What a good feeling it was, settling in to watch a couple of hours of New Zealand-made telly that had nothing to do with cooking, construction, star-struck talent or fishing.
Set in small-town New Zealand, The Brokenwood Mysteries (Prime, Sunday, 8.30pm) was - very loosely - a Kiwi version of Britain's Midsomer Murders series. But it definitely was not a knock-off, because this series has its own charm and guile.
Detective Inspector Mick Shepherd (Neill Rea) leads the action, with his sidekick Detective Constable Kristin Sims, in each of the four episodes of these two-hour long murder mysteries.
I watched the second episode, about two members of the wine fraternity who had gargled their last by drowning in a large vat of raw red wine.
The script by Tim Balme was deft and funny without sinking into cliches or groaner-type jokes. Our affable, slightly plump DI Shepherd asserted his authority with a quirky eyebrow, a penetrating stare and a warm, disconcerting lop-sided grin.