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Documentary / Comedy
Billy Connolly is back with the fourth in his massively popular World Tour series. This time Billy journey's to the other side of the globe to New Zealand, a country he has been visiting since the 1970s and of which he is immensely fond. Billy's extraordinary journey covers the…
The popular Scottish comedian tours the 'Land of the Long White Cloud' with his stand-up show Too Old to Die Young, taking to his trike for a spot of sightseeing along the way. His first stop is Stewart Island, where he performs to 255 people - half the local population - before travelling from Bluff to Dunedin, the country's answer to Edinburgh. Billy gets off the tourist trail and learns to fish Maori-style as he uncovers the real New Zealand.
The Scottish comedian travels to Queenstown, where he takes a nostalgic trip on a 92-year-old ferry before baring all in a bungee jump from the Nevis tower. The map leads him on to Greymouth, and an encounter with a Bush-music band evoking the 'white' sound of New Zealand, followed by a meeting with a Maori who demonstrates various uses for jade. Billy ends his visit on a high note as he soaks up the breathtaking views during a helicopter ride over the famous Fiordland
The comedian marvels at the scenery as he trikes through Arthur's Pass, travelling on to Christchurch, where he plays to his largest audience in New Zealand - 14,000 in two nights. En route to Nelson, Billy pauses to recount the story of how a Maori woman rescued all but one from the ill-fated ship Delaware. He continues on to the Museum of Wearable Art, which houses a collection of unusual garments, but his enthusiasm knows no bounds when he spots a couple of sperm whales during a trip out to sea from Kaikoura.
The comedian heads for the North Island of New Zealand on waters which witnessed a disastrous accident in 1968 involving a ferry made in Glasgow, an incident which left an indelible mark on the Scottish city. His first stop is Wellington, where he pays a visit to an architect friend and an artist who makes pictures entirely out of toast, before boarding a train to New Plymouth and pointing out the site of the country's worst railway disaster. Billy also finds time during his journey to pause for breath and offer an insight into what it means to him to perform on stage.
The comedian wends his way by trike along the stunning Forgotten Highway from Wellington to Palmerston North, before taking a helicopter ride above Lake Taupo, which Maori legend has it was created when six male mountains that surround it fought a fierce battle for the affections of one female. His next stop is Napier, rebuilt in art deco style after being destroyed in 1931 by the biggest earthquake in New Zealand's history. Billy then travels on to Rotorua, where the Waiotapu Park's multitude of geysers and thermal springs bring thoughts of hell and hunger to his mind
The comedian climbs Mount Tarawera, one of a chain of volcanoes that erupted to devastating effect in 1886, annihilating the nearby Pink Terraces. His journey then takes him to the Waitomo Caves and a kiwi reserve in Hamilton, where the country's national bird is raised in safety before being released into the wild. Billy visits a gathering place where Maori learn about their culture and traditions, a sacred grove and an opencast gold mine. This form of mining can leave the area looking ugly, but plans are in place to turn the pit into a lake once it is exhausted
The comedian arrives in Auckland, where he spends time with a colony of penguins at an aquarium, learns about one of the world's unsung aviation pioneers, and decides to throw himself off the top of the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Billy is then taught about the significance of Maori face tattoos, known as Moko, and how they represent life's achievements, before heading off to the island of Waiheke, where he is amazed to discover a herd of corrugated cows.
The comedian takes a poignant trip to Russell, visiting the oldest church in New Zealand, where wife Pamela Stephenson's parents are buried. He discovers the public toilets in Kavakava have become something of a tourist attraction and visits the historic site in Waitangi where the treaty between the British and the Maori was signed. Billy reaches the end of his journey at the northernmost tip of the country, a site from which the Maori believe their souls depart on the journey to Havaiki , their ancestral home
Cast
A recently widowed father, quits his job as a popular 800 word columnist for a top selling Sydney newspaper. Over the internet he buys a house on an impulse in a remote New Zealand seaside town. He then has to break the news to his two teenage kids who just lost their mum, and now face an even more uncertain future. But the colourful and inquisitive locals ensure his dream of a fresh start does not go to plan.
Dave, a 24-year-old ordinary kiwi slacker, finds his life turned upside down when he meets the girl of his dreams Cara - and her three kids. Step Dave is a light-hearted, feel-good family drama which demonstrates one of the realities of modern life that families come in all different shapes and sizes.
bro'Town is a New Zealand Television animated series. The show used a comedy based format, targeted at a young adult audience. The series is set amongst New Zealand's fast growing Pacific Islander community, and focuses on a central cast of five young boys. bro'Town is heavy with popular culture references, and is based on the performance of the local four-man group The Naked Samoans. Vale, Valea, Jeff da Māori, Sione and Mack live in the suburb of Morningside, and attend the local college, St Sylvester’s, where their principal is a Fa’afafine and the P.E. teacher is the legendary ex-All Black rugby player Michael Jones.
In this eight-part series, Simon Dallow takes viewers on a journey back in time to the earliest stages of Maori and Pakeha occupation of New Zealand. Along the way he'll debunk myths, solve riddles and shed new light on our collective beginnings. Investigating ancient immigrant communities and prehistoric natural disasters, What Lies Beneath will bring a whole new perspective to New Zealand's past.
History is taking to the seas and walking in the footsteps of Captain James Cook. 250 years after Cook began his epic exploration of the Pacific, Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano) journeys in his wake uncovering stories that resonate from those times on both sides of the beach. Sam begins with a disclaimer – he is merely an actor – but the story of Cook, and the impact he has had on the Pacific in the 250 years since his first voyage, has always fascinated him.
The Unauthorised History of New Zealand is a New Zealand comedic history talk show series that tells the "real truth" behind the history of New Zealand. Some of the archive footage seen on the show has never been seen on television before because it was deemed too shocking by TV executives to screen at the time. Some material created for the programme, including the 1920s-style animated series Happy Hori, is presented as though it were archival. This country was shaped by visitors and the first episode examines the impact of such diverse guests as sheep, Colonel Sanders, the Shah of Iran and Muhammad Ali on New Zealand. Famous troublemakers such as Hongi Hika, the Ingham Twins and the Neil Roberts' feature in an episode devoted to Trouble. Other episodes in the series consider some of the country's most powerful people, its legends, and reveal some of the most shocking and sexiest moments in the nation's history.
Being Eve is a television series from New Zealand, originally shown on TV3 from 2001–2002, and rebroadcast on The N. Being Eve focuses on a teenage girl, Eve Baxter, and her daily problems. Her parents are divorced but live next door to each other. Eve was in love with a boy named Adam. They broke up at the beginning of the second season, and she ends up with another boy named Sam Hooper, whom she had her first kiss with when they were kids.
