Small Town Scandal, Season One
NZ release: 09 February 2026
Coarse language, sexual references, violence Rated on: 09 February 2026
Tom Sainsbury's Small Town Scandal, Season one, Episodes 1-2
Why did it get this rating?
This series was self-rated by Neon. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.
The dark comedy of Tom Sainsbury’s Small Town Scandal means the tone of the show is largely satire and even potentially harmful content can be viewed as humorous. This takes some level of maturity to understand.
Violence
Flashbacks show Uncle Mitch being runover and killed by robot lawnmowers. We see blood and we see the bloody aftermath of the victim’s body. The murder scene is repeated in flashbacks in different ways through recaps in each episode including imagined scenarios for how the murder was committed.
A character is distressed by Uncle Mitch’s death and mourns over the remains in a melodramatic way.
Sexual references
The sexual references cover various mentions of adult sexual relationships, sexual innuendo, and brief glimpses of non-sexual nudity. Most scenes are humorous sexual references.
A character’s affair with multiple sexual partners is briefly discussed and is a part of Toby’s investigation early in the series. In episode two we see glimpses of flesh, movement and sounds from Toby’s perspective as he uncovers a suspected orgy.
There is mention of a character asphyxiating themselves and dying in a sex act gone wrong: ‘less a case of sexy sexy and more a case of choky choky if you read the autopsy report’.
We see a brief glimpse of male buttocks in a Doctor’s clinic.
We briefly see a penis in a photo being shown to another character. The moment is comedic, and the penis is clearly fake.
Coarse language
Mild language is used for emphasis and laughs during the show include ‘what the hell’, ‘damn’, ‘goddam’, and ‘prick’.
Drug use
There are references to ketamine use, and ‘ket’ use for ‘boomer’ parties. A character visits a vet to discuss tranquilisers, probing about recreational drug use. The vet references other drugs that he deals in.
When content stays with you:
We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.
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