The Bad Seed | |
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Genre | |
Based on | The Night Book Soon by Charlotte Grimshaw |
Written by |
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Directed by |
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Starring |
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Composer | Karl Steven |
Country of origin | New Zealand |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 5 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producer | Robin Scholes |
Production location | Auckland |
Cinematography | Dave Garbett |
Editors |
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Running time | 42 mins. approx |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | TVNZ 1 |
Release | 14 April – 18 April 2019 |
The Bad Seed is a five-part New Zealand television crime drama series, based on the best selling novels The Night Book and Soon by Charlotte Grimshaw, [1] [2] that broadcast across five consecutive nights on TVNZ 1 from 14 April 2019. Starring Matt Minto and Dean O'Gorman in the leading roles, The Bad Seed follows the Lampton family, whose quiet suburban lifestyle is rocked by the murder of one of their neighbours, wealthy businessman's wife Julia Stevens. Also featured amongst the cast are Madeleine Sami, Jodie Hillock, Xavier Horan and Chelsie Preston Crayford. [3]
Casting for the series was announced in April 2018, with filming commencing shortly after. [4] The series' screenplay was co-written by Sarah-Kate Lynch, Joss King and Michael Beran, with Helena Brooks, Caroline Bell-Booth and Mike Smith serving as directors. [5] [6] Outside of New Zealand, the series premiered in the United Kingdom on Alibi on 14 May 2019, with episodes airing weekly at 9:00pm on Tuesdays. [7]
From outside the gates of their lush Remuera home, it would be easy to assume that the Lampton family have it all. There's Simon (Matt Minto), a respected obstetrician; Karen (Jodie Hillock), his beautiful, philanthropic wife; and Elke (Madeleine McCarthy) and Claire (Zoe Jansson Bush), their two bright teenage daughters. The home also holds enough room for Simon's less well-to-do older brother Ford (Dean O'Gorman) to stay with the family until he gets back on his feet. The Lamptons want for nothing, yet all is not as it seems in this upmarket suburb and, when neighbour Julia Stevens (Jackie Geurts) – a patient of Simon's - is found murdered in her own home, it sends shock waves through the community.
Worse still, as Detective Marie Da Silva (Madeleine Sami) gets her investigation underway, every clue seems to lead her back to the Lamptons – and in particular to Simon, who finds he may have been taking his privileged life for granted. What is Simon hiding? How have he and Ford been affected by their traumatic childhoods? And why has the enigmatic Roza Hallwright (Chelsie Preston Crayford), wife of soon-to-be next Prime Minister David Hallwright (Xavier Horan), taken such an interest in their troubled little family? As family secrets unravel and the Lampton's world begins to crumble, Detective DeSilva uncovers a web of lies spun by someone the Lamptons would never suspect.
# | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | NZ Viewers (thousands) | |
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1 | "Episode 1" | Helena Brooks | Sarah Kate-Lynch & Joss King | 14 April 2019 | TBA | |
Simon Lampton looks like he has the ideal life, but everything unravels when neighbour, Julia Stevens, is murdered and Simon's dysfunctional childhood comes back to haunt him. | ||||||
2 | "Episode 2" | Mike Smith | Michael Beran, Sarah Kate-Lynch & Joss King | 15 April 2019 | TBA | |
Simon begins to lose it emotionally as police pressure intensifies and his personal life crumbles. Ford helps and hinders his brother. Meanwhile, Roza drops a bombshell on Simon. | ||||||
3 | "Episode 3" | Caroline Bell-Booth | Sarah Kate-Lynch, Michael Beran & Joss King | 16 April 2019 | TBA | |
Roza finally confesses her secret to David. Karen's had enough of Simon's lying and kicks him out. Ford and Simon are forced to confront their violent father. | ||||||
4 | "Episode 4" | Caroline Bell-Booth | Sarah Kate-Lynch & Joss King | 17 April 2019 | TBA | |
Karen and Roza declare war. Roza has an emotional breakdown and overdoses. Simon is suspected of the murder of an investigative journalist and Ford manipulates Simon's misfortune. | ||||||
5 | "Episode 5" | Mike Smith | Sarah Kate-Lynch & Joss King | 18 April 2019 | TBA | |
Simon has a realisation about the murder but can't convince the cops. Roza has a double celebration on Election Day. |
Nancy Kelly was an American actress in film, theater, and television. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's The March of Time, and appeared in several films in the late 1920s. She became a leading lady upon returning to the screen in the late 1930s, while still in her teens, and made two dozen movies between 1938 and 1946, including portraying Tyrone Power's love interest in the classic Jesse James (1939), which also featured Henry Fonda, and playing opposite Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone, later that same year. After turning to the stage in the late 1940s, she had her greatest success in a character role, the distraught mother in The Bad Seed, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the 1955 stage production and an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for the 1956 film adaptation, her last film role. Kelly then worked regularly in television until 1963, then took over the role of Martha in the original Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for several months. She returned to television for a handful of appearances in the mid-1970s.
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