The Worst Episodes of The Brokenwood Mysteries
Every episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Brokenwood Mysteries!
In a seemingly quiet country town the newest resident, Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd, finds that murder lurks in even the most homely location.
Lowest Rated Episodes Summary
The worst episode of "The Brokenwood Mysteries" is "Brokenwood: The Musical", rated 7.1/10 from 248 user votes. It was directed by Katie Wolfe and written by N/A. "Brokenwood: The Musical" aired on 4/10/2023 and is rated 0.2 point(s) lower than the second lowest rated, "Blood and Water".
7.1/10 248 votes#1 - Brokenwood: The Musical
Season 9 Episode 1 - Aired 4/10/2023
The history of Brokenwood gets new life as a musical. But the setting literally brings with it a shock for the composer.
Director: Katie Wolfe
Writer: N/A
7.3/10 598 votes#2 - Blood and Water
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/2014
When two fishermen find the body of a local farmer in the river, Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd is sent to the small rural town of Brokenwood to investigate the death. Is this the suicide of a man guilty of his own wife’s murder or is he the victim of foul play? As Mike uncovers a family’s tragedies and secrets, he also learns that Brokenwood is a place where shadows lurk just beneath the surface.
Director: Mike Smith
Writer: Timothy Balme, Philip Dalkin
7.3/10 260 votes#3 - Death 'n' Bass
Season 8 Episode 2 - Aired 7/4/2022
The Brokenwood crime fighters are called in to investigate a murder at a music festival, where it would appear the victim was quite literally killed by sound.
Director: Mike Smith
Writer: James Griffin
7.4/10 226 votes#4 - Shot of Love
Season 9 Episode 5 - Aired 5/8/2023
A death at a motel at first looks like an accident, but something is not right in the stories the guests tell.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/10 191 votes#5 - Motorcycle Mamas
Season 9 Episode 6 - Aired 5/15/2023
A motorcycle gang comes to Brokenwood to celebrate the wedding of one of its members, Debbie. But a tragic death saw a couple stop the party.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/10 333 votes#6 - The Killing Machine
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 11/13/2016
The annual Riverstone Beach Hop is a colorful festival that brings classic car enthusiasts together from far and wide to celebrate everything petrol powered and chrome plated. But on the morning of the event Charlie Baxter, the Chairman of the Classic Car Restoration Society, is found dead next to his beloved El Dorado with a lungful of gasoline. Was this a petrol siphoning accident or something more deliberate? And does it have anything to do with the unidentified dead body found in Charlie’s garage the day before?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/10 333 votes#7 - Scared To Death
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 10/28/2018
It's the annual Brokenwood A&P show, time for that special kind of Kiwi carnival! Amidst the shearing displays, the ‘Calf Day' competition and wood chopping, is the usual assortment of fun rides and fairground attractions. The sun is shining on happy family entertainment and ever popular this year is the shonky old Ghost Train.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/10 307 votes#8 - The Witches of Brokenwood
Season 7 Episode 2 - Aired 4/5/2021
The Brokenwood Health Retreat proves rather unhealthy for one unfortunate visitor, leaving the team of detectives with a very tricky case to solve.
Director: Aidee Walker
Writer: Sarah-Kate Lynch
7.6/10 495 votes#9 - Sour Grapes
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/2014
With Brokenwood touted for its burgeoning merlot, the annual wine show is a major event. Having bought a 10-acre block with maturing grapes, no one is looking forward to it more than DI Mike Shepherd. But when a guest judge and wine critic is found dead, drowned inside a fermenting vat, the show takes second place to the murder investigation.
