Blackbeard goes forth, for love

HBO pirate comedy takes on extra Kiwi crew.

- RUSSELL BAILLIE

Last year's first season of Our Flag Means Death unfurled a big surprise. Made for HBO Max in the US and picked up by the BBC, it was a pirate comedy loosely based on 18th-century pirate history. It starred Kiwi comedy chums Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi as pirate captains Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard. The former was the bored aristocrat-turned-swanky swashbuckler who ran his ship with an oddly empathetic management style. The latter - a rare lead acting role for Waititi, who usually just cameos in his films - was the hirsute psycho of the high seas.

The two were set sailing on a collision course. One was sure to wind up on the end of the other's cutlass ... except well, surprise, they fell not on their swords but for each other.

After a shaky start in which a voluble Darby chewed up too much of the scenery, the left-field love story made the show into something of a gay nautical Blackadder.