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Created: 26 November 2025

• Duder, Tessa

Tessa Duder's novel The Tiggie Thompson Show (1999) features a main protagonist who gets a role on Shapers; a kiwi soap set at a gym modelled on a Greek model of gym as youth centre for both physical and intellectual activities. The cast contains lots who have been on Shortland Street.

Did you know the first thing to get fat is the tongue? she cried enthusiastically. Get stuffed. I said quietly, I'd rather my tongue looked like a salami than a snake's
Tiggie has no illusions about herself, dumpy, plain and talentless and she knows that her parents and teachers think she's a loser at school she's the butt of jokes
To make it worse her mother is a glamorous television journalist with a famous face
At her new liberal school all she wants is to continue leading a quiet life. Once again, things don't turn out as she planned. Tigge Tompson, almost despite herself, is about to be discovered.
Join Tiggie for the most astonishing year of her life.

Tiggie's adventured continued in a couple of more books:

Tiggie Tompson All At Sea (2021)

Tiggie Thompson is savouring a new taste in her life - success. Against all odds, she has won the coveted role of Eliza in a nineteenth-century television drama The Longest Journey. Life seems so secure. But before the cameras even begin to roll, Tiggie becomes embroiled in her own family drama. Most disturbing of all are e-mails from an unknown half-brother in Australia, with unpleasant news about Tiggie's parents. But Eliza, the aristocratic young English woman who escapes abuse by way of steerage passage to New Zealand, has edged her way into Tiggie's waking thoughts. Their two stories, 150 years apart, are about to collide. In the second novel featuring feisty Antigone Thompson, Tessa Duder shows a young woman caught up with the conflicting demands of family, friends and career and a growing awareness of the need to be true to herself.

Tiggie Thompson's Longest Journey (2023)

Tiggie's traumatic role as the spirited 19th century emigrant Eliza Matthews in the TV drama The Longest Journey is threatening to spill over into her real-life relationships. How will she cope with the handsome actor playing Eliza's attacker? Or with boyfriend Gareth who gets a job on set? She's also concerned about her jealous half-brother Luke who reappears, her best friend, the anorexic Vita, who has gone missing, and her parents' startling news. 

 

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Created: 16 October 2025

• Kordia

Christchurch, New Zealand – 16 October 2025 - Kordia is celebrating a major milestone this month, marking 60 years since the official opening (16th October 1965) of the Sugarloaf transmission tower, the 120.9-metre steel landmark that has kept Canterbury and much of New Zealand connected for six decades. 

Built by Kordia predecessor the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation as part of New Zealand’s first nationwide television network, the Sugarloaf tower on Christchurch’s Port Hills remains a vital piece of broadcast and communications infrastructure. From its commanding position above the city, it continues to deliver television, FM radio, digital communications and critical connectivity for emergency services and aviation.  

Few of Kordia’s towers have witnessed as many nationally significant events as Sugarloaf. For much of that history, one man had a front-row seat. 

Andy Glue, who retired in 2024 after 50 years with Kordia, began his career at just 17 years old as an apprentice technician at Sugarloaf. He went on to see the site evolve from a single black-and-white TV channel to a digital connectivity hub. 

“There were about 10 staff to cover the rostered shifts, 7 days a week. On a normal dayshift, we would meet at 8.00am at the base in Mowbray Street and travel to Sugarloaf in a Bedford van. We were on site for the full day with nowhere to go for lunch, so we had to bring everything needed for the day,” says Glue. 

“The duty technician was responsible for turning on the transmitters manually and doing all the pre-program checks. This included doing a full set of meter readings to identify any faults and monitor any long-term trends which may indicated something is degrading. 

“Goodnight Kiwi was our cue to turn off the transmitters and lock up the building before driving back down the hill to our base at Mowbray Street.” 

From an engineering perspective, Sugarloaf remains one of New Zealand’s most impressive telecommunications structures. Its lattice steel tower rests on a five-metre-deep concrete pad anchored into volcanic rock, designed to withstand earthquakes and extreme weather.

