One Lane Bridge
Genre
CreatorPip Hall
Philip Smith
WriterPip Hall
DirectorPeter Burger
StarringDominic Ona-Ariki
Joel Tobeck
Alison Bruce
ComposerClaire Cowan
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish
Num seasons3
Num episodes16
Executive producer
  • Philip Smith
  • Kathleen Anderson
Company
First aired20 April 2020

One Lane Bridge is a New Zealand crime drama television series, premiering on TVNZ 1 in 2020. The series stars Dominic Ona-Ariki as Ariki Davis, a newcomer detective, Joel Tobeck as Stephen Tremaine, his superior, and Alison Bruce as Tremaine's wife, Lois. The show follows events around the latest in a mysterious chain of deaths which have occurred on a one-lane bridge near the town of Queenstown.[1] The series is also notable for its inclusion of aspects of Māori spirituality as a core part of the plot, such as the notion of matakite, roughly equivalent to divination.[2]

The series was filmed primarily in Queenstown and its surrounding area, with the eponymous bridge located over the Dart River / Te Awa Whakatipu near the township of Glenorchy, approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of Queenstown. Other filming locations include the Queenstown waterfront and areas around the nearby town of Arrowtown.[3]

One Lane Bridge premiered in April 2020 on TVNZ 1, in the middle of New Zealand's first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. The show was met with mixed reviews, with Stuff's Malcolm Hopwood describing the characters as "tight-lipped, charmless, one-dimensional people"[4] and the Spinoff's Catherine McGregor saying that the writing of the series "fails to live up to the drama of its breathtaking location".[5] Stuff's James Croot was more positive, describing season 1 as "an engrossing, evocative, supernatural-tinged detective drama, a Central Otago-set Kiwi answer to Scandi-Noir complete with terrific performances from a well-assembled ensemble."[6]

Cast

Production

Season 1 of One Lane Bridge was filmed over three months in late 2019 by Great Southern Television, entirely on location in the Queenstown area. The series initially had a budget of NZ$7 million, which was supported through funding from NZ on Air, Australia's Seven Network, and All3Media.[7][8] Filming for season 2 took place over 10 weeks in February 2021, on a slightly smaller budget of $6 million. Queenstown mayor Jim Boult has been vocally supportive of the series, having written a letter of support to help secure funding for the production of the show's second season.[9]

In September 2021, TVNZ announced that One Lane Bridge had been renewed for a third season and pledged up to $5,945,400 for this, which it said would "build on the previous season's talent development opportunities across directing, production, and script writing for local and emerging practitioners."[10] Season three premiered on TVNZ1 on 7 November 2022, with all episodes in the series available for streaming on TVNZ's online platform TVNZ+ at the same point.

References

  1. ^ "About One Lane Bridge". www.tvnz.co.nz. TVNZ. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  2. ^ Best, Edison. Maori Religion and Mythology, Part 1. Wellington: A R Shearer. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  3. ^ Downes, Siobhan (12 August 2021). "The stars of One Lane Bridge share their favourite Queenstown finds". Stuff. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  4. ^ Hopwood, Malcolm (23 April 2020). "A home for charmless people at least has decent scenery". Stuff. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  5. ^ McGregor, Catherine (28 April 2020). "Review: New Zealand murder mystery One Lane Bridge is beautiful but blank". The Spinoff. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  6. ^ Croot, James (15 August 2021). "One Lane Bridge: After 2020's finale fumble, TVNZ's Central Otago mystery is back". Stuff. Stuff. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  7. ^ Chandler, Philip (15 August 2019). "$7m crime drama to be shot in Queenstown". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  8. ^ Chandler, Philip (14 April 2020). "Queenstown's starring role in crime drama" (in en-NZ). Mountain Scene. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  9. ^ Chandler, Philip (17 September 2020). "'One Lane Bridge' 2.0" (in en-NZ). Mountain Scene. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  10. ^ "One Lane Bridge to Span Another Season | ScreenScribe". 24 September 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.