Lauren Lyle delivers a magnificent performance in 'The Ridge', a six-part mystery thriller set in New Zealand. She plays Mia, an anaesthetist who travels to Te Koi Ridge for her younger sister Cassy's wedding, only to discover Cassy dead at the bottom of a cliff. The show opens with Mia's traumatic childhood nightmares and her struggle with opioid addiction, which she manages with patches and hospital-supplied drugs.
The plot layers multiple complications: tensions between local farmers and eco-activists led by Cassy, a tangled web of family and town relationships, and a past death that may connect to the present. Mia's investigation uncovers secrets, including a video of Cassy skinny-dipping with someone else, and a possible cover-up involving the powerful Carmichael family. The local sergeant is Ewan's half-sister, and her husband is the undertaker.
The series blends dark humour with real emotion. In one scene, Cassy's badly applied makeup is compared to 'the portrait from Elton John's attic'. The New Zealand landscape adds menace, and the small-town resentments feel potent. Lyle's portrayal of Mia—difficult, manipulative, yet fearless—is the highlight. 'The Ridge' is a masterfully woven thriller that demands attention.
