This 2007 Christmas special was the final swansong of Ask Your Auntie, Māori Television’s top-rating agony aunt show. The series gained a solid reputation for dishing out no-nonsense advice from its spirited panellists, as can be sampled in the montage of clips and quips in this hour long special. As one might expect from a Christmas edition, this show eschews the tough and gritty for more uplifting subjects, including what to feed your Christmas guests. Musical entertainment is provided by the Tama Waipara Band and singer Ringiringi Manawaiti.  

Ask Your Auntie was one of the most popular shows on Māori Television. This half hour studio-based chat series gained a solid reputation for straight up, no-nonsense wisdom from the agony 'Aunties'. Host Ella Henry is joined by a rotating panel of talented and wise wahine  including Mabel Wharekawa-Burt, Aroha Hathaway, Vanessa Rare, Veeshayne Patuwai, Kath Akuhata-Brown, Christina Asher, Whetu Fala, Ngawai Herewini and Rachel House.

David Bellamy told Kiwis their old man’s beard had to go, Spike Milligan advised “Just put up a windmill Daddy!” … in 1977 the international celebrity counselling New Zealanders was Puerto Rican-born musician José Feliciano, telling Godzoners to “go easy” on power consumption. With the second oil shock looming, this was one of a series of 70s public service announcements produced to encourage energy conservation. The blind virtuoso — famous for songs like ‘Feliz Navidad’ and his cover of  ‘Light My Fire’ — was filmed on 3 October, a few days before his Auckland show.

In the mid-70s New Zealand was on the edge of recession, and the petroleum-dependent economy was reeling from the first oil shock (the cost of importing oil had ballooned due to restricted supply). To help conserve power, Television One and the Government-run New Zealand Electricity teamed up for a series of public service announcements. In this 1975 slot, English actor Edward Woodward — fresh from starring as secret agent Callan, and playing the uptight sergeant in cult horror The Wicker Man — raises a toast to NZ, and counsels Kiwis to ‘save power’ in his inimitable style.

This March 1976 Encounter item catches up on athlete Peter Snell while studying human performance at University of California, Davis — 12 years after his double Olympic triumph in Tokyo. When world champion mile runner John Walker turns up, Snell takes him for a jog, and puts Walker through his paces in the Human Performance Laboratory. The pair muse over life, sport, success, choosing your future, and which of them is the best. The master counsels his heir on the upcoming Montreal Olympics, after Walker expresses fear at becoming the “biggest failure in history".

A documentary about author Janet Frame based on the eponymous biography by Michael King. It travels through the familiar Frame themes - her alleged mental illness, family tragedies, overseas stays, how she began writing. Its value, and fresh insight, lies in the interviews with Frame's close friends and key figures in her life. They shed light on her personality and achievements. King in particular provides a considered, often-amusing account of Frame's life. This was his last interview for film; he was killed in a car accident in 2004.