Review: What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s is NZ’s latest true crime must-watch

Tara Ward reviews a new series about a luxury dog retreat hiding a sinister mystery.

The opening 45 seconds of TVNZ’s new docuseries make for astonishing television. What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s begins with footage from a 2019 episode of Seven Sharp, with presenter Jeremy Wells introducing a bizarre story about a Wellington castle that operates as a luxury dog retreat. It’s revealed that the castle has been raided by armed police, and is described as “a mental asylum”. Then, there are allegations of animal mistreatment, and news headlines warn of drugs, assault and a woman’s finger being cut off.

Then, a lone voice: “If only the dogs could talk, and tell us what was really going on.”

A talking dog is about the only strange thing that doesn’t feature in What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s, a new three-part series that dives into the mysterious events that unfolded in a Wellington castle-turned-dog kennel between 2017 and 2021. TVNZ journalist Baz Macdonald has been obsessed with Woofington’s for the past seven years, and is determined to find out the truth about the castle on the hill. Why did armed police storm the building? What other secrets lie behind the castle walls, and what happened to the people who worked there?

Macdonald’s first questions relate to the castle itself – built over a decommissioned radar bunker by Wellington millionaire Brian Willman in 1999, it was intended to be a conference centre until Willman transformed the building interior into a luxury dog kennel in 2016. Woofington’s promised to pamper the capital’s pooches with televisions, individual kennels and chauffeured trips from home to castle in the company Porsche. “It was no-expenses-spared,” a fellow Wellington dog daycare owner remembers.

But Macdonald discovers it wasn’t long before Woofington’s customers began to report unusual events at the castle. Online reviews warned of animal mistreatment, and we hear from a former customer who recalls the night her beloved canine wasn’t dropped off at home as planned. After making the long, spooky drive through the Wellington hills herself, she arrived at Woofington’s to find the company’s live-in manager Robert Bromley covered in blood. “I didn’t trust what was going on up there, obviously,” she says.

So what was really going on at Woofington’s? Macdonald brings us along with him as he tries to make sense of a strange series of events, including a drug raid, a kidnapping and an armed burglary. We’re there when he calls Willman for the first time, and when he uncovers some particularly explosive pieces of evidence. This immediacy creates a real sense of suspense and momentum that makes it feel like we’re along for the ride. Macdonald relates the facts without any dramatic embellishment – there’s no need to exaggerate when story itself is so extraordinary.

The series builds a fuller picture by speaking with a variety of people involved with Woofington’s, including former customers, police, journalists and staff members who worked closely with Bromley. These interviews take us deeper into the story’s heart of crime, and the personal testimonies of the two women who worked at Woofington’s provide some of the series’ most harrowing and tragic moments. Even several years later, it’s clear that what happened in that castle continues to have a deeply traumatic impact.

It’s not easy for Macdonald to connect all of Woofington’s dots, and perhaps a visual timeline that pulls all the events and people together would have helped viewers who are unfamiliar with the story. Regardless, this is still an extremely gripping docuseries – there are jaw-dropping bombshells throughout, and the heartwrenching accounts of those involved bring a powerful emotional weight to all three episodes.

No wonder Macdonald has been so captivated by the Woofington’s saga for so long. It has all the hallmarks of a cracking local yarn: a remarkable and remote building, a series of unusual characters, violence and crime, innocent animals and human lives changed forever. Most unexpectedly, What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s shines a light on a darker, more sinister side of New Zealand society. While it might not answer every possible question about why a dog kennel ended up in a drug-filled castle on the hill, it has a bloody good crack at it – and that in itself is well worth the watch.

What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s? is available on TVNZ+.