66, follows the wildebeest migration across the Serengeti, choppers over the Grand Canyon, and more. World’s Greatest Islands celebrates the uniqueness of islands in all their isolated glory. Additional seasons include World’s Greatest Natural Wonders, World’s Greatest Manmade Wonders, World’s Greatest: Engineering Icons, and World’s Greatest Natural Icons.
World’s Greatest: Seasons 1-8 begin streaming Friday, December 3, on PBS Living.
__________________
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.
__________________
For details about the December 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.
__________________
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).
Share this post/page.