Current affairs show Gallery took on controversial topics of the day, most famously in a Brian Edwards interview which solved a Post Office industrial dispute live on-air. Produced by Des Monaghan, it began as a studio-based programme that discussed political issues, but was soon expanded. Edwards’ confrontational style of interrogating public figures was new to New Zealand TV, and polarised viewers. It saw Edwards (the "mad mauler") become a household name, and earned him a reputation as a hardline interviewer. He was succeeded as host by David Exel.

In this 1973 current affairs interview, Albert Wendt discusses his first novel Sons For the Return Home on the occasion of its publication. The Pacific Island Romeo and Juliet tale was a seminal exploration of Samoan migrant life in NZ. Wendt muses on the inspiration for his work; facing discrimination at school and from girlfriends' parents; the differences between NZ Samoans and Samoan Samoans; returning ‘home’, and the difficulty of finding the solitude to write in Samoa. Maurice Shadbolt praises the book at its launch; it was adapted into a film in 1979.

In this famous edition of current affairs show Gallery interviewer Brian Edwards turns conciliator in a long-running industrial dispute. Post Office workers had imposed a go-slow after wage negotiations broke down. Producer Des Monaghan managed to get the Postmaster General Mr McCready and Mr Reddish of the Post Office union into the studio together. In the interview’s final minutes Edwards forced an agreement between the two men to stop union action and go back into mediation. This programme won Edwards a Feltex Award for ‘Best Performance as Frontman’.

In this short Gallery interview — broadcast in June 1973 — Peace Media representative (and future TVNZ news boss) Bill Ralston talks about dwindling supplies for two private vessels that had left Aotearoa, to protest upcoming French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll. Ralston accuses Prime Minister Norman Kirk of being “a little bit heartless” for not assisting. Actually Kirk