Wellington Paranormal
Wellington Paranormal is a New Zealand mockumentary comedy horror television series which first aired on 11 July 2018 on TVNZ 2. The series is a spin-off of the 2014 film What We Do in the Shadows and first television series in the franchise, and its lead characters—Officers Minogue and O'Leary—first appeared in the film as a pair of incurious police officers.[1]
| Wellington Paranormal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Jemaine Clement Taika Waititi |
| Written by | Jemaine Clement Paul Yates Melanie Bracewell Jessica Hansell |
| Directed by | Jemaine Clement Jackie van Beek |
| Starring | Mike Minogue Karen O'Leary Maaka Pohatu |
| Country of origin | New Zealand |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Taika Waititi Jemaine Clement |
| Producer(s) | Paul Yates |
| Production company(s) | New Zealand Documentary Board |
| Release | |
| Original network | TVNZ 2 |
| Original release | 11 July 2018 – present |
The series was created by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, who wrote, directed and performed in What We Do in the Shadows.[2] Waititi and Clement serve as the series' executive producers, while Clement directs four of the six episodes in season 1.[1] The series was confirmed for a second season of 13 episodes, which aired 6 episodes beginning on 16 October 2019.[3][4]
A Christmas special aired on 19 December 2019, with the remaining 6 episodes airing as a new season in 2020.[5]
Cast
- Mike Minogue as Officer Kyle Minogue
- Karen O'Leary as Officer O'Leary
- Maaka Pohatu as Sergeant Ruawai Maaka
- Thomas Sainsbury as Constable Parker
Episodes
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 11 July 2018 | 15 August 2018 | ||
| 2 | 6 | 16 October 2019 | 20 November 2019 | ||
| Christmas special | 1 | 19 December 2019 | |||
| 3 | 6 | 2020[5] | TBA | ||
Series 1 (2018)
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Demon Girl" | Jemaine Clement | Jemaine Clement & Paul Yates | 11 July 2018 | |
| Wellington police officers Minogue and O'Leary encounter a young girl projectile vomiting in Cuba Mall, and claiming to be Bazu'aal of the Unholy Realm. The girl is taken back to the station, where she proceeds to climb the walls like a spider and escape. Sergeant Maaka recruits Minogue and O'Leary into his new Paranormal Unit and tasks them with investigating strange phenomena in and around Wellington. Pursuing Bazu'aal as he body hops between the girl's family members, Minogue and O'Leary conduct an exorcism to stop the demon from opening a hellmouth in the Bucket Fountain. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Cop Circles" | Jemaine Clement | Melanie Bracewell | 18 July 2018 | |
| Sergeant Maaka sends Minogue and O'Leary out to the country to investigate an incident where a cow has ended up at the top of a tall tree, and he suspects aliens are responsible. The officers speak to the farmer and his strangely similar family members, and find crop circles and seed pods in the fields. As night falls, the police are pursued by plant-based extra-terrestrial life forms, but manage to lock them in a shed. As they outline the night's events to the documentary crew, their alien clones escape the shed and wander away. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Things That Do the Bump in the Night" | Jackie van Beek | Nick Ward | 25 July 2018 | |
| Minogue and O'Leary attend a noise complaint in Khandallah, where they find what appears to be a 1970s theme party in full swing. When O'Leary unplugs the record player, the party goers vanish. Sergeant Maaka suspects that ghosts are responsible, and calls for a medium, Chloe Patterson, to attempt to communicate with them. The officers encounter a series of spectres in the house, who they discover are the ghosts of people who died at a party held by Raymond St John, known as the "Party King", in the 1970s. They convince St John, who has possessed Patterson, to release her and allow his guests to go on to the afterlife. St John however manages to escape custody due to his spectral form. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "The She Wolf of Kurimarama Street" | Jackie van Beek | Jessica Hansell | 1 August 2018 | |
| When a pizza delivery boy claims he was attacked by a "dog wearing jeans", Minogue and O'Leary follow a trail of destruction and missing pets to a disoriented young woman named Sheena. As they drive her home, the full moon is revealed, and Sheena transforms into a werewolf. When Sheena returns to human form, she realises her ex-boyfriend, Dion (one of the werewolf pack from What We Do in the Shadows) has transmitted his condition to her. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "A Normal Night" | Jemaine Clement | Sam Smith | 8 August 2018 | |
| Minogue and O'Leary confront a series of mysterious events—a wilful floating plastic bag, apparent thefts of blood bags from Wellington Hospital, strange sacrificial rites in a Wellington park, and a posse of evil clowns in a very small car. Apart from the evil clown posse, the common underlying element to the events is Nick (the fledgeling vampire from What We Do in the Shadows), who is selling bootleg stolen blood from his job as a Wellington Hospital orderly to other local vampires. Ultimately, Nick glamours them into forgetting it all ever happened. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Zombie Cops" | Jemaine Clement | Jemaine Clement & Paul Yates | 15 August 2018 | |
| Two fellow Wellington Police officers, Donovan and Laupepe, get bitten by a zombie in a police interview room and turn while out on patrol, leading to a string of mishaps until the Paranormal Unit recognises the situation and takes steps to retrieve the errant officers, who have meanwhile bitten a fast food attendant and driver. Fortunately, the zombies are found to be susceptible to radio wave control and are soon back safely in the custody of their colleagues. Donovan and Laupepe are reassigned to desk duty. | ||||||
Series 2 (2019)
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | "Taniwha" | Dean Hewison | Nick Ward | 16 October 2019 | |
| Sergeant Maaka, and constables Minogue, O'Leary and Parker head to Wellington Harbour, where ten anglers have disappeared, including the prime minister's fiancé Clarke Gayford. Taking to the water with Captain Quinn of the police maritime unit, the officers encounter a taniwha, a sea monster of Māori legend who have emerged in response to overfishing. The taniwha seemingly captures Parker and devours the documentary crew. Maaka, Minogue and O'Leary manage to rescue most of the other anglers but one is devoured. While watching two taniwha mating in the Wellington Harbour, the two encounter Parker, who had been staying the night with his mother. | ||||||
| 8 | 2 | "Fear the Briannas" | Jackie van Beek | Amanda Alison | 23 October 2019 | |
| Minogue and O'Leary investigate a floating chippie packet, leading them to a local girls' high school called St Carrietta’s Girl School where an implosion has happened in the library, destroying the witchcraft section. The principal is uncooperative but the officers learn about unexplained supernatural activities after questioning the students. The officers discover that three teen witches known as the Briannas are behind the supernatural activities. Following a struggle, Minogue manages to subdue them with a taser. The girls are issued with a warning by Sergeant Maaka. However, the school is revealed to be inhabited by students with magical powers. | ||||||
| 9 | 3 | "Mt Vic Hooters" | Tim van Dammen | Melanie Bracewell | 30 October 2019 | |
| While enforcing a ban on unnecessary horn tooting in the Mount Victoria Tunnel, Minogue and O'Leary accidentally unleash a ghost policeman named Constable Miller from the 1930s. Miller goes around enforcing antiquated laws including floggings, jailing people for indecency, and closing bars. Sergeant Maaka tasks Minogue and O’Leary with getting rid of Miller. Following a prolonged chase through the Wellington CBD including the Wellington Cable Car, the officers manage to reach a compromise with Miller by reversing the ban on horn tooting. | ||||||
| 10 | 4 | "Copy Cops" | Tim van Dammen | Cori Gonzalez-Macuer | 6 November 2019 | |
| The discovery of a dead policeman that looks exactly like Minogue leads the cops to the Parkland Motel in the country full of exact copies of themselves. O’Leary and Minogue quickly discover that the “clones” are actually the alien fungi they had encountered in an earlier incident. The alien fungi also managed to capture Sergeant Maaka. The cops discover that slugs are harmful to the alien fungi and force the aliens to retreat back to their flying saucer. | ||||||
| 11 | 5 | "Haunted Nissan" | Jackie van Beek | Paul Yates | 13 November 2019 | |
| While visiting a zombie themed party, Minogue and O’Leary’s patrol car is stolen. Sergeant Maaka considers downsizing the paranormal unit after purchasing a new drone. Minogue and O'Leary respond to the theft of a 1980s Nissan 300ZX. After finding a boy inside, Minogue discovers it's haunted by the original owner, the late boy racer Shane who committed suicide after his girlfriend Sharon wanted to leave the relationship. Following a confrontation with Sharon and the officers, Shane makes peace with his former girlfriend and leaves for the next life. A pleased Maaka decides to keep both Minogue and O’Leary but on reduced working hours. | ||||||
| 12 | 6 | "Mobots" | Jemaine Clement | Jemaine Clement | 20 November 2019 | |
| During a briefing, Sergeant Maaka warns his team of constables not to use pepper spray for food. Later, Maaka briefs O'Leary and Minogue about a recent spate of stolen electronic devices including out of date mobile phones. The two officers visit O'Leary's mother's home to stake out her place, which is near a communications tower. At night, the missing phones gather into the form of a snake before transforming into a robot. The robot is led by O'Leary's 2004 mobile phone and seeks revenge against its former human owners by wanting to turn the newer mobile phones against them. Sergeant Maaka enlists the services of a hacker named Ben, who installs new updates which cause the robot to overload and disintegrate. | ||||||
Christmas special (2019)
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | "Christmas Special" | Dean Hewison | Paul Yates | 19 December 2019 | |
| Minogue and O’Leary respond to several supernatural incidents on Christmas Eve including Satan assuming the role of a mall Santa, meat disappearing into a vortex during a barbecue, a demon possessed doll terrorizing a family, and a photocopying machine serving as a vortex. Following these adventures, Minogue and O’Leary present Sergeant Maaka with a soft toy as a Christmas present, which turns out to be possessed. | ||||||
Series 3
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | TBA | TBA | TBA | 2020[5] |
Broadcast and distribution
The series is broadcast on TVNZ 2. It is also available on TVNZ's streaming service TVNZ OnDemand.[6] In Australia, the series is available on SBS On Demand.[7]
References
- Rae, Fiona (8 July 2018). "The TV spin-off of What We Do in the Shadows is finally (almost) here". Noted. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- Puschmann, Karl (4 July 2018). "Wellington Paranormal delivers New Zealand's newest comedy heroes". NZ Herald. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- "13 new episodes of Wellington Paranormal will air in 2019". Stuff. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
- Croot, James (16 October 2019). "Wellington Paranormal: Why it continues to be a spookily great Kiwi comedy". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- Wellington Paranormal - Citizens Brigade. "Behind the Scenes - Part 4, the Big One!". Facebook. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- "Watch Wellington Paranormal". TVNZ OnDemand. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- "Wellington Paranormal". SBS On Demand. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
External links
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