Cook Islands-set TV mystery series gets greenlight

It has been reported that BBC America has greenlit a new mystery television drama series to be set in the Cook Islands. The eight episode series, Tatau, is created and written by British playwright and screenwriter Richard Zajdlic, and will be produced by New Zealand's South Pacific Pictures - a company probably most famous internationally for producing internationally acclaimed film Whale Rider.

Filming for the television series for BBC Three, in association with BBC America, is scheduled to start next month. The drama follows two 20-something British friends, Kyle and Pete, who set off to travel the globe, with Kyle getting a Maori-style tattoo to celebrate their destination: the Cook Islands (a tropical paradise in the South Pacific with strong links to New Zealand). However, the locals react to Kyle's tattoo, which clearly has some meaning he isn't aware of. Later he finds a girl's body while snorkelling, but it has disappeared by the time he returns with the local police. Is he crazy, or did he have a vision of the future? The friends set out to prevent a murder, while questions of love and identity entwine in the tale.

The premise of Tatau certainly sounds intriguing, though like any creative endeavour, it's as much about the execution as the idea when it comes to whether it will make a good television drama or not.