The Ricky Gervais Show

Sunday, January 1st at 7:30pm

**New series** The Ricky Gervais Show will premiere on TV 3 from Sunday, January 1^st at 11:30pm. The animated show features Gervais and his long-time collaborator Stephen Merchant (The Office, Extras), and revolves around the world of their unusual friend, Karl Pilkington (An Idiot Abroad).

Originally starting out as a radio program in the U.K. in 2005, Gervais and Merchant decided to turn the show into a podcast, bringing Pilkington, a radio producer they had met years earlier, along. Soon the podcasts began to focus particularly on the eccentric mind of Pilkington.

The podcast became wildly popular, gaining a Guinness World Record in 2007 for being the most-downloaded podcast on the Internet.

“It’s such a natural for animation,” Lisa Ullmann explains, Wildbrain Vice President. “We worked closely with Gervais figuring out how he wanted himself to look, as well as Steven and Karl.”

Drug Bust

Monday, January 2^nd at 7:30pm

Step inside the world of the New Zealand Police’s war on drugs. Drug Bust is a fast paced factual observational series that follows New Zealand’s largest police district, Counties Manukau, as they fight the war against drugs.

The district has the highest population in New Zealand but it is also one of the poorest regions – and with this comes crime. With unprecedented access, Drug Bust follows the district’s drug investigation teams as they take on the criminal underworld in a fight to take back their communities. From children living in meth houses to drug related violence, the viewer gets a birds-eye look at the damage drugs are doing to our communities.

Kalgoorlie Cops

Monday, January 2^nd at 8pm

The show takes a no-holds-barred look at the work of the 217 uniformed police and detectives who control the world’s largest police beat on the planet. Situated at the edge of the Nullabor Plain in the West Australian outback with a population of 32,000 people, Kalgoorlie is a town like no other.

Sprouting from the gold rush of 1893, these days the town is flush with money, miners, hookers and bikers – meaning there’s never a dull moment for Kalgoorlie’s cops.

From murders to drug trafficking, organised crime, theft, prostitution, domestic disputes and old-fashioned Friday night punch-ups, to searching for missing tourists and prospectors in the huge expanse of desert surrounding Kalgoorlie, this action-packed series takes a never before-seen look at the workings of the biggest police beat in the world.

Come Fly With Me

Friday, January 6^th at 9:30pm

The hilarious Matt Lucas and David Walliams (Little Britain) airport mockumentary, Come Fly With Me, is set in an airport and following the lives of the people who hold it all together – including airline owners, check-in staff, fast-food workers, immigration officers, pilots and cabin crew, as well as the passengers.

“Sometimes members of the public gather behind the camera and like to watch,” explains Lucas about the filming process. “But what you gain is hopefully a show that looks like no other comedy show; that has a kind of authenticity and a scale about it that you could not easily create in a studio, unless you had tens of millions of pounds to build one.”

Super City

Friday, January 6^th at 10pm

Super City is the local comedy series which sees Madeleine Sami (Jaquie Brown Diaries and Sione’s Wedding) hilariously transform into five very different characters all living in New Zealand’s super city.

Directed by Taika Waititi (Boy & Eagle vs. Shark), Super City sees Sami hilariously portraying five acutely observed and very different characters all living in Auckland.

There’s Pasha, an aging cheerleader clinging to her partying lifestyle; Azeem, an immigrant taxi driver embracing Maori culture; Jo, a closeted gym instructor in love with her best friend; Linda, the runt of her “old girls” clique fostering impoverished artists and Georgie, a homeless girl whose freedom is unexpectedly interrupted.

“Hopefully viewers will get a lot of laughs and take these unique personalities into their hearts…,” Madeleine Sami says about her onscreen characters.

Documentary: Katie: My Beautiful Face

Tuesday, January 3^rd at 9:30pm

Katie was young and beautiful, but a vicious acid attack destroyed her face. Now Katie: My Beautiful Face follows Katie as she tries to re-build her life.

A model and budding TV presenter, 24-year-old Katie had a glowing future ahead of her. But in 2008, a vicious acid attack destroyed her face, and with it her career and her life as she knew it.

More than a year on, and having undergone countless operations and rounds of physiotherapy, she has now chosen to give up her anonymity and tell her own story for the first time.

“I’ve decided to tell my story so that people know what these men did to me,” Kate explains to UK’s Channel 4. “To help people understand who have ignorance about people that look different, and for people not to be frightened of burns and the stigma attached to it, to understand that it’s still the same person underneath.”

TVNZ has announced its new season of programming. The line-up includes all the biggest returning series as well as local dramas and international blockbuster movies.

Top picks for TV1 include a brand news series of Absolutely Fabulous and our own Sam Neill starring in a new drama called Alcatraz revolving around America’s most infamous prison, as well as more stories from Beyond the Darklands and Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.

New shows for TV2 include 2 Broke Girls and Chelsea Straight Up starring Laura Prepon from That 70s Show, as well as returning series such as American Idol and Go Girls.

