We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon, and TVNZ+.
If you love dark local drama: Testify (TVNZ+, April 8)
Vinnie Bennett (centre) stars in new local drama Testify. Photo / TVNZ
TVNZ’s new drama Testifyfollows a rich and powerfulfamily who run an evangelical megachurch in Auckland. It’s written by Gavin Strawhan (Black Hands, Nothing Trivial) and Paula Whetu Jones (Spinal Destination, Whina), and stars Vinnie Bennett, Craig Hall and Ari Boyland. Bennett plays youth pastor David, whose life is turned upside down when his brother returns after being missing for 15 years. After suddenly seeing the light, David then teams up with a determined podcaster to expose the church’s many secrets and lies. Can I get a hallelujah? A thumbs up is fine.
If you love music and time travel: The Greatest Hits (Disney+, April 12)
“If something happened to you, and I could stop it but it would mean we could never meet, would you want me to?” That’s a big brain question, but it’s also the intriguing premise behind the new film The Greatest Hits. Lucy Boynton stars as Harriet, a woman who experiences an unusual connection between memory and music that allows her to travel back in time and relive moments with her last boyfriend. But what happens when Lucy meets someone new in the present? Should she change her playlist, or keep living in the past? Looks like a gem.
If you love post-apocalyptic science fiction: Fallout (Prime Video, April 11)
If you think the current state of affairs we’re living in isn’t bleak enough, then great news: Fallout is the show for you. Based on the popular video game and set in America 200 years after the last apocalypse, Fallout follows a group of people who want to restart civilisation – or as the show’s official blurb tells us: “The gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind – and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them”. Cool!
If you love history and fancy wigs: Franklin (Apple TV+, April 12)
No, this isn’t the ‘90s kids cartoon about the turtle who wears a hat, but Apple TV+’s new based-on-a-true-story historical drama that ticks every box: gorgeous costumes, incredible sets, and Michael Douglas hooning around France in a very nice carriage. Douglas – who also executive produced the series – plays Benjamin Franklin, who having already become famous for his services to electricity, went to France in 1776 on a secret political mission to gather support for American independence. It took him eight years, which begs the question: was Franklin truly a good negotiator, or did the French just suck at making decisions? Can’t wait to find out.
If you love a good cry: David Lomas Investigates (ThreeNow, April 9)
David Lomas, on one of his titular investigations on David Lomas Investigates. Photo / Three
The heart-wrenching and uplifting documentary series David Lomas Investigates returns for a brand new eight-episode season, with the determined Lomas travelling from Vietnam to Hungary to Brazil in his quest to reconnect families with their missing relatives. This season features several stories about New Zealanders looking for answers about what happened to them in their childhoods, including Palmerston North woman Rose, who was abandoned as a baby in a Hong Kong slum 72 years ago. Grab your tissues, mates; you’re going to need them.
