The situation of New Zealanders unable to see the show reminds me of The Office – both the UK version, which first screened here in a late-night time slot on TVNZ before becoming one of the noughties’ most praised comedies, and the US version, which for years was available only via dodgy YouTube streams and illegal downloads before becoming one of the streaming era’s most popular shows.

As Stath himself would say: “Oh my crump!” During their recent content announcements, neither Discovery nor TVNZ mentioned the show. There’s no sign of it on Netflix, or Disney TV+, or Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ or even Acorn, a streaming service that prides itself on delivering “the best of British TV”.

I watched both seasons in one day and then I sat and thought about why 'Stath Lets Flats' is the first show in nearly 20 years to feel like a legitimate successor to 'The Office' ĭespite all of this, Stath Lets Flats isn’t available on any legal streaming service in Aotearoa. It’s like a low-brow Succession delivered by a cross between David Brent and Borat. He has, across almost every single interaction, made things hand-wringingly cringe, yet, somehow he and the rest of the crew come away from it looking like loveable halfwits. With the show now into its third season, Stath and his constant awkwardness has managed to spark a feud with a neighbouring letting agency, knock up a staff member, hook up with his sister’s obsessive best friend, struggle to take over his father’s business, and let approximately zero flats. It follows Stath, and the rest of the mostly inept staff at his dad’s letting agency, as they screw up their jobs, mess up their lives and fail at all of their relationships.Īll of this is led by Stath, played by the show’s creator Jamie Demetriou, who you might recognise as the buck-toothed creep from Fleabag, and his sister Sophie, played by Demetriou’s real-life sister Natasia, who plays Nadja on the equally excellent What We Do in the Shadows. Across three seasons, Stath Lets Flats has proven itself to be one of the funniest, smartest and straight-up weirdest shows on television. In Aotearoa, Stath Let’s Flat is nowhere to be seen.

If you want to see it, legally speaking, I’m sorry to report that you can’t. “The world,” that is, if it’s one of those spinning atlases that leaves little ol’ New Zealand well off the map. Welcome to the crazed, unhinged, awkward and often unintelligible world of Stath Lets Flats, the Brit-com that’s taken the world by storm.

Stath lets flats s01e02 on dailymotion