Hawke's Bay youth to star in TVNZ crime drama

Hawke's Bay's Taine Rutherford is set to star in a show on TVNZ On Demand. Photo / Supplied

A Hawke's Bay 20-year-old is playing a leading role in an upcoming crime drama, set to air on TVNZ On Demand.

Taine Rutherford, who has lived in several places across Hawke's Bay, and attended high school in CHB, is playing Griff in Find My Killer.

The show is about the murder of 17-year-old Mia Bryant, and how technology is used in solving her case.

Rutherford said he caught the acting bug when he was a teenager in Central Hawke's Bay.

"I started actually trying to act back in 2014.

"I took my first class and pretty much from the first class I got the bug."

He got involved in high school productions at Central Hawke's Bay College and the Waipawa Musical and Dramatic Club.

The 20-year-old is now waiting for three projects to release, including Find My Killer, and had a couple of projects he is hoping to get involved in, although has nothing concrete set up.

In Find My Killer, his character is one of the suspects in the case.

"He's basically the last one to see her (Mia)."

He said he is most looking forward to watching the final episode and seeing how it concludes, as he thought the script was clever.

"I'm quite excited to see the final interpretation of that."

The show was originally due to air in December, but due to its similarity to the Grace Millane case, it was pushed back.

It will now drop on March 11, with episodes dropping in batches of three, with four on the final week. The show will air on TVNZ On Demand.