tim-sharp

New Zealand has an astounding amount of TV and Film talent for such a small population and This is Not My Life is a well acted and beautifully produced piece of TV. I think that the care that went into this goes beyond scriptwriting and acting (both of which are top notch).The sets and setting are detailed and consistent down to the graphical user interfaces on PDAs and office computers - an alternative but very plausible view of where 2010 technology is heading. The look and feel of the world we are being invited into here has details that describe a dystopian New Zealand down to the overly plastic 'Kia Ora' greeting. Although this is a very Kiwi futuristic drama I hope that this TVNZ production gets taken up by the international networks, it deserves as wide a showing as possible.

The plot owes something to the 1960s series 'The Prisoner' and also to 'Lost' given that the early episodes resolve nothing about how Waimoana came to exist. More than that there is a Kubrick feel to this production based on a tenacious attention to detail by the whole team.

Wilfred is a bit of a one-off as far as comedy goes. The basic scenario of a dope smoking sexually disinhibited dog as a character in a romantic sit-com could go badly wrong.

When I first started watching it I thought it was a crap idea - then it creeps up on you how brilliantly put together the show is - first class scripts and wonderful comic timing.

If you find the idea of a bloke acting the part of a psychopathic pet attractive this is one not to be missed. The humour is Australian which would translate easily for a UK or NZ audience.

Wilfred: "For me this last six years has been one loveless root after the next..great danes...not so great danes...even a few deadies truth be known"