Roger Gascoigne: the man with the golden smile (and that wink)...

Interview – 2012

Roger Gascoigne was at one stage the most famous man on New Zealand television. He began his TV career as a continuity announcer and introduced his infamous wink to the nation. He went on to present a huge range of TV shows in the 70s and 80s including Ready to Roll, Top Town and several Telethons. During the 80s he made the transition to news presenting on regional show Today Tonight.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Gascoigne talks about:

Becoming the face of television
How "the wink" became an institution
Getting excited about music videos in the early days of Ready to Roll
Revamping the midnight to dawn slot on Telethon
Ruining a valuable piece of equipment on Top Town
Fearing for his life while being mobbed on the show
Changing the focus of his career by hosting Today Tonight
Acting a role similar to his real persona in Peppermint Twist
How the arrival of Holmes led to him leaving television

This video was first uploaded on 19 November 2012, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

It is the most astonishing thing to give your heart and soul for 24 hours, and about six hours later walk into the studio and there is nothing there: It's all gone . . . there's one deflated balloon left over in the corner . . . that real transient thing about television is that it's there tonight, it's gone tomorrow.
– Roger Gascoigne on working on Telethon, and in television

Roger's Full Profile