Director: Joshua Frizzell
Writer: Timothy Balme
7.6/10 442 votes#10 - Playing the Lie
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/2014
A group of erstwhile members of the Brokenwood Golf Club, committee members no less, have gathered for their regular Wednesday morning round. They are playing their approaches to the first green when a zombie-like figure lurches from the early-morning gloom, coming towards them. It takes the golfers a moment or two (apparently) to realise this is actually Adele Stone, the Club owner - her face red and blistering; gasping desperately for breath. Then she falls from sight, into a greenside bunker. By the time the guys get to her, Ms Stone is very much dead. And so Mike and Kristin are called to investigate what appears to be homicide by poisoning.
Director: Michael Hurst
Writer: James Griffin
7.6/10 398 votes#11 - Leather & Lace
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/2015
The Brokenwood Cheetahs are a local rugby team of legendary status. Their losing streak of 50 straight games has broken national records. So when their hapless coach, Arnie Langstone, is found dead - stripped naked and strapped to a goalpost - some think it might be blessing in disguise – perhaps now they might start winning again. But amidst this DSS Mike Shepherd is perplexed by several other issues. Firstly, why was a pair of women’s underwear stuffed down Arnie’s throat? And what do the neatly embroidered initials ‘G.G.’ signify? But then a second body is discovered and Mike and his team are stretched to the limit. Is this the work of a serial killer or merely a puzzling co-incidence?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10 390 votes#12 - Case Six: To Die or Not To Die
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/2015
When a young cast member of The Brokenwood Theatre Society collapses and dies at the end of a performance of Hamlet, the initial belief is that it was from natural causes. However, Mike detects there is ‘something rotten in the state of Brokenwood’ when he gets a whiff of a lethal poison. In doing so he uncovers a complex web of ego driven dissention amongst the troupe. Was Ben Faulkner expended to create opportunity for another young rising star? Or can his death be linked to the words of the Bard himself? And how did Jared end up playing the lead role? As Mike and his team investigate the hidden secrets of this curious group of thespians ‘To be or not to be’ takes on a whole new meaning.
Director: Murray Keane
Writer: N/A
7.6/10 383 votes#13 - The Black Widower
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 10/30/2016
The Frog and Cheetah’s publican, Ray Neilson, has branched into tourism with his ‘Lord of the Ringz Tours’ tailored to non-English speaking tourists. But when Ray’s wife Debbie is discovered dead under a giant foam spider in a supposed film location of Mirklewood things get ‘mirky’. Especially when Debbie’s cause of death is revealed to be from New Zealand’s only native venomous spider – the Katipo. But if it was, how did one spider administer ten times the lethal dose?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10 359 votes#14 - Fall From Grace
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 10/29/2017
When Kristin, Breen, and Gina celebrate Mike’s birthday with a picnic in Brokenwood Domain, they are witness to a fatal skydiving accident. To make matters worse, Kristin knows the victim – entrepreneur Andre Barrington, an ex-boyfriend who moved onto another woman – Grace Turner, an adrenalin junkie and fellow skydiver. As the investigation unfolds, an unsettling truth is revealed. Andre’s parachute was never going to open as the cords were severed. Was it an elaborate suicide or was Grace having second thoughts about Andre? Then again – Andre’s older brother Felix was tired of living in his shadow, and his mother Lorraine’s maternal love verged on the side of sinister. Both of them were jumping with Andre too. And what about Andre’s business partner Dean Young, who was less than impressed by Andre’s work ethic? Mike and his team are forced to confront the old adage: ‘what goes up must come down’ – but not always in the way you want.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10 318 votes#15 - The Power of Steam
Season 6 Episode 1 - Aired 11/10/2019
Mike and his team are taken into a world of Victorian dress-up and escapism when they investigate a murder at the Brokenwood Steampunk event.
Director: Oliver Driver
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 414 votes#16 - Hunting the Stag
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/2014
Four close friends go hunting in the bush on a stag trip. But the groom-to-be never comes back – he was shot through the head. Initially this would seem to be just another tragic hunting accident amidst picturesque New Zealand bush. The only problem is none of the remaining three friends own up to pulling the trigger that fired the lethal bullet - yet all three had discharged their rifles – with no deer to prove it. The question is – who shot Hayden Renner? Was he mistaken for a real stag or was there something more sinister at play?
