Bettina Hollings

Pioneering TV programmer Bettina Hollings can list the launch of Shortland Street and being the first female to head a major local television network among her credits. In 2000, she ‘jumped fence’ and formed Imagination Television. The company is responsible for making some of NZ’s most popular shows, including MasterChef New Zealand, New Zealand’s Got Talent and Grand Designs New Zealand.

We need a five-day-a-week soap. What Bettina Hollings said to NZ On Air to pitch Shortland Street, according to Caterina De Nave in a May 2008 Listener interview)