@joelkeller Published Feb. 23, 2026, 9:00 p.m. ET Where to Stream: The Family Next Door Powered by Reelgood More On: Acorn TV New On Acorn TV February 2026 All The Streaming Services With Free Trials In 2026: Peacock, Hulu, more Stream It Or Skip It: ‘My Life Is Murder’ Season 5 On Acorn TV, Where Lucy Lawless Continues To Solve Crimes In New Zealand Get Starz, BritBox, Hallmark, More on Sale With Prime Video Add-on Subscriptions The new Australian dramedy on Acorn TV, The Family Next Door, has a lot going for it, namely a good cast and a witty point of view. But the first episode has some elements that make for a frustrating watch.
Opening Shot: A woman sits on a couch at what looks to be a post-funeral gathering at her house. She gets up and goes to her car, driving along the shore. She changes into a t-shirt and shorts as she gets gas. Then she stops at a shoreline observation point and lets out an anguished scream.
The Gist: On a cul-de-sac in the seaside town of Osprey Point. Ange (Bella Heathcote) is making sure the house two doors away from hers is in good shape for the renter that’s coming in. She’s a real estate agent who handles rentals like this. Her husband Lucas (Bob Morley) tries to get her to have a morning quickie, but she’s too distracted to get too far.
The woman moving in is Isabelle (Teresa Palmer), the woman who screamed on her way into town. She claims she’s a writer doing a story about how Osprey Point is becoming a trendy new resort town, but she’s actually there to investigate the other families on the cul-de-sac. We see her taking notes on everyone in the neighborhood, including Ange and her family; she sneakily takes phone pics of the neighborhood kids, and does other things that raise the suspicion of Ange.
Her suspicion rises when she can’t find Isabelle’s byline or social media accounts, and goes to red alert when she sees Isabelle helping her son inside her house. The other women in the neighborhood, though, seem to think that Ange is being a bit paranoid, and they talk about it during their “wine o’clock” sip-and-talks. Ange is stressing over other things, like a beachfront real estate development that is getting pushback from protesters in town.
The other women are also having their own issues: Essie (Philippa Northeast) is a young mother who is struggling after having her second child with Ben (Tane Williams-Accra). Fran (Ming-Zhu Hii) has to contend with her depressed husband Nigel (Daniel Henshall). Lulu (Jane Harber) is also part of the wine o’clock group, but we’re not sure about her other than the fact that she and her wife Holly (Maria Angelico) are annoyed at being labeled “the lesbians” of the neighborhood.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by Sarah Scheller and based on Sally Hepworth’s novel of the same name, The Family Next Door carries similar vibes to The ‘Burbs, without the creepiness.
Our Take: The Family Next Door gives the suburban thriller a nice light touch, infusing most of its scenes with a wittiness that helps move the story along. But the big issue we had with the first episode is that we wanted to know more about Isabelle and exactly why she was looking into everyone on that particular cul-de-sac.
We get it; each episode is going to concentrate on one of the women in this neighborhood; the first one leaned heavily on Ange’s story, for instance. Her real estate business is struggling because the inventory of houses in town that are for sale is very low, so the business has to get by on rentals like the one she brokered with Isabelle, and her husband Lucas would rather surf than work in the photography studio she “guided” him to set up so he can generate income.
We’ll likely see more of everyone’s struggles as we get to the episodes that concentrate on them. We’re actually curious about what Lulu’s struggle is, given that we don’t see a whole lot of her in the first episode. We’ll even get to see an Isabelle-centered episode, which will likely explain more of the hows and whys of her journey to Osprey Point.
Still, we’d have liked to seen a bit more of the reasoning behind why Isabelle is looking into these people in particular. We’re not asking for her entire story at this point, but some context would help, otherwise she looks like an invasive creep. Sure, Ange’s suspicions help push things along in the first episode, especially when she finds out that Isabelle and Lucas met at the store when Isabelle was coming into town. But there just felt like there was something missing that would have made the episode less frustrating to watch.
Performance Worth Watching: Teresa Palmer somehow manages to show Isabelle doing strange things like take sneaky pictures of the neighborhood kids without making it look completely skeevy.
Sex And Skin: Ange and Lucas’ morning attempt that ended early is about the extent of either in the first episode.
Parting Shot: Isabelle examines the group photo of everyone in the neighborhood, looking for clues.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Audrey O’Sullivan, simply because her character, who is Ange’s younger daughter, is named Elvis.
Most Pilot-y Line: Ange walks into Isabelle’s house, letting herself in after she found Isabelle in her house, and says “See how you like it.” When Isabelle comes back, Ange says she’s there to “return the money” Isabelle paid to cover Lucas at the store.
Our Call: STREAM IT. We’re expecting to get a few more answers about Isabelle’s presence as the season of The Family Next Door goes on, and that should help us get a little more into a story that starts off witty and interesting in a lot of other ways.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