Director: Mike Smith
Writer: Timothy Balme, Philip Dalkin
7.7/10 379 votes#17 - Catch of the Day
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/11/2015
The bucolic coastal waters off Brokenwood support a thriving fishing industry. But when Jared discovers a severed human hand in a crayfish pot it appears to be harbouring something far more sinister. Who does the hand belong to and are they still alive?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 383 votes#18 - Blood Pink
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/18/2015
Holly Collins is not only DSS Mike Shepherd's favourite country musician she's also playing in Brokenwood. Unfortunately it turns out to be her final gig. When she is found electrocuted it appears to be a rock'n'roll suicide. But then again it could have been a drunken accident - or, as Mike suspects, it is perhaps something less obvious. With a careless note scrawled in lipstick the only clue, Mike has to set aside his personal interest in the victim and strike the right note with Holly's dysfunctional band members: Slim Fingers, Waylon Strings and Jesse James. But the more he finds out, the more he needs to know and the less he likes what he learns.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 316 votes#19 - The Scarecrow
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 11/12/2017
Philip Henderson stands next to an impressive scarecrow amidst a field of damaged vegetation. His whole crop has failed. The scarecrow may have kept the birds away but this catastrophe is something bigger. Angered and distraught, he confronts his neighbour, the cantankerous Doug Randall, and accuses him of spray drift. Doug is having none of it and an ugly altercation ensues. The following day Philip is discovered dead in his field – the victim of an obscure poison. Suspicion falls on Doug and his new wife, the strident and doggedly loyal Trudy Neilson, whom it was well known had ongoing tensions with Philip over an unpaid bar tab at her pub, The Toad and Lion. But as Mike and the team dig further into the mystery, more suspects come into play. Philip’s other neighbour is the cagey Tamati Taylor, who is less than forthcoming, but as it transpires Philip had a twin brother. Why does he seem remarkably unmoved by the death of his sibling?
Director: Joshua Frizzell
Writer: Timothy Balme, Greg McGee
7.7/10 305 votes#20 - Bride Not To Be
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 11/4/2018
The Cream Boat is a charming vessel that chugs its way up the scenic Brokenwood waterways. It carries sightseers and Christmas parties and often Hen Parties. Professional tennis player, Ophelia Marley, is one such lucky Hen. Her Bridesmaids have organised a big day migrating from the township via the Cream Boat to the Tidal View Lodge where they stay overnight.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 307 votes#21 - Dead and Buried
Season 6 Episode 4 - Aired 12/1/2019
Some familiar faces return when the team investigates a suspicious suicide at the Brokenwood Women’s Prison.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 311 votes#22 - The Garotte and the Vinklebraun
Season 7 Episode 1 - Aired 3/29/2021
Mike and his team are thrust into a world of antiquities when a TV crew from the hit series All Things Old and Beautiful comes to town, and one of the hosts is murdered.
Director: Katie Wolfe
Writer: Timothy Balme
7.7/10 227 votes#23 - Four Fires and a Funeral
Season 8 Episode 6 - Aired 8/1/2022
The charred remains of a body are discovered in a burned out rural shed. Mike and Kristin are tasked with identifying the body; it seems that this is the third in a run of "accidental" deaths, all attended by the Brokenwood Fire Brigade.
Director: Mike Smith
Writer: Timothy Balme, Nic Sampson
7.7/10 217 votes#24 - Old Blood Money
Season 9 Episode 2 - Aired 4/17/2023
Mike and the team discover more than one dead body, and a significant amount of family rivalry, in the manor house where a pair of aging siblings live.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 124 votes#25 - Three Gold Leaves of Jesus
Season 10 Episode 6 - Aired 6/3/2024
While a visiting theatrical troupe puts on a nativity play at St. Judas, a precious holy relic goes missing, and the actor playing Jesus is killed.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A