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WayneTourell

  • Director
  • Producer
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Wayne Tourell has one of the longest CVs of any director in New Zealand television. After time as an actor and presenter, he began winning a long run of awards as a director. Tourell has helmed high profile documentaries (Landmarks, Moriori), drink driving campaigns, teen movie Bonjour Timothy — plus episodes of Mortimer’s Patch, Shortland Street, Gloss and beloved, award-winning legal drama Hanlon. 

Screenography

Sally Martin on helicopter crashes and teaching Bella first aid
2017 Director - Shortland Street clip Web
Check Out
2011 Director Short film
Rivers with Craig Potton - Rangitata
2010 Producer Television

Biography

Wayne Tourell’s career defies easy categorisation. Glance through the awards accumulated from all the varied shows he has directed, and you'll find everything from documentaries to comedies, to classic legal drama Hanlon— which he spent over a decade trying to get on-screen. In the early 1980s, after a long period dominated by documentary and current affairs, Tourell concentrated increasingly on helming drama.

Awards

2003 Festival de L’Oiseau et de la Nature (France)
Nominated for Best Documentary: NZ - Sanctuary Keepers

1999 TV Guide New Zealand Television Awards
Nominated for Best Director - Drama: for Shortland Street

“Wayne makes the set a relaxing and enjoyable place to be. On my first feature film he was so nurturing and helpful, and took away all my nerves. He’s one of the two people who encouraged and supported me in my journey to become a director myself, and I've always been inspired by him.”

— Actor/director Angela Bloomfield

Related images

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A behind the scenes shot from 1987 series Steel Riders: from left to right, dialogue coach Shirley Duke, director Wayne Tourell and actor Fraser Stephen-Smith.
©TVNZ
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Wayne Tourell as Hortensio in a half-hour TV version of The Taming of the Shrew. Filmed in Christchurch in late June 1963, it was one of the earliest locally shot plays to screen on New Zealand television. The first was Al Flett's All Earth to Love, which screened in January 1963.   
Photo supplied by Wayne Tourell
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A shot taken in the town of Stillwater: the director's chair for Wayne Tourell, which travelled across New Zealand during the six-month shoot for Tourell's passion project Hanlon.
Photograph by Graham Wallace. Kindly provided by Brian Walden
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Reynolds Television buisness card. From left to right, director Wayne Tourell and cinematographer Malcolm Ferguson.
Kindly supplied by Malcolm Ferguson
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A shot taken during filming of the Emmy-nominated Minnie Dean episode of Hanlon. Atop the crane is camera operator Michael O'Connor. The scene was shot on the Weka Pass Railway in North Canterbury.
Photograph by Graham Wallace. Kindly provided by Wayne Tourell
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Rehearsals for The Taming of the Shrew: from left Lionel Rogers (as Vincentio), Jennifer Barrer (Katherina), Wayne Tourell (Hortensio) and Mervyn Glue (Petruchio). Shot in the cramped Christchurch studios of CHTV-3 in June 1963, the half-hour Shakespeare adaptation was one of the earliest locally-shot dramas to screen on NZ television.
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The Producers' Course of 1970. From left, back row: Peter Sharp, ?, Donald Hope Evans, Wayne Tourell, Alan Lyne, John Whitwell, Michael Noonan, and Bob Blair. Front: David McPhail, Peter Coates, Roy Melford, Murray Reece and Mike Mune.
Kindly supplied by Peter Coates
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The Hanlon crew filming outside the Parliamentary Library.
Photograph taken by Graham Wallace. Kindly provided by Wayne Tourell
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A behind the scenes shot taken near Dunedin, for 1985 TV series Hanlon. Cameraman Michael O'Connor is hanging off the car, while actor Bill Ewens is behind the wheel. In the back seat are soundman Neil Newcombe and director Wayne Tourell (half obscured).
Photographer: Graham Wallace. Kindly provided by Wayne Tourell
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Extras on the set of Hanlon.
Photograph taken by Graham Wallace. Kindly provided by Wayne Tourell
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A behind the scenes shot from 1975 anti-drink driving campaign drama On The Day, directed by Wayne Tourell, cinematographer Malcolm Ferguson middle left.
Kindly supplied by Malcolm Ferguson
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The Moriori village recreated on the Chatham Islands for 1980 documentary Moriori. The replica waka kōrari, a Moriori wash-through raft, was built by Murray Thacker from Okains Bay Museum, who died in 2017.
Supplied by Wayne Tourell
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Wayne Tourell grabs a rare quiet moment, while directing Feltex-Award-winning documentary Moriori (1980).
Supplied by Wayne Tourell
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Behind the scenes at the Moriori village built for 1980 documentary Moriori. Graham Smith is behind the camera. Director Wayne Tourell sits to his right, with his arm out, then sound recordist Rod Wilson (standing), writer/producer Bill Saunders (in white) and Margaret Solomon, a grandchild of the last full-blooded Moriori.
Supplied by Wayne Tourell
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Behind the scenes at the Moriori village constructed for Moriori at Rēkohu in the Chatham Islands.
Supplied by Wayne Tourell
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Behind the scenes on 1980 documentary Moriori.
Supplied by Wayne Tourell
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Rehearsals for early TV drama The Taming of the Shrew (1963). From centre, Patricia Turner (as Bianca), unknown, Wayne Tourell (holding cup, as Hortensio), director and narrator John Kim, and at far right (visible when you press on the photo), Jennifer Barrer (Katherina).
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Captain Cook's anchor takes one of its journeys in Tahiti, in Lost and Found (1979).  
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