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DavidPumphrey

  • Producer
  • Director
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Television experience with the BBC helped David Pumphrey win a job in Kiwi television, soon after he returned to New Zealand in 1959. He went on to produce children's shows, live broadcasts, and Montage — forerunner to magazine show Town and Around. Pumphrey also worked on the first TV broadcasts by celebrity cook Graham Kerr, and directed for high profile current affairs shows Compass and Gallery.

 

Screenography

The Boat Show (1970s)
1978 - 1979 Director Series
Other People's Boats
1977 Director Series
The Motor Show
1977 Director, Producer Series
Water is
1975 Producer Television
TV One News
1975 - 2026 Subject Series

Biography

In 1967 David Pumphrey boarded a plane for Mount Cook, accompanied by a small television crew. They were about to film For the Hang of it, for TV series Landscape. The documentary accompanies high altitude climbers Lynn Crawford and Peter Farrell during a weekend climb up Mount Alack. As Pumphrey wrote at the time, "the climb was for climbing’s sake, not a first ascent of some virgin peak — the sort that could be done by these professionals over a long weekend.

Awards

1970 Feltex Television Awards (New Zealand)
Best Factual Series: Tomorrow Today

“Every day was exciting one way or another, by pushing the system a little bit further or doing something that hadn't been done before.”

— David Pumphrey on working in New Zealand television during the 1960s

Related images

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On location on the Southern Alps in 1967, while attempting to get a shot for Landscape documentary For the Hang of It.
Supplied by David Pumphrey
David-Pumphrey-Gallery-4.jpg
A shot from 1963 of Christchurch channel CHTV-3's control room, with the studio beyond: from left to right, Derek Lane, technical producer Brian Norton, and producer David Pumphrey.
Supplied by David Pumphrey
David-Pumphrey-Gallery-3.jpg
A shot taken in a televison studio, from a programme covering the Pan Pacific Arts Festival — probably in 1965: Ted Kiely (left) and David Pumphrey.
Supplied by David Pumphrey
David-Pumphrey-Gallery-5.jpg
On location at Riccarton Park Racecourse in the mid 1960s: from left to right, Ron Findlay, director David Pumphrey (holding camera), and cameraman Frank Oakeshott.
Supplied by David Pumphrey
David-Pumphrey-Gallery-1.jpg
A film crew from the NZ Broadcasting Corporation, covering a field day at Lincoln College in the 1960s. From left to right, David Pumphrey, cameraman Roy Keanard, and rural reporter Jan Scoular.
Supplied by David Pumphrey