Following the rainbow

Queerness is a major feature of a series being made especially for Kiwi kids. 

- ALANA RAE

LITTLE APOCALYPSE TVNZ 2, Monday-Thursday, TVNZ+

Director-writer twins Sally and Elsie Bollinger didn't originally pitch their paranormal comedy Little Apocalypse as New Zealand's first scripted series by, for and about rainbow young people. But they're stoked it wound up that way.

They and producer-writer Thomas Coppell proposed it as a 12-year-old with a teen sibling glued to their phone and practising makeshift witchcraft. That's not as niche as it sounds in today's TikTok world. But once the trio realised the unashamed queerness that arose during development, they "doubled down on the gay".

Lashings of gunge à la What Now? and sassy sibling comebacks kick off the eight-part series. It opens with Leith (Linus Lloyd) livid about being left on "seen" by their crush and casting a spell to manifest a response. Instead, it opens a portal in their wardrobe for a mischievous poltergeist named Sunny (Jenny Mingxi Easton), who crashes Leith and younger sister Cole's (Roshaniah Leo'o) summer holiday at Nanny's (Geraldine Brophy).