The Best TV Shows on TVNZ 1

Every TVNZ 1 Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Peruse our comprehensive roster of TVNZ 1’s top shows, encompassing over 20 distinct series as of April 2026. Highlighting TVNZ 1’s quality programming, The Governor and City Life stand out, premiering in 1977 and 1996. A broadcaster of distinction, TVNZ 1 has aired more than 20 shows between 1977 and 2024.

  • 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.

  • Sensing Murder
    Sensing Murder (2006)8.2

    Sensing Murder is a television series from New Zealand and Australia, in which psychics are asked to act as psychic detectives to help provide evidence that might be useful in solving famous unsolved murder cases in each country by communicating with the deceased victims.

  • 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 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.”

  • My Life Is Murder
    My Life Is Murder (2019)7.1

    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 Gone
    The Gone (2023)7.1

    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.

  • 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.

  • One Lane Bridge
    One Lane Bridge (2020)6.8

    During a murder investigation in Queenstown, an ambitious young detective reawakens a spiritual gift that endangers the case, his career and his life.

  • The Luminaries
    The Luminaries (2020)6.7

    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.

  • Jackson's Wharf
    Jackson's Wharf (1999)6.0

    Jackson's Wharf was a New Zealand television series created by Gavin Strawhan and Rachel Lang. Set in a fictional coastal town, the series told the story of a sibling rivalry between brothers Frank, the town cop, and Ben Jackson, a big-town lawyer. After inheriting the local pub from his recently deceased father, Ben returns to the small town with his family, with his arrival bringing its fair sheer of drama and conflict to the small township.

  • After the Party
    After the Party (2023)5.9

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

  • Rude Awakenings
    Rude Awakenings (2007)5.0

    Rude Awakenings centres on two families who live next door to each other in a fashionable street in Ponsonby, a suburb of Auckland. The Rush family has just moved to their newly renovated house from a lifestyle block in Kumeu. They immediately hit a wrong chord with their new neighbours, the Short family.

  • 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!

  • City Life
    City Life (1996)1.0

    City Life was a New Zealand soap opera that screened on TVNZ from 1996-1998. It was portrayed the lives and loves of ten singles who lived in an upmarket apartment building in Auckland, New Zealand. The show was touted as New Zealand's answer to Melrose Place. The show starred Claudia Black, Lisa Chappell, Laurie Foell and Oliver Driver and featured a guest appearance by well known New Zealand actor, Kevin Smith. The show had a long development period, and the original treatment for the show had it set in Wellington with the working title 96 Oriental Parade. However, it was decided to produce the show in Auckland instead, and as such, the shows setting was changed along with the name to City Life. The first episode began with a controversial first scene, featuring a drunken Damon who owned the apartment building, in a homosexual kiss with his former lover Ryan on the night before his wedding. Damon was later killed off in the same episode after being hit by a car on the way to his wedding, and he left his apartment building to all of his friends. However, Damon's fianceè vowed to fight for her share of Damon's estate, leading to a storyline that would span the show's first five episodes.

  • The Governor
    The Governor (1977)N/A

    Historical television series about Sir George Gray

  • Mercy Peak
    Mercy Peak (2001)N/A

    Mercy Peak was a New Zealand television series that ran for three seasons on local network TV One, between 2001 and 2004. The series rated well in New Zealand and won multiple awards for its cast. Though an ensemble show, Mercy Peak centres on a doctor who leaves the city to work at a hospital in the small town of Bassett. She works alongside stuffy but caring doctor William Kingsley. The series was produced by Auckland company South Pacific Pictures; a number of those who worked on the show would have a big hand in South Pacific Pictures hit Outrageous Fortune, including co-creator Rachel Lang, directors Mark Beesley and Simon Bennett, and producer John Laing.

  • Mataku
    Mataku (2002)N/A

    Anthology of contemporary one-off dramas, adapted from the unique and mystical world of Maori supernatural legends. In these tales of the unexpected, set in New Zealand, ordinary characters encounter mysterious phenomena of Maori mythology.

  • 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.