NZ On Screen Tuesday Spotlight: Shark In The Park (1990)

New Zealand’s first urban cop show, Shark in the Park traded rural beats for the gritty streets of inner-city Wellington. Devised by Graeme Tetley (Ruby and Rata), it follows Inspector Brian ‘Sharkie’ Finn (Jeffrey Thomas) and his unit, with character-driven storytelling in the mould of The Bill and Hill Street Blues. The debut season was among TVNZ’s final in-house drama productions; the following two series moved to The Gibson Group.