My Life Is Murder (2019-now)

Lucy Lawless stars as the fearless and unapologetic Alexa Crowe, a charismatic investigator with a knack for unraveling the truth behind the most baffling of crimes. First season was set in Melbourne, from season two it moved to Auckland.

3 seasons so far, some are streaming on TVNZ+ and Acorn, also available on dvd and blu-ray.

Crowing about City of Sails

Sarah Nealon reports.

From The TV Guide 10th September, 2022.

Actor Lucy Lawless says her crime series, My Life Is Murder, showcases 'beautiful' Auckland to the world.

Lucy Lawless has two roles in My Life Is Murder, the crime drama series set in Auckland.

She plays its central character Alexa Crowe, a private investigator and enthusiastic sourdough home baker.

But the former Xena: Warrior Princess star also has an off-camera role as an executive producer.

If you have ever seen the words 'executive producer' on a programme's credits and wondered what that means, Lawless explains: "I'm part of the decision making early on. But once we get into filming I don't really participate very much in the nuts and bolts, like the casting and everything. I just don't have time.

"In the beginning it's about talking about who is the right person for the right role, whether it's in front of the camera or behind.

"But they don't need me for deciding where the money goes. That's what a lot of producing is. They're all over that.

"It's about team building. I'll tell you the truth about what it means. It means that you never get to complain about a thing.

"If something goes wrong and you didn't know about it then that's your fault because you're the executive producer. It means that everything is kind of your responsibility in some crazy way whether you know it or not."

This is the third season of My Life Is Murder. The first was filmed in Melbourne before it shifted to Auckland..

In New Zealand, series regulars include local actors Rawiri Jobe (Shortland Street, The Brokenwood Mysteries) and Joe Naufahu (Go Girls, Game Of Thrones), and Australia's Ebony Vagulans.

Once again overseas-based New Zealand actor Martin Henderson (Virgin River, Grey's Anatomy) is back as Will, the brother of Lawless' Alexa.

"I'm so honoured about beautiful Martin Henderson," she says. "You know, that guy is a bona fide star and he comes down to our lovely little show in New Zealand and he brings his A-game.

"The man has no artifice. He is the most open-hearted, genuine man and it just shows on screen."

This season, like the previous one, My Life Is Murder has an impressive guest cast including Temuera Morrison, Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Roy Billing to name but a few.

As well as playing on TVNZ, the show also streams on Acorn TV which gives it an international audience. "It's been delightful to bring New Zealand to the world and Auckland too. My beautiful city looks so damn good," says Lawless. "It's a great advertisement for Auckland which is really neat because every tourist just wants to go straight to Queenstown and I don't like that. We have so much to offer."

Lawless chats about the feedback from overseas viewers including those who watch My Life Is Murder in the United States. "I think, in the old days, Americans could literally not understand us," she says.

"They could barely understand Australians and New Zealanders are a bridge too far, right? And now they're kind of hungry for it.

"They're reaching out to the ends of the Earth which is, let's face it, where we live. And they just love us. We're within their wheelhouse now." Here in New Zealand, My Life Is Murder seems to have struck a chord with audiences too.

"I've never done a show where New Zealand women, and men too, just have such an overwhelmingly positive reaction," says Lawless.

"I've always done shows that are slightly polarising or (I'm) playing roles that are a little bit challenging. This one has some sort of factor that people want.

"She (Alexa) is a little bit transgressive, but still on the side of right, and I think everybody wants to be that secretly - a little transgressive." While crime dramas feature murder cases that are typically wrapped up in a single episode, Lawless points out things are very different in real life.

"Real murder isn't the glamorous fun that we crank it up to be on My Life Is Murder," she says. "Real murder is pathetic and mundane and greedy and ugly and stupid. "So it's our duty to bring you murder that is exciting and glamorous and 100% solvable because I think people need that. There is not a lot of justice out there in the world."