Helen Bissett

Helen Bissett grew up in Auckland, in a musical family. Her mother was a violinist, and her siblings played the piano. "When it came to my turn, my mother wanted me to have all the chances possible to play. She asked around for what the orchestras needed, and from there I took up the oboe."

In 1976, Bissett moved to London to study with distinguished English oboist Evelyn Barbirolli. When a new opera company opened in Leeds a few years later, Helen and her then opera-singing husband moved north.

"No new opera companies had opened for ages, so suddenly a lot of people were moving to Leeds. I was too late to get a job in the orchestra, so I took a job as an assistant stage manager. I could read music, so it gave me an advantage. When you’re a stage manager you sit in a corner with the score or the libretto, and you do all the lighting cues, and call them to the stage ... you make sure it all runs smoothly. We toured all around the north of England, and had some ghastly times in ghastly places — working all hours for little money. Then I heard about this place down the road called Yorkshire Television. They wanted stage managers, and they paid twice the money for half the hours. I thought it would be a much better life decision to go down that road."

A subsequent interview at Yorkshire Television in 1980 led to a new career in television. "I had an interview with a chap who said, 'Look, we’ve got a queue of people wanting to get in here. I’ll take your name and phone number and I’ll add you to the list, but there’s not a lot coming up.' He put my name on his blotter, and I thought, when he throws that out, my number disappears, too! Three days later I got a phone call ... I think what happened was he needed someone, he looked down at his blotter, saw my name, and he couldn’t be bothered getting his list out, so he gave the job to me. And that’s how I got into television.” 

For the next five years Bissett worked as a stage manager on a range of shows, including children’s programmes, drama and light entertainment. The job was "a baptism of fire" — "I didn’t know anything about television; I was a musician. Also, I went to work for one of the most unionised places in the country. I made some big gaffes. I worked on a wonderful children’s programme called The Book Tower, presented by Tom Baker [Dr Who]. One day I was asked to bring books to the studio. Everything came to a grinding halt as everyone walked out. It turned out that I wasn’t meant to bring things into the studio — only the right union people were allowed to do that. So I almost took the whole of Yorkshire Television down and into a strike.”

“I had a big learning curve, and I had some wonderful times.” Helen went on to be an assistant producer on long-running soap Emmerdale Farm. She worked in various roles, including as an assistant director, on a number of telemovies: among them Charles Dance thriller Out of the Shadows, which was filmed on location in Greece and Yorkshire. Among her favourites are break up drama Sun Child, starring James Fox and Twiggy, and an "all-star" version of play The Lady’s Not For Burning for the 80th birthday of its writer, Christopher Fry. "We had people like Kenneth Branagh in that. We had great fun and I learnt heaps.” 

In 1988 Bissett decided to return to New Zealand, where she began working for South Pacific Pictures. One of her earliest SPP gigs was adventure series Betty’s Bunch. "It was the first time TVNZ crews had worked with commercial crews and that was very interesting, as they had such different ways of working. There was a lot to work through, such as whether you got paid for lunch or not. It was also fun, and I met my future husband there, Wayne Tourell. We've spent a lot of time working together since then on all sorts of productions, which has been great."

Aside from a brief stint at radio's Concert FM, Bissett spent the next 14 years in various television roles. After line producing  Marlin Bay, she worked on a trio of co-productions shot downunder: adventure series White Fang and Alaskan-set TV movie Rugged Gold (as production manager), and childrens show Mrs Piggle Wiggle (as a co-producer). The later show was initiated by actor and producer Shelley Duvall (The Shining). The 13 episodes were shot over 10 intense six-day weeks. The cast included Jean Stapleton, Christopher Lloyd, and Phyllis Diller — "It was incredible to have all these amazing stars coming through."

In the mid 1990s, Bissett began producing for Auckland production company Communicado, including based on a true story series Heroes.

In 1995 she did a short stint heading Communicado's drama department, followed by 15 months as Head of Production.

After producing the first two seasons of Peta Matthias culinary show Taste New Zealand, Bissett joined the Natural History Unit in Dunedin, producing award-winning wildlife programmes for viewers around the globe. "My husband and I were asked by Natural History New Zealand to work with them, and help take them in a whole new direction. They wanted to be more commercial. We made a great adventure series in Queenstown called Adventure Central for the Discovery Channel." Bissett would also produce award-winning Animal Planet series Shark Gordon, which featured Australian shark expert Ian Gordon.

In 2004 Bissett transitioned into her third career: tourism. For nine years she ran an award-winning tour guide company, then began welcoming guests to her and her husband Wayne Tourell's luxury lodge in the Coromandel Peninsula. 

Profile written by Jane Ross; published on 10 March 2023

Sources include
Helen Bissett 
'Film Talks On Air - Helen Bissett' (Interview) Arrow FM website. Loaded 19 August 2022. Accessed 10 March 2023
Patricia Brennan, 'Miss Piggle-Wiggle' - The Washington Post, 5 June 1994
Louise Richardson, 'Shortland Street legend who set up Stallone's ex selling luxury bush lodge' One Roof website. Loaded 5 November 2020. Accessed 10 March 2023
'Helen Bissett' LinkedIn website. Accessed 10 March 2023