Kordia’s Rigging Team Lead Stuart Stacey says maintaining the site’s structural integrity and technology over the years has been a constant task. 

“A lot of work happens on the tower – maintaining equipment on the tower, assessing faults, installing ice shields, managing rust – I think over my career I’ve probably seen almost every bolt in the tower replaced!” 

A major strengthening project in 2005 saw almost every piece of steel and every bolt on the tower replaced, one of the most complex engineering feats ever undertaken by Kordia. 

Read more: Kordia marks 60 years of Christchurch’s iconic Sugarloaf transmission tower 

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Created: 11 October 2025

Independent distributor All3Media International has secured a new local window for a slate of original productions from Australia and New Zealand, as 130+ hours of drama and comedy drama content arrives on Netflix in both territories.

Five titles from New Zealand’s South Pacific Pictures, an All3Media Company, are now available to Netflix members in ANZ, including the first six series of long-running detective drama favourite The Brokenwood Mysteries (24 x 2-hour) and two series of Head High (14 x 1-hour), a family drama about the hopes, dreams and expectations of high-school rugby in New Zealand.

Netflix is also now home to a trio of Kiwi comedy dramas from South Pacific Pictures. These are Educators(18 x ½-hour), the award-winning improvised comedy set behind the scenes of a secondary school; Mean Mums (S1-3, 24 x ½-hour), which follows the misadventures of an unlikely gang of misfit mums; and Step Dave (S1-2, 26 x 1-hour), the "sharply funny" drama about an ordinary guy whose life is turned upside down when he meets the love of his life – and her children.

Julie Dowding, SVP Australia & New Zealand at All3Media International, commented, We’re delighted to secure a new window in the region for these much-loved premium dramas and comedy dramas as they take their place in Netflix’s ANZ library. Maximising windowing opportunities has always been a key strategy for us, ensuring our diverse portfolio of content continues to reach new viewers and bringing ongoing value for our production partners. And in this case in particular, it means Netflix ANZ can showcase proven, locally produced hits, while viewers in the region have a new opportunity to dive into incredible content featuring relatable stories and familiar faces.

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Created: 25 August 2025

One of New Zealand's leading television and film producer passed recently. Over almost half a century  Mr Barnett produced some of New Zealand's most popular feature films, among them the internationally acclaimed 'Whale Rider', and the comedy 'Sione's Wedding'.

Mr Barnett was actively involved in film, television and video distribution and in the development of multiplex cinemas. He joined South Pacific Pictures in 1993 as Managing Director, and in early 1998 led a management buy-out of the company becoming co-owner of New Zealand's largest television and film production company. He ran South Pacific Pictures for 23 years, during which time he oversaw production of popular television shows including 'Shortland Street' and 'Outrageous Fortune', and championed projects that spoke of New Zealand's Māori, Pacific and Asian population. He established the Sundance Channel (which became Rialto), New Zealand's first art house film channel. In 2016 he re-established his company Endeavour Ventures to work on a range of feature film and television projects.

He served two terms on the Board of the New Zealand Film Commission, was a member of the Government appointed New Zealand Screen Council from 2005 to 2008, and the Auckland Museum Foundation. Mr Barnett was a Trustee of the New Zealand Film Heritage Trust, the Auckland Hospital Charitable Trust, Auckland Health Foundation, and Te Urungi o Ngati Kuri

He was active in other areas of media. In 1972 he co-founded New Zealand’s leading weekly business newspaper, National Business Review. He was a director of NBR from 1972-1985.

Our condolences to his family and friends.

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Created: 16 June 2025

• Gee, Maurice

I'm sad to hear that one of my favourite New Zealand authors past away recently.

I discovered Mr Gee's work through his 1992 novel Going West and became a big fan. I was lucky enough to attend a talk he gave at the old Christchurch City library promoting that book and have followed his work since then. Working on this site I discovered  that he wrote for the New Zealand small screen on classics like Close to Home and Mortimer's Patch, and several of his books were adapted over the years:

His place in the New Zealand Literary landscape is a major one, I just hope more of his small screen work will become available for a wider audience to appreciate..

My condolences to his family and friends.