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Ōrewa swapped surfboards for crime scenes this summer, featuring as the backdrop for a new television murder mystery.
If you passed Ōrewa Beach Holiday Park late last year, you may have noticed film crews and cameras set up around the area.
The activity was for Blue Murder Motel, a new mini-series drama produced by Great Southern TV, which premiered on Sunday, January 18 on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+.
Locations throughout Ōrewa feature prominently in the series, with scenes filmed at several recognisable sites, including Ōrewa Beach and the Edgewater Motel, temporarily rebranded as the fictional Blue Motel during production.
The series stars New Zealand actor Michala Banas and Australian actor Brett Tucker, who previously worked together on the long-running early-2000s Australian drama McLeod’s Daughters.
In Blue Murder Motel, the pair play married police detectives Vanessa and Peter Coleman, who retire early from the Australian police force and invest in a 13-room motel in a quiet New Zealand coastal town. Their plans for a fresh start are quickly derailed when a body is discovered in one of the motel rooms just a week after they arrive.
