This episode of anthology series Winners & Losers takes a fresh angle on going straight. Smooth-talking criminal Mick (Ian Mune) dreams of starting over, by cultivating mushrooms with cellmate Charlie (Coronation Street's Ivan Beavis). Charlie claims to have committed a lawful murder, thanks to a technicality. In an inspired change to Barry Crump's original story, Mick commandeers a bus to finance the pair's plan. Crump praised the episode, but felt that Mick and Charlie treat their third cellmate unfairly. Director Roger Donaldson cameos in a red Swanndri during the bus scenes.

Kōrero Mai used a soap opera (Ākina) as a platform to teach conversational te reo Māori. In this fifth season opening episode, Tini (Stephanie Martin) and Quinn (Kawariki Morgan) deal with the aftermath of the previous season's climactic car crash. Presenter Piripi Taylor introduces phrases like 'Ana e tā' (yeah man!). This season of the award-winning Māori TV show had 120 episodes, screening from Monday to Wednesday, then repeated. The directors are actors Rawiri Paratene (Whale Rider) and Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople), and cinematographer Simon Raby.

Sarah is a charismatic, confident 18 year old, about to leave school, head to uni and go flatting. What she doesn't tell many people is that on top of coping with the travails of teenagehood, she also has cystic fibrosis and a life expectancy of 32. A serious lung infection could kill her within days. When her army parents shift to Australia, she is left alone in a new town, responsible for the first time for her own physiotherapy and relentless medication. The spirit-affirming DOCNZ finalist was directed by Anna Cottrell and Jan Jeans, and screened on TV One.

American-born ventriloquist David Strassman was the star of a self-titled show on TV2. These blooper clips from the Strassman Unplugged special see him and his puppets Chuck Wood, Ted E Bare and Sid Beaverman mocking each other as they get their lines wrong. However this isn't just a collection of missed lines — Chuck Wood goes heavy on the expletives to the studio audience and Ted E Bare has a bit of trouble wrangling his props. The show was made for TVNZ; Strassman has also appeared on television in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

Simulcast on TV3, RadioLIVE and online, Paul Henry debuted in April 2015. Not to be confused with late night's The Paul Henry Show, the new three hour 'multi-platform' morning show was billed as unique, allowing "viewers/listeners to move effortlessly between their bedrooms, living rooms and cars" with uninterrupted access. Henry was supported by Hilary Barry (later Ingrid Hipkiss), Jim Kayes and a resident social media expert. By September 2016 Barry had joined rival show Breakfast. Henry himself stepped down in December, opening the slot for Duncan Garner's The AM Show in 2017.  

Smash Palace is a Kiwi cinema classic and launched Roger Donaldson's American career. Al Shaw (a brilliant, brooding Bruno Lawrence) is a racing car driver who now runs a wrecker's yard in the shadow of Mount Ruapehu. His French wife Jacqui is unhappy there and leaves him, taking up with Al's best mate. When she restricts Al's access to his young daughter, his frustration explodes and he goes bush with the girl, desperate not to lose her too. "There's no road back" runs the tagline. New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called the film "amazingly accomplished".

Journalist Kim Webby's Price of Peace is a portrait of Tūhoe activist Tame Iti, whose family Webby has known for 20 plus years. After the 2007 police raids, Iti was one of four to go on trial, accused of plotting terrorist activities. Webby’s film ranges widely from early land grievances to modern-day jail cells — and a police apology. NZ Herald reviewer Peter Calder praised the result for balancing a personal focus on Iti, with “a powerfully affecting” examination of the 2007 raids, which placed the raids in "the wider context of Tūhoe history and the process of reconciliation”. 

Poet, activist and soon-to-be Mayor of Waitemata, Tim Shadbolt explores the often-maligned art of graffiti in this 1981 special for documentary slot Contact. Shadbolt searches for wit and inspiraton from school desks and court holding cells, to the bathrooms of trendy restaurants. Some of these scribbled sentiments — like “Rob Muldoon before he robs you” — have passed into legend. The best material however, comes from a group of high school girls, encouraged by their right-on English teacher during a class of well-supervised rebellion: “castrate rapists — have a ball!”

Alone in his cell, a deeply disturbed old man delivers a psychotic monologue, and reveals an alarming secret in this darkly funny claymation short from the workshop of Tom Reilly. Reilly made his first claymation short in 2001 and is one of just a few New Zealand animators using this technique. Three more shorts and a children's TV series won him the SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year Award in 2003. He is now directing live action TV and commercials and his documentary on a wesitie misfit car-yard operator — Gordonia — was released to positive reviews in 2010.

The subjects covered in this Asia Downunder episode range from how pig cells can be used to treat diabetes (Street Talk gets some public feedback on the issue) to the issue of illegal home satellite dishes. Operation Restore Hope's charity work in the Phillipines is examined and there are profiles of a father and daughter team of chefs, and of Asian rock band Infinite Flying Kick. Street Talk asks "are boy racers a menace to society?". Meanwhile in the kitchen Asia Downunder veteran Bharat Jamnadas cooks spicy corn fritters.