For the full line-up visit the TVNZ website here.

Maori Television is presenting the free-to-air exclusive premiere of the critically acclaimed New Zealand documentary  OPERATION 8 – which looks into the 2007 anti-terror raids.

The documentary screens on Sunday, 30 October at 8.30pm, four years after the nationwide raids that resulted in 18 arrests and just weeks after the Government passed controversial covert surveillance legislation.

In October 2007, more than 300 police raided 60 houses around the country, many in the Ruatoki valley in the heart of Tuhoe country.

The raids followed more than a year of surveillance of Maori sovereignty and peace activists accused of attending terrorist training camps in the Urewera ranges.

Directed by Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones, OPERATION 8 asks questions about who was targeted and how evidence was gathered, andincludes first-hand accounts from some of those arrested as well as academics and professionals involved in the case.

The case against the so-called “Urewera 18” has been mired in debate from the start. In September this year, the Supreme Court’s ruling that some evidence was inadmissible resulted in charges against 13 of the 18 being dropped.

It also led to the Government’s passing of a covert surveillance bill under urgency this month.

Made over three years, OPERATION 8 is a must-see for all New Zealanders interested in the debate between personal freedoms and national security.

Tune in to OPERATION 8 on Maori Television, screening Sunday, 30 October at 8.30pm.

Below is a listing of the top ten programmes on NZTV, recorded as of the 25th September 2011 via Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

The top programme being watched is still One news TV ONE, with a mixture of New Zealand drama and current affairs in the other top spots and RWC coverage making it into the top 10.

To watch some of these programmes please follow this link to the TVNZ website.

Both New Zealand’s Next Top Model and Underbelly will be screening in HD

UNDERBELLY NZ: LAND OF THE LONG GREEN CLOUD – Wednesday, August 31st at 9:30pm

This week sees Marty Johnstone’s (Dan Musgrove) confidence rising to the top once again when he and Peter Miller prepare for their blue-water enterprise with the Brigadoon. However, despite Marty’s less than ethical ways, Dan Musgrove says he feels fortunate to be portraying a character seeded so deeply in New Zealand’s criminal history. “It’s a privilege to be able to tell a story based on actual events and play a character that really existed,” he says. “There’s an authenticity to the way the story unfolds… it’s unpredictable and sometimes unbelievable just like real life.”

THE BIGGEST LOSER, series final, Wednesday, August 31st at 7:30pm

The  unmissable makeover episode sees the remaining contestants finally shed their stinky workout gear to unveil their polished new looks. “They’ve been sweating away for months,” says host Alison Sweeney. “It’s the first opportunity for them to think about how far they’ve come – and to enjoy it.”

For some contestants, reaching this milestone is nearly as big a goal as making it to the series’ finale.

NEW ZEALAND’S NEXT TOP MODEL – series final, Friday, September 2nd at 7:30pm

It’s the live series final – after 12 weeks of gruelling competition, trials and tribulations, it all comes down to this moment. “For the first time, our finalists will get the opportunity to bring together everything they’ve learned across the series, and walk in our grade finale for WORLD at New Zealand Fashion Week!”, says producer Emma White.

THE MILLEN BAIRD SHOW – series final, Friday, September 2nd at 10pm

It’s time to say goodbye to the dysfunctional town of Paua Point. Starring talented actor, comedian and writer Millen Baird and his comedy team of Fasitua Amosa, Nick Kemplen, Mia Blake, Glen Levy and Gregor McLennan, “Public reaction to the show has blown me and the guys away,” says Baird of the enormous support he and the team have received from fans of the hit series.

Set in the sleepy beachside town of Paua Point, each episode is based on a series of loosely related vignettes following the misadventures of the weird and wonderful townsfolk. Over the season fans have seen these off the wall Paua Pointers strut their stuff in a storyline which has intertwined and grown with each week.

Maori Television will be showcasing a range of New Zealand documentaries in the Pakipumeka Aotearoa series. The one-hour documentaries will air on Saturday nights at 8.30-9.30pm.

This week, Saturday 20 August, meet New Zealand’s own version of Erin Brockovich in The Green Chain. Whakatane man Joe Harawira fought the powers of industry and government and won.

The former sawmill worker believes his exposure to poison in the workplace led to him becoming seriously ill, so he fought to seek the truth behind the death and sickness that afflicted his community. The Green Chain tells his story.

On Saturday 27 August check out a new movement coming out of Hawke’s Bay that is encouraging Maori people to get fit and healthy in IronMaori: Movement of the People.

The first IronMaori half-ironman was born in December 2009 with 288 competitors after event founder Heather Skipworth, a health professional from Pakipaki – the rural predominantly Maori settlement south of Hastings – had an epiphany to do something to reverse the negative health statistics prevailing in the Maori community.

She viewed a half-ironman (2km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run) as a challenge that would force a significant lifestyle change that could be continued – “one that would lengthen the time to get to your grave”, she says.

