Stu Dennison: Giving the thumbs up to kids TV…

Stu Dennison was a much-loved TV presenter in the 1970s who introduced his ‘naughty schoolboy’ character and thumbs up to a generation of Kiwi kids, on show Nice One Stu. Sometimes he played sidekick to popular TV host Roger Gascoigne. After Dennison ended his on-air career, he re-invented himself as a sports producer at TVNZ.

In this ScreenTalk, Dennison talks about:

• Being the ‘everyman’ on Ready to Roll
• Creating his outrageous persona for Nice One Stu
• Getting away with being slightly controversial 
• How a spontaneous ‘thumbs up’ became his signature gesture
• Winding up the prim and proper Roger Gascoigne on Top Town
• Getting a pie in the face on Telethon
• Enjoying the mix of live entertainment and skits on How’s That
• Moving from presenting to editing and producing sports
• Carrying the torch at the Beijing Olympics

This video was first uploaded on 27 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