40 minSeason 1 • Episode 8
LatestAumea's wedding looms, but so does her potential murder.
Tatau follows Kyle and Budgie, two twenty-something friends from London that set off to travel the world. Ahead of the journey, Kyle gets a Maori-style tattoo to celebrate their eventual destination: the Cook Islands. When snorkeling in a lagoon, Kyle finds the dead body of a local girl, Aumea, tied up underwater. Returning to the lagoon with the police, Kyle finds her corpse has disappeared. But Kyle knows what he saw. Desperate to uncover what happened, Kyle and Budgie find themselves sucked deeper and deeper into a world of Maori myths, symbols, and hallucinatory visions... until finally the full meaning of Kyle’s tattoo is revealed.
Cinematography
Cook Islands locations that make paradise look genuinely threatening.
Practical Effects
Maori tattoo artistry integrated into actual plot mechanics, not just aesthetics.
Creator
Richard Zajdlic
Joe Layton
Kyle Connor
Theo Barklem-Biggs
Pete 'Budgie' Griffiths
Cian Elyse White
Lara Morgan
Rangimoana Taylor
Chief Matikutu
Alex Tarrant
Maui Vaipiti
Tai Berdinner-Blades
Tyler
Barry Atsma
Dries
Andre King
Peckham
Shushila Takao
Aumea Vaipiti
Joe Folau
Dan Taringa
Kirk Torrance
Reverend Calcott
Temuera Morrison
Anaru Vaipiti
Aruna Po-Ching
Paeta Vaipiti
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The BBC canceled this after one season despite filming in the actual Cook Islands, making it one of the most expensive one-and-done British genre shows of the 2010s.
Maori consultant Tweedie Waititi ensured the tā moko designs carried authentic spiritual significance—Kyle's tattoo literally translates to 'spirit gateway' in traditional symbolism, which the show treats as involuntary consent.
GB
