Joe Layton’s Kyle celebrates a round-the-world trip with a Māori-style tattoo before he and mate Budgie (Theo Barklem-Biggs) reach the Cook Islands. When Kyle discovers the bound corpse of local girl Aumea in a lagoon, the body vanishes before police arrive, locking the travellers into a hallucinatory hunt through island secrets, spirits and the ink now etched on Kyle’s skin.
BBC Three’s eight-parter was filmed on location in Rarotonga and Auckland, pairing UK indie Touchpaper with South Pacific Pictures. Cinematographer Dale McCready supplies postcard blues while Karl Steven’s score threads electronic pulses through ukulele lullabies, yet the 38-minute episodes struggle to sell London lads as cosmic pivots in Polynesian cosmology.
Critics savaged the result: the Telegraph labelled it “grating… far-fetched”, Variety warned of “white-saviour undertones”, and the Philadelphia Inquirer simply called it “must-miss”. Released from 12 April 2015, the series was quietly cancelled after one season, leaving Kyle’s tattoo and its prophecy unfinished.
Production Details
BBC Three / 1 Season / 8 Episodes / 2015 - Present
Created by: Richard Zajdlic
Writer(s): Richard Zajdlic
Main Cast
Joe Layton as Kyle Connor
Theo Barklem-Biggs as Pete 'Budgie' Griffiths
Cian Elyse White as Lara Morgan
Rangimoana Taylor as Chief Matikutu
Alex Tarrant as Maui Vaipiti
Tai Berdinner-Blades as Tyler
Barry Atsma as Dries
Andre King as Peckham
Shushila Takao as Aumea Vaipiti
Joe Folau as Dan Taringa
Kirk Torrance as Reverend Calcott
Temuera Morrison as Anaru Vaipiti
