The Best TV Shows on TVNZ 1

Every TVNZ 1 Show Ranked From Best To Worst

TVNZ 1 has delivered an expansive roster of over 20 shows, dating from 1999 all the way to 2026. Motorway Patrol and Border Patrol represent the pinnacle of TVNZ 1’s programming, launching in 1999 and 2002. Discover the best of TVNZ 1 with our list of over 20 series, meticulously updated for August 2026.

  • Auckward Love
    Auckward Love (2015)10.0

    Auckward Love is show about women doing women stuff. Follow Alice, Vicky, Zoe and Grace as they experience love, lust , and everything else.

  • Motorway Patrol
    Motorway Patrol (1999)8.0

    Observational documentary following the daily lives of police officers patrolling the motorways in and around Auckland, New Zealand's largest urban area.

  • The Brokenwood Mysteries
    The Brokenwood Mysteries (2014)7.6

    In a seemingly quiet country town the newest resident, Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd, finds that murder lurks in even the most homely location.

  • The Gone
    The Gone (2023)7.3

    It follows Theo Richter, an Irish detective who teams with Kiwi cop Diana Huia to find a young Irish couple vanish from an infamous rural North Island New Zealand town. Amidst the search and a race against time, the pair have to contend with a community’s growing disquiet that the disappearances may be linked to a series of historical murders.

  • My Life Is Murder
    My Life Is Murder (2019)7.2

    Investigator Alexa Crowe, cannot help fighting the good fight – whether it is solving murders or combatting the small frustrations of everyday life. Fearless and unapologetic, Alexa's unique skills and insights into the darker quirks of human nature, allows her to provoke, comfort and push the right buttons as she unravels the truth behind the most baffling of crimes.

  • The New Legends of Monkey
    The New Legends of Monkey (2018)7.1

    Follow a teenage girl and a trio of fallen gods on a perilous journey as they attempt to bring an end to a demonic reign of chaos and restore balance to their world. Inspired by the 16th Century Chinese fable “Journey to the West.”

  • Border Patrol
    Border Patrol (2002)7.0

    Border Patrol is a New Zealand reality television series, focusing on the Customs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the New Zealand Immigration Service. It is narrated by Tim Balme. They are checking through packages, travelers and goods to find if they try to smugle prohibited or undeclared goods. They have trained staff, dogs and technology to find this out.

  • The Luminaries
    The Luminaries (2020)6.6

    The 19th-century tale of love, murder and revenge as men and women travel across the world to make their fortunes on the wild West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

  • A Remarkable Place to Die
    A Remarkable Place to Die (2024)6.3

    Anaís Mallory is a smart and savvy homicide investigator who after returning to her hometown, and taking the lead detective position, faces a series of startlingly complex murders with links to her family's tragic history.

  • After the Party
    After the Party (2023)6.1

    Penny’s world implodes when she accuses her husband Phil of a sex crime against her daughter’s teenage friend and nobody believes her.

  • Nothing Trivial
    Nothing Trivial (2011)5.0

    Nothing Trivial is funny, warm and romantic and about people at a crossroads in their lives, particularly when it comes to finding that significant other to love and grow old with. It’s about people trying to find the answers to life’s big questions, while answering a whole lot of small and trivial ones… and winning the bar tab while they’re at it!

  • Blue Murder Motel
    Blue Murder Motel (2026)4.8

    When an Aussie cop couple trade their badges for a quiet life managing a beachside motel in New Zealand, they plan to leave police work behind them - that is until crime comes to them.

  • Filthy Rich
    Filthy Rich (2016)3.9

    Three illegitimate children discover they each have a claim to the fortune of one of NZ's wealthiest men, John Truebridge. With so much money on the line, John's legitimate family will do anything to stop these new, unexpected heirs!

  • The Bad Seed
    The Bad Seed (2019)3.8

    Two brothers from the same dysfunctional family, having escaped the desperate days of their early childhood, find their newly ordered lives falling apart when one becomes a suspect in a murder.

  • NZ Smashes Guinness World Records
    NZ Smashes Guinness World Records (2009)N/A

  • Dog Squad
    Dog Squad (2010)N/A

    Man's best friend keeps would-be trouble makers on a short leash.

  • Highway Cops
    Highway Cops (2012)N/A

    The guardians of NZ's highways, they patrol our country's busiest roads. From honeymooners to hooligans, either way the Highway Cops will set them straight!

  • The Panthers
    The Panthers (2021)N/A

    Auckland, 1974 - in the face of increased racial-targeting, a group of Polynesian students and street gangsters form a revolutionary movement for justice and equality.

  • Celebrity Tipping Point NZ
    Celebrity Tipping Point NZ (2026)N/A

    Daniel Faitaua takes the tried-and-true Tipping Point formula and infuses it with a distinctly Kiwi flavour, alongside some some of Aotearoa's favourite famous faces

  • Rookie Vets
    Rookie Vets (N/A)N/A

    Rookie Vets is a New Zealand reality series that follows seven students at New Zealand's only veterinary school at Massey University in Palmerston North, at work and at play throughout their fifth and final year, when they're just a few short months away from graduating and their first vet jobs.