The WORST episodes of The Brokenwood Mysteries
Every episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Brokenwood Mysteries!
The Brokenwood Mysteries is a New Zealand detective drama set in the fictional town of Brokenwood, where the unconventional Detective Mike Shepherd and his team solve intriguing murder cases in a seemingly quiet rural community.
#1 - No Return Ticket
Season 12 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/27/2026
A celebratory vintage train ride ends in tragedy when a bride is murdered and thrown out beside the tracks; as Mike and his team investigate, they must dig through old rivalries and family tensions to find the killer hiding on the train.
#2 - To Die Or Not To Die
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/2015
When a young cast member of The Brokenwood Theatre Society collapses and dies at the end of a performance of Hamlet, the initial belief is that it was from natural causes. However, Mike detects there is ‘something rotten in the state of Brokenwood’ when he gets a whiff of a lethal poison. In doing so he uncovers a complex web of ego driven dissention amongst the troupe. Was Ben Faulkner expended to create opportunity for another young rising star? Or can his death be linked to the words of the Bard himself? And how did Jared end up playing the lead role? As Mike and his team investigate the hidden secrets of this curious group of thespians ‘To be or not to be’ takes on a whole new meaning.
#3 - The Ghost in You
Season 11 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/21/2025
Shepherd and his team investigate when a devoted fan of the band Stolen Arrow falls to her death from a bell tower. The detective must dig into the band’s secrets and dark history to find the actual cause of the victim’s demise.
#4 - Midnight in the Garden
Season 12 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/20/2026
A lavish New Year's Eve masquerade comes to a tragic end following the death of its mysterious host the following morning; as gripping secrets emerge, Mike and the team must unmask the killer among the party guests.
#5 - Sudden Death Round
Season 11 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/28/2025
When popular radio host Ryan Osbourne is killed in an explosion at his old high school, the shockwaves rattle the community. The hidden rivalries and secrets that emerge create a long list of suspects for Shepherd.
#6 - Scared to Death
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/28/2018
It’s the annual Brokenwood A&P show. Time for that special kind of Kiwi carnival. Amidst the shearing displays, the ‘Calf Day’ competition and wood chopping, is the usual assortment of fun rides and fairground attractions. The sun is shining on happy family entertainment and ever popular this year is the shonky old Ghost Train. But when the surly A&P boss Harold Wilbury takes the minute-long ride as a safety check he gets the fright of his life. Shunted in his carriage through the final curtain, Harold greets daylight wide- eyed and dead. He is quite literally gone in 60 seconds. When a man dies of fright surely there is no question of murder - it’s just a case of bad luck. Then again how scary was the Ghost Train ride really?
#7 - Blood and Water
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/2014
When two fishermen find the body of a local farmer in the river, Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd is sent to the small rural town of Brokenwood to investigate the death. Is this the suicide of a man guilty of his own wife’s murder or is he the victim of foul play? As Mike uncovers a family’s tragedies and secrets he also learns that Brokenwood is a place where shadows lurk just beneath the surface.
#8 - Brokenwood: The Musical
Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/23/2023
The history of Brokenwood gets new life as a musical. But the setting literally brings with it a shock for the composer.
#9 - Tontine
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/11/2018
Cycling is very de rigour around the globe and no less in Brokenwood. When one such MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra) Lester Nyman reaches the top of a local mountain after a gruelling ride and suffers a massive coronary it doesn’t seem suspicious. But then Gina reveals his toxicology showed astronomical levels of caffeine in his system and Mike starts to look more closely. It transpires Lester was one of ten people inheriting shares in a substantial local farm. The will, left by Lester’s father Karl, is legally known as a Tontine. Curiously four members of this Tontine have recently died from natural causes or unfortunate accidents and as such their shares are absorbed by the remaining members. Lester’s brother Trevor is helpful in their enquiries but not so much his lawyer Madison Mathers. She sees her professional responsibility to execute the will to the best of her ability making sure everyone gets their fair share. And why is Reverend Greene part of the tontine? It was no secret Karl didn’t believe in the church. Was it simply that he wanted to goad the good Reverend into putting capitalist values above his service to the Lord? The further Mike and his team delve it appears this was all a grand and malevolent plan by Karl Nyman to let his friends and family tear themselves apart in a feeding frenzy of greed and avarice.
#10 - Blood Pink
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/18/2015
Holly Collins is not only DSS Mike Shepherd's favourite country musician she's also playing in Brokenwood. Unfortunately it turns out to be her final gig. When she is found electrocuted it appears to be a rock'n'roll suicide. But then again it could have been a drunken accident - or, as Mike suspects, it is perhaps something less obvious. With a careless note scrawled in lipstick the only clue, Mike has to set aside his personal interest in the victim and strike the right note with Holly's dysfunctional band members: Slim Fingers, Waylon Strings and Jesse James. But the more he finds out, the more he needs to know and the less he likes what he learns.
#11 - The End of the Line
Season 11 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/19/2025
A science teacher mysteriously dies ziplining while staffing a leadership camp for teens. But after the victim’s past reveals a web of uneasy alliances and rivalries, Shepherd must cipher through a long list of suspects.
#12 - Catch of the Day
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/11/2015
The bucolic coastal waters off Brokenwood support a thriving fishing industry. But when Jared discovers a severed human hand in a crayfish pot it appears to be harbouring something far more sinister. Who does the hand belong to and are they still alive?
#13 - Brokenwood-o-saurus
Season 10 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/29/2024
After dinosaur fossils are discovered in the foothills of Brokenwood, the town buzzes about the potential boost for tourism. But when a paleontologist turns up dead, the future doesn't look so rosy.
#14 - The Killing Machine
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/13/2016
The annual Riverstone Beach Hop is a colorful festival that brings classic car enthusiasts together from far and wide to celebrate everything petrol powered and chrome plated. But on the morning of the event Charlie Baxter, the Chairman of the Classic Car Restoration Society, is found dead next to his beloved El Dorado with a lungful of gasoline. Was this a petrol siphoning accident or something more deliberate? And does it have anything to do with the unidentified dead body found in Charlie’s garage the day before?
#15 - Three Gold Leaves of Jesus
Season 10 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/3/2024
While a visiting troupe puts on a nativity play at St Judas, a precious holy relic goes missing, and the body of the actor playing Jesus is found dead.
#16 - The Black Widower
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/30/2016
The Frog and Cheetah’s publican, Ray Neilson, has branched into tourism with his ‘Lord of the Ringz Tours’ tailored to non-English speaking tourists. But when Ray’s wife Debbie is discovered dead under a giant foam spider in a supposed film location of Mirklewood things get ‘mirky’. Especially when Debbie’s cause of death is revealed to be from New Zealand’s only native venomous spider – the Katipo. But if it was, how did one spider administer ten times the lethal dose?
#17 - Leather & Lace
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/2015
The Brokenwood Cheetahs are a local rugby team of legendary status. Their losing streak of 50 straight games has broken national records. So when their hapless coach, Arnie Langstone, is found dead - stripped naked and strapped to a goalpost - some think it might be blessing in disguise – perhaps now they might start winning again. But amidst this DSS Mike Shepherd is perplexed by several other issues. Firstly, why was a pair of women’s underwear stuffed down Arnie’s throat? And what do the neatly embroidered initials ‘G.G.’ signify? But then a second body is discovered and Mike and his team are stretched to the limit. Is this the work of a serial killer or merely a puzzling co-incidence?
#19 - The Garotte and the Vinklebraun
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/13/2021
Mike and his team are thrust into a world of antiquities when a TV crew from the hit series All Things Old and Beautiful comes to town, and one of the hosts is murdered.
#20 - Playing the Lie
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/2014
A group of erstwhile members of the Brokenwood Golf Club, committee members no less, have gathered for their regular Wednesday morning round. They are playing their approaches to the first green when a zombie-like figure lurches from the early-morning gloom, coming towards them. It takes the golfers a moment or two (apparently) to realise this is actually Adele Stone, the Club owner - her face red and blistering; gasping desperately for breath. Then she falls from sight, into a greenside bunker. By the time the guys get to her, Ms Stone is very much dead. And so Mike and Kristin are called to investigate what appears to be homicide by poisoning.
#21 - Sour Grapes
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/2014
With Brokenwood touted for its burgeoning merlot, the annual wine show is a major event. Having bought a 10-acre block with maturing grapes, no one is looking forward to it more than DI Mike Shepherd. But when a guest judge and wine critic is found dead, drowned inside a fermenting vat, the show takes second place to the murder investigation.
#22 - Fall From Grace
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/29/2017
When Kristin, Breen, and Gina celebrate Mike’s birthday with a picnic in Brokenwood Domain, they are witness to a fatal skydiving accident. To make matters worse, Kristin knows the victim – entrepreneur Andre Barrington, an ex-boyfriend who moved onto another woman – Grace Turner, an adrenalin junkie and fellow skydiver. As the investigation unfolds, an unsettling truth is revealed. Andre’s parachute was never going to open as the cords were severed. Was it an elaborate suicide or was Grace having second thoughts about Andre? Then again – Andre’s older brother Felix was tired of living in his shadow, and his mother Lorraine’s maternal love verged on the side of sinister. Both of them were jumping with Andre too. And what about Andre’s business partner Dean Young, who was less than impressed by Andre’s work ethic? Mike and his team are forced to confront the old adage: ‘what goes up must come down’ – but not always in the way you want.
#23 - Shot of Love
Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/20/2023
While Mike's off getting his divorce papers signed, Kristin and Chalmers are left to uncover the cause of death of a man found in a motel room, with few signs of trauma to the body or disturbance to the room.
#24 - They're Out There Alright
Season 12 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/6/2026
When a chef is found dead in a crop circle, alien abduction theories spark as a UFO convention arrives in Brokenwood; but after another death occurs, Mike and Kristin investigate whether the truth is extraterrestrial or all too human.
#25 - The Witches of Brokenwood
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/20/2021
The Brokenwood Health Retreat proves rather unhealthy for one unfortunate visitor, leaving the team of detectives with a very tricky case to solve.