In 1983 music show Shazam! travelled across the ditch to check out how Kiwi musicians were doing in Sydney. This excerpt features an interview with singer Sharon O’Neill, who has been in town for three years and recently had some Aussie success with album Foreign Affairs. Host Phillip Schofield asks O’Neill – sunnies shading her from the Aussie sun – about her favourite venues (The Tivoli), music television in Australia, and the travails of touring. "There’s a lot driving and one-night stands".  Schofield would go on to English TV fame as a breakfast show presenter.

In this episode from long-running arts series Kaleidoscope, reporter Angela D’Audney visits the artist Grahame Sydney at his home — Mount Pisa Station near Cromwell — and discovers the slow and painstaking techniques he uses to produce his remarkable landscapes. Sydney explains how he chooses the subjects for his paintings and manipulates the Central Otago landscapes, to create the artworks for which he has achieved worldwide fame. Sydney also discusses the impact of family life upon him and his work.

Painter Grahame Sydney has been pigeonholed by some as a landscape artist, but this doumentary contends that his evocative depictions of his Central Otago surroundings are much more than just exercises in realism. Fellow locals, poet Brian Turner and actor Sam Neill discuss the emotional and artistic resonance his work holds for them. Sydney's portraits and figure studies are also examined. The production of one of his lithographs is followed from inception — as a sketch on a slab of Bavarian limestone brought to NZ over 200 years ago — to fully fledged print.

Pop rock anthems like 'Are You Old Enough' made Dragon stars in Australasia in the late 70s, but the band dissolved in 1980. In 1982 they reformed and a reunion tour saw them back in the spotlight. In this excerpt from a Shazam! special on music across the ditch, Phillip Schofield chats with band members Robert Taylor and Paul Hewson about their musical direction ("more keyboards") and the challenges of making it in Australia ("you’ve got to work hard"). A clip from the video for hit single 'Rain', which peaked at number two on the Australian charts, concludes the story.

"Once a band has made it here in Godzone, the big question is: where to now?". As presenter Karyn Hay put it back in 1981, there was only one answer — Australia. RWP reporter Simon Morris headed to Sydney to meet Kiwi musos who'd made it (Marc Hunter, on hiatus from Dragon), and those trying (Sharon O’Neill, Dave McArtney, Mi-Sex's Kevin Stanton, Barry Saunders from The Tigers). Hunter muses on Sydney brashness versus NZ introspection, O’Neill shyly promotes 'Maybe' to Molly Meldrum, and expat music producer Peter Dawkins explains what makes a hit. 

In this episode, Nia (Shania Gilmour) spends a day in the sun with her friend Hazel (Jessica Woollam). As the girls' imaginations and the show's distinctive animation run wild, the pair have adventures in New York, Sydney and Paris, and star in their own explosive action movie. But things turn cloudy when Hazel reluctantly reveals that she has to move back to Australia, leaving Nia to deal with the thought of losing her best friend. Nia's Extra Ordinary Life uses a diary format to help take us inside Nia's head.

“The big ALL FUN show for the whole family to enjoy!” said the ads for this musical comedy, which was one of only two New Zealand features made in the 1960s. Moving from Sydney to a Rotorua music festival, the plot follows the romance between a lively drummer (Gary Wallace) and Judy (Carmen Duncan), and the hurdles they face to stay true. This is only an excuse for a melange of madcap, pep-filled musical fun. Made by John O’Shea’s Pacific Films, the movie features performers Howard Morrison, Kiri Te Kanawa and Lew Pryme, plus distinctive graphics by artist Pat Hanly.

The third of Pasta Productions’ popular All Blacks documentaries sees winger John Kirwan provide running commentary on the team’s path to the 1991 World Cup in England: from Argentina to Sydney and Auckland to contest the Bledisloe; from facing bottle and orange missiles in Tucumán to touch on Bondi Beach. JK muses on why coach Alex Wyllie is nicknamed ‘Grizz’, Neil and Tim Finn provide musical accompaniment (“I see black”), and Canterbury Uglies are the training uniform du jour. Meanwhile on-field signs are ominous for the reigning world champs.  

John Reynolds is one of New Zealand's most talked-about contemporary artists. His diverse practice takes in painting, photography, clothing, tattooing and landscaping. Director Shirley Horrocks frames the film as a series of questions. The answers reflect Reynold's exuberant personality, his strong family life, his sense of humour, and his adventurous art-making. Following a year in his life, the film observes him as he makes and debuts a work (Cloud) at the 2006 Biennale of Sydney, and takes time out to appear in an episode of bro'Town.

Episode 10 of season two of The Big Art Trip kicks off in Timaru, birthplace of artist Colin McCahon, where hosts Fiona and Douglas check out a collection of his paintings. Next it’s Dunedin to meet designer Vita Cochran, who makes handbags and other objects, and they visit the studio of Jeffrey Harris who talks about his evolving painting style. Dancer and choreographer Shona Dunlop MacTavish describes her career and life as a young woman in 1930s Europe and artist Grahame Sydney discusses landscapes, nudes, surrealism and his love for the Otago countryside.