Bill Skarsgård is one of the reasons why Hemlock Grove is doing so well.

In the world of a television series geek, living in Malta brings with it many disadvantages. Suffice it to say that to (legally) watch the latest episodes of whatever series happens to creating the hype, you need to be something of a web wizard.

That’s how I feel anyway, as I’m constantly hunting for a site that conveniently streams new episodes before it is taken down by the cyber-police (never be tempted to download – this is illegal and is nowadays being taken extremely seriously).

The other alternative, of course, is to wait until it is available via local cable television providers or via DVD orders. Which tends to take forever. I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly keen on watching Season 2 of whatever when I know the rest of the world is on to Season 4.

Hemlock Grove is a relatively new concept as far as television series are concerned

But like I said, I usually manage – albeit with my fair share of huffing and puffing. Sadly, there’s one series that has eluded my web wizardry techniques: Hemlock Grove, the werewolf-cum-other-supernatural-creatures series from Netflix.

Hemlock Grove is a relatively new concept as far as television series are concerned. Based on a novel by Brian McGreevy, it has not been released on a television network and is available solely online. In fact, I should stop referring to it as a television series, but I guess old habits die hard.

Netflix had already done this quite successfully with David Fincher’s House of Cards, reportedly compelling and pretty amazing. Still, to be honest, I was a tad sceptical at first.

The way Netflix worked it, they filmed all 13 episodes from Hemlock Grove’s Season 1 immediately and then made them promptly available to anyone who is willing to pay for them.

Which I suppose makes perfect sense. I did wonder whether people would go for it, but apparently they did.

Of course, it helps that the production boasts some rather good names. The series has none other than Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel and Inglourious Basterds among others) as executive producer to back it.

Oh, by the way, the series also stars Bill Skarsgård, brother to True Blood’s luscious Alexander Skarsgård. And yes, Bill is just as luscious as his older bro – which is probably one reason why the series is actually doing so well.

So, is it a yae or a nay from my end for Hemlock Grove? Sadly, I can’t reply to this one.

Because you see, despite the fact that it’s available online through payment... Malta does not seem to be included in the list of countries being serviced.

Now I know there’s probably a perfectly valid financial or legal reason for this. Yet whenever something is available in one country and not in another, it seriously flummoxes me.

We’re talking cyberspace and online payments here... surely it can’t be that complicated to include Malta (and the other zillion countries that were also left out) on the list?

In the remote chance anyone from Netflix is reading this, go on, make a country of television geeks happy, why don’t you? Take our money and let’s put an end to this ridiculous situation.

rdepares@timesofmalta.com