The Gone is new six-part thriller set in New Zealand written by Anne McPartlin and Michael Bennett. The series sees two twenty-somethings from Ireland go missing, with a potential Irish crime family involved in their disappearance, leading to a joint New Zealand and Irish crime investigation. The Gone is co-produced by Blinder Films and Kingfisher Films, in association with Southern Light Films (New Zealand) for RTÉ and TV New Zealand, with international distribution handled by Red Arrow Studios.
SYNOPSES
SHORT SERIES SYNOPSIS
When a young Irish couple vanishes from a small town in the North Island of New Zealand, Irish Detective Theo Richter teams with Kiwi Detective Diana Huia to find them. Amidst the search and a race against time, the pair has to contend with a community’s growing disquiet that the disappearances may be linked to the historical Mountain Murders, whilst also battling their own personal demons.
LONG SERIES SYNOPSIS
In a small town in rural Aotearoa New Zealand, Mt Affinity, with a dark history of unexplained murders, nestled below an epic coastal mountain, two young Irish tourists, Sinead Martin and Ronan Garvey, vanish without trace.
Sinead’s parents, Hannah (a Special Criminal Court Judge in Dublin) and Joseph Martin, raise the alarm when they find their daughter’s rented house abandoned like the Mary Celeste. Their thoughts instantly turn to the Fallons– a notorious Irish family turned international drug cartel – with whom Judge Martin has had many dealings with in court back home. They have made numerous threats on her and her family’s lives.
In Dublin, Irish Special Branch Detective Theo Richter (Richard Flood), who has just announced a very
premature and unexplained retirement from the force at just 40 to baffled colleagues and superiors, is called on for one last job – to travel to New Zealand and work as a Garda liaison for the Martin family on the ground.
Richter lands in a small rural town, a place rich in beauty but mired in its colonial past. He teams up with fiery but inexperienced young Māori Detective Sergeant Diana Huia (26, Acushla-Tara Kupe) who’s on her first big case. In a race against time, and with anxious parents, politicians and locals watching on, the pair try to find the missing couple. As the clock ticks, Richter and Diana restlessly battle their own personal demons whilst they desperately try to solve the case.
Episode 1
A young Irish couple go missing in a small town in Aotearoa New Zealand. Irish Detective Theo Richter travels to New Zealand to liaise and explore a possible Irish Gang connection. He teams up with Diana Huia, a young Māori Detective Sergeant. Diana reluctantly returns to her hometown andrefuses to reconnect with her family who she has firmly left in the past. Together the detectives try to figure out who Sinead and Ronan were and what happened to them. The car Sinead borrowed is found at the base of the mountain and the search begins.
Key cast:
RICHARD FLOOD | Theo Richter
ACUSHLA-TARA KUPE | Diana Huia
MICHELLE FAIRLEY | Judge Hannah Martin
LIAM CARNEY | Joseph Martin
CAROLYN BRACKEN | Aileen Ryan
WAYNE HAPI | Buster Huia
VANESSA RARE | Wiki Huia
SCOTT WILLS | DC Bruce Harris
MANU BENNETT | Tamati Davidson
Key production:
KARL ZOHRAB, Kingfisher Films | Executive Producer
YVONNE DONOHOE, Keeper Pictures | Executive Producer
KATIE HOLLY, Keeper Pictures | Executive Producer
TIMOTHY WHITE, Southern Light Films | Producer
REIKURA KAHI | Producer
ANNA McPARTLIN | Writer & Executive Producer
MICHAEL BENNETT | Writer & Executive Producer
PETER METEHERANGI TIKAU BURGER | Director, Episodes 1-3
HANNAH QUINN | Director, Episodes 4-6
