GRIEF encounter

New Zealander GRACE PALMER on teaming up with her sister to create and star in a sitcom set in a funeral home

- REBECCA FLETCHER

GOOD GRIEF

FROM MONDAY 11 MARCH, ACORN TV COMEDY 

Can sensitive subjects ever be funny? This was the dilemma facing New Zealand born actor siblings Grace and Eve Palmer when they started writing Good Grief, a deliciously dark comedy about two very different sisters who inherit a funeral home.

‘There’s a taboo around death and funerals that I’ve always found quite bizarre,’ shares Grace, 29, whose previous credits include Home and Away and Kiwi soap Shortland Street, as she joins TV Times for an exclusive interview.

‘All the formalities and traditions surrounding funerals – people coming together to grieve but not knowing what to say and then being expected to go back to work on Monday – are very strange. We wanted to explore one of the darkest, most sensitive topics in a way that was comedic and light. But we did worry if people would get it!’

Happily, the blend of awkward humour nestled among poignant moments led to Good Grief proving a word-of-mouth hit when it debuted in New Zealand in 2021, and, this week, the first two six-part seasons arrive on Acorn TV.

The story follows Gwen and Ellie Goode (played by Grace and her older sister Eve), who find themselves thrust into the world of embalming, emceeing and embarrassing gaffes after inheriting funeral home Loving Tributes from their grandfather.

Here, Grace tells us more…

Was it always the plan to create a dark comedy?