Duration: 6 x 22mins
Genre: Drama
Writers: Kate McDermott & Murray Keane
Director: Murray Keane
Producer: Rachel Jean

Ride With the Devil 

Ride with the Devil is a high octane drama in six half hour episodes aimed at the youth audience, with a particular Asian slant. The show is a very fast moving slick production that doesn’t pull any punches – there is swearing, sex, car stunts and fights but, as writer/director Murray Keane comments; “Life’s like that. Kiwis swear a lot. They mispronounce words, they’re sarcastic. They love their cars and their beer. So we haven’t tried to TV-ise things. Some of the characters are racist, and you get that in real life too. What we’ve tried to do is give an accurate representation of an Asian new immigrant experiencing the real New Zealand, good and bad.”

The series is a landmark in New Zealand television, with three key Asian characters in a New Zealand drama series.  “New Zealand is changing,” says producer Rachel Jean. “And it’s time we started telling the stories that reflect that. Lin, Wendy and Amy aren’t token Asian characters or plot devices, they are core cast, and the story hinges around them.”

The central character Lin is a young Chinese man recently flown in from Beijing. Cast out by his rich father he ends up in Auckland, New Zealand, under the strict guidance of his Aunt.  His cousin Amy leads two lives – one of perfect student the other the leader of an all girl “Boy Racer” car crew. Almost impossible to own a car where he is from, Lin is drawn into the world of late night cruising, drift competitions, and other assortment’s of auto erotica.

Lin meets up with Kurt, a south Auckland hoon who has done time and come out the other side. Kurt is the “design engineer” for B-bay Motors, a hip-hop styled fast fours import workshop (they do up Jap cars). At first Kurt sees Lin as a cash cow, the dumb chink with the Gold card. Kurt promises Lin his own car fame and glory and a strange kinship grows over a few cups of octane-fuelled craziness.

The unholy alliance becomes damned forever when a street race kills innocent people and the cops come looking for the culprits. Boy Racers are the scourges of society to some and being Asian only makes it worse. But despite conrods from gods own garage being thrown in the cylinder heads, the two young men attempt to keep themselves and their friendship alive.

Ride With The Devil screened in a late timeslot reflecting its content (Tuesday 11pm), but the record ratings reflect the many people who tuned in to see the show, even in the middle of the rugby world cup.