The Covid19 Diaries: Five Queer Friendly Web Series to Binge On

Given the current Covid19 sitch we all find ourselves in, why not take the time to binge watch some quality rainbow-friendly web series to while away the hours? Once again, carefully curated for your viewing pleasure: we have here a mix of Kiwi and international series, ranging from comedy, to drama, to musical, to everywhere in between.

1. Anne+

A Dutch web series that centres around Anne, a young lesbian navigating love, sex and relationships in Amsterdam. Comedic and cute yet powerful in its portrayal of queer dating, young adulthood, friendship and romance. The series touches on themes like dating apps, casual sex, to age gap relationships, to high school sweethearts. Assuming that, like me, you don’t speak a word of Dutch, don’t be put off by the subtitles, you totally get used to them. Just click the (CC) button in the bottom right hand corner to enable English closed captions.

Directed by: Valerie Bisscheroux
Produced by: Laura Bouwmeester
Starring: Hanna van Vliet (Anne), Eline van Gils (Lily), Sharai Rodrigues (Janna), Djamila Landbrug (Sofie), Kirsten Mulder (Esther), Jouman Fattal (Sara)

2. Happy Playland (The Candle Wasters)

It’s a Wellingtonian romantic-comedy-musical web series, is there actually anything better? No, seriously. Maybe I’m just a tad biased… My fave songs are Stop & Think and Catch a Break, written by Dylan Kelly, produced by Elsie Bollinger, Maxwell Apse, and Chris Winter, and performed by Neena Dekkers-Reihana and Dani Yourukova. You can listen to the soundtrack here; they are honestly all such bops.

Written by: Claris Jacobs, Minnie Grace, and Robbie Nicol
Directed by: Sally Bollinger
Produced by: Thomas Coppell and Minnie Grace
Starring: Neenah Dekkers-Reihana (Billie), Dani Yourukova (Zara), and Jen Smith (Cris).

3. Burbs

Also a Wellington based web series, each episode is centred around a suburb in the capital city. From Tinder dating a mermaid in Owhiro Bay, to a heart to heart between two drag queens at a Strathmore bus stop, to an Election Day potluck in Aro Valley, the creativity of plot, characters and thematics will knock your dang socks off. A self-described “anthology of dark comedies infused with the quirks of our city’s charismatic little divisions”, this is a must-watch. 

Written by: Laura Robinson and Stella Reid
Directed by: Stella Reid
Produced by: Patrick Hunn and Rosie Remmerswaal

4. PSUSY

My mum actually linked this series to me (lol), and I initially refused to watch it because I was convinced she was only recommending it based on its sapphic-sounding title. This show is unapologetically NSFW, complete with cringe, on point comedic timing, loveable characters, and crippling relatability. While this web series doesn’t explicitly have LGBTQ+ themes or characters, at least in seasons 1 or 2, it does represent women in a very real, raw and comedic way: think Broad City but they’re both JAFAs.

Stand out episodes to me are S1 E5: Juice, which addresses absurdity of New Zealand’s abortion law (recently decriminalised wooop!) and S2 E6: I Think the Fuck Not, which in one plot, tackles racial discrimination in the workplace and in another, cleverly uses a hairdresser analogy to comment on consent culture. For more info, check out their website.

Written/Created by: Jaya Beach-Roberston
Directed by: Anna Duckworth
Starring: Jaya Beach-Robertson (Karen) and Aria Dehar (Sharee)

5. These Thems (OML)

This US web series features killer non-binary and trans representation, a 30 something year old baby gay, a musical number about vaginas, an awkward gynaecologist appointment and much much more. Definitely one for your (already ever-growing) the watch list.

Written/Created by: Gretchen Wylder
Directed by: Jett Garrison
Produced by: Sophia Clark
Starring: Gretchen Wylder, Vico Ortiz, Shaan Dasani, Nick Park