Finally, one week out from Rugby World Cup 2011 kick off, we explore the history of New Zealand rugby culture and the world cup and its affect on our psyche in The Wait of the Nation on Saturday 3 September.

The Wait of the Nation tells the story of the All Black’s inaugural world cup triumph on home soil in 1987, where the Men In Black helped heal the wounds of the disastrous Springbok Tour of 1981 and reunite Kiwis behind their national game.

As the tournament returns to New Zealand this year, only one thing matters: winning that elusive World Cup. For this rugby-mad nation, it’s a question of national pride.

So sit back and relax whanau and look in with Maori Television for these essential Saturday night viewing of some great home-grown documentaries.

The land of the long green cloud will begin screening onWednesday 17 August, TV3 at 9:30pm.

On Thursday 22 September, the day after the final broadcast, and the DVD will land in store. Don’t miss out!

Underbelly is a hugely popular show and is described as “Australia’s best ever crime drama”.

Below is a listing of the top ten programmes on NZTV, recorded as of the 18th July 2011 via Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

The top programme being watched is Shortland Street, with News programmes dominating the remainder, and interestingly The Food Truck is currently rating fourth – a reality TV programme looking at the challenge of making fast food healthy.To watch some of these programmes please follow this link to the TVNZ website.

TVNZ is has announced its plans for its Rugby World Cup coverage.

The state broadcaster announced its commentary, presenting and news team today and they are clearly nicely placed to win the ratings war that is about to explode around the tournament.

With Sky Television, Maori Television and TV3 all having rights to the tournament the battle for the television audience will come down to points of difference.

Today’s announcement included:

• All Blacks great Jeff Wilson will be the broadcaster’s expert comments man.
• The award winning sports journalist Andrew Saville will be the lead commentator.
• Martin Devlin will front the World Cup coverage
• A new panel based show, Rugby World Cup 2011 – Tonight will air every match night.

“We needed to approach the Rugby World Cup with a fresh presentation,” TVNZ’s General Manager of Sport, Murray Needham said.

“With these key people on board I am anticipating that we will deliver an event which will be both informative and entertaining.”

Simon Dallow will be a regular guest on Rugby World Cup 2011- Tonight which will be hosted by Devlin and he’s excited by the groundwork put in by TVNZ’s executives.

“When New Zealand bid for the tournament they talked about a stadium of four million people,” he said. “Well, with the resources that TVNZ has, we will be able to take the Rugby World Cup to those four million. It’s hugely exciting for everyone involved.”

Journey into Darkness – The Strongman Tragedy, a documentary currently in production about  the Strongman Mine explosion that claimed the lives of 19 men, and the subsequent Commission of Inquiry.

The 90 minute telefeature is being produced for TV3 by Paula McTaggart from A Bigger Picture Ltd in association with Gaylene Preston Productions, with funding from the prestigious New Zealand On Air Platinum Fund.

Acclaimed filmmaker Gaylene Preston will direct the dramatic content of the feature-length programme, which will blend dramatisation with interviews filmed by McTaggart along with archive gathered over the past four years.

“I am humbled by the stories of lives completely thrown into chaos by that explosion in 1967,” says Preston.  “It is an honour to be involved in bringing the story of this terrible mine tragedy and inquiry to the screen.

Opened in 1939, the state owned Strongman Mine (11 kilometres north-east of Greymouth) was the pride and flagship of NZ’s coal industry and the largest underground coal mine in the country.  On 19 January, 1967, an explosion blew through the section of the mine known as Green’s No 2.

The telefeature is a labour of love for Runanga-born and raised Paula McTaggart, who comes from a long line of coal miners.  McTaggart has been developing the project since 2007, when a visit to her uncle, the late Ron Gibb, sparked her interest in this largely untold New Zealand tragedy.  Gibb was one of five men from Mines Rescue who received the British Empire Medal for their actions during the tragedy.

“The more he spoke, the more I felt that this was a critical piece of NZ history that had been largely overlooked outside of the West Coast”, McTaggart explains.

“My Uncle and I talked about the possibility of a documentary and he shared with me his knowledge of the tragedy along with the material to go forward.  Ron had a strong desire that the truth be told.”

McTaggart began filming interviews for the project in 2008.  TV3’s Head of Factual, Sue Woodfield, says the documentary’s gripping story of bravery and human resilience in the face of disaster will resonate with all New Zealanders.

“Although this project has been in development for several years, there’s a terrible sense of history repeating itself with the recent tragic events at Pike River, and the current Royal Commission.

“This is a very important film.”

McTaggart says the production team is interested in hearing from anyone who would like to be part of the documentary, at the email address enquries@biggerpicture.co.nz.

“It is important that those involved have the opportunity to contribute to the project,” she says.  “I hope that more people will come forward to tell their individual stories, or to share photos, film footage or other materials.”

Journey into Darkness – The Strongman Tragedy is being produced for TV3 with funding from New Zealand On Air’s Platinum fund which is reserved for high quality programs of historical and cultural importance with a significant relevance to New Zealand and New Zealanders.