Millen Baird
Millen Baird's self-titled comedy show won acclaim, and a Best Comedy nomination at the 2009 Qantas Awards. Then Baird and friends semi-improvised as a group of big city wannabes, for web series Auckland Daze. Baird has gone on to create and act in web series Darryl - An Outward Bound Story, Leeway and Slow Pete (with wife Siobhan Marshall), and act on TV's Step Dave and The Almighty Johnsons.
Anthony McCarten
Raised in Taranaki with seven siblings and roughly as many books, Anthony McCarten went on to co-write global stage hit Ladies Night. In 1998 he made his directorial debut with a movie of his play Via Satellite, followed later by Show of Hands. In 2015 he won two BAFTA awards after writing Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything. Winston Churchill drama Darkest Hour and Bohemian Rhapsody followed.
Jim Hickey
Jim Hickey spent more than two decades using his dextrous vocabulary to predict the likely path of sun, rain and wind. A longtime TV One fixture as weather forecaster on the primetime news, Hickey has also brought his distinctive presentation style to a host of other shows, including Country Calendar and A Flying Visit.
Lew Pryme
Lew Pryme was a popular New Zealand performer, who appeared in big screen musical Don't Let it Get You and on sixties television show C'mon. After stints as a music promoter and agent, Pryme played a part in bringing the entertainment and sports worlds together as executive director of the Auckland Rugby Union - introducing cheerleaders, mascots and music entertainment to rugby fans.
Toni Street
Raised on a Taranaki farm, Toni Street has represented Taranaki and Canterbury in netball, and Central Districts in cricket. After commerce studies at Lincoln University and a journalism diploma at Canterbury University, she joined TVNZ as an intern in 2006. During seven years in sport, she commentated at the Beijing Olympics and the World Netball champs. In 2012 Street began co-hosting a Saturday version of Breakfast; she graduated to the weekday show the following year, then joined the Seven Sharp team. Three years later, she was named Television Personality of the Year at the 2017 New Zealand TV Awards.
Robert Boyd-Bell
Television veteran Robert Boyd-Bell's eclectic screen career includes 14 years in journalism, followed by time in academia, public service TV, and producing. Which is not to forget writing landmark book New Zealand Television – The First 25 Years. Boyd-Bell joined the state broadcaster in 1965, and later headed TV One's northern newsroom. He also has an extensive involvement in delivering programmes online.
Derek Morton
Derek Morton is one of those happily unsung industry all-rounders who has tried a little of everything: from documentaries and children's TV to underground films, doing time as a cameraman, editor, writer, producer and director (from commercials and docos, to trucking drama Roche), as well as running his own production company.
Allen Guilford
Allen Guilford was a prolific and much admired cinematographer, whose host of television programmes ranged from 1970s TV landmark The God Boy to colonial melodrama Greenstone. Guilford won NZ Film Awards for his work on movies The Footstep Man, coming of age tale The Climb, and blockbuster What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? He passed away on 10 March 2009.
Keith Slater
Keith Slater started his journalism career at South Pacific Television before becoming a director, then taking the helm as Auckland Bureau Chief in TV3's newsroom. Along the way he produced shows like Fair Go and Country Calendar, but his heart belonged to current affairs, where his list of credits included TV3's primetime news, 60 Minutes, 20/20, Nightline and Campbell Live. Slater passed away in June 2017.
John Banas
Beginning as an actor, writer and director in local theatre during the 70s, John Banas increasingly focused on dramatic writing for television from the 80s on. After relocating to Australia, he established himself as a prolific TV screenwriter with a string of iconic shows, including Blue Heelers and City Homicide. His New Zealand scripts include award-winning telemovies Siege and How to Murder Your Wife.