Westside stars reunite for dark new Kiwi show - Spy

David de Lautour, Hannah Marshall, Jordan Mooney and Robbie Magasiva play Christchurch detectives in Dark City: The Cleaner.

Kiwi actors David de Lautour and Jordan Mooney, famous for their stint on the other side of the law in hit NZ show Westside, are changing sides for new series Dark City: The Cleaner.

On Monday, former Westside stars David de Lautour and Jordan Mooney will swap sides of the law when they play detectives on the highly anticipated six-part crime drama Dark City: The Cleaner on Neon, Sky Go and SoHo.

David de Lautour plays detective senior sergeant Robert Calhoun and Mooney is detective sergeant Brian Travers, two of the police unit who are trying to bring down serial killer Joe Middleton, known as the Christchurch Carver, played by Cohen Holloway.

Joe’s job as a cleaner at the police station gives him ample opportunity to keep an eye on the investigation.

“This is unlike anything I have seen on NZ screens — it has its own, unique tone; so fun and so dark. I can’t wait for it to be unleashed on the world,” de Lautour, 41, tells Spy.

Mooney, 33, says the series is as funny as it is dark, and he is excited for Kiwi audiences to get some content that isn’t afraid to lean hard into every direction.

“Just when audiences think they’ve settled in and they get the show, knives will be dug in and twisted, thrilling viewers as the story twists and turns unexpectedly,” says Mooney. “The show gives some of our nation’s best actors a real opportunity to shine.”

Dark City: The Cleaner is screening from March 4.

Co-stars include Chelsie Preston Crayford, who plays the unusual character Melissa Flowers, while Robbie Magasiva and de Lautour’s wife Hannah Marshall round out the detective squad.

With the series filming in Christchurch early last year, Auckland-based de Lautour says it was a bit of a juggle for him and Marshall and their two young children.

“Hannah and I both auditioned never thinking we would both get it,” he reveals. “We brought the kids down for the majority of the shoot.”

The crew made it a breeze. “Production was amazing accommodating us and a big shout out to the grandparents for their help. It certainly takes a village.”

Mooney, who has been filming I, Object by director Andrew Niccol in Wellington absolutely loved filming in Christchurch. “It was so refreshing not shooting in Auckland,” he says. “Christchurch has a kind of phoenix from the ashes vibe, it’s vibrant and ready.”

Mooney describes the general vibe on set as being playful. “We were given a lot of free reign by our wonderful director Rick Jacobson and it was a joy being surrounded by such talented co-stars. It made the job so easeful,” he says. “Standouts were speeding off in a Holden Commodore and of course reuniting with de Lautour.”

In between Westside and Dark City, de Lautour got to direct Mooney on an episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries.

He has been spending more and more time on the other side of the camera, and de Lautour tells Spy he has just come off directing all eight episodes of a new half-hour comedy show called Vince, starring The Hits’ Jono Pryor, which will be out later this year on ThreeNow.

Watch Dark City: The Cleaner on Neon/Sky Go/SoHo on March 4 and on Sky Open on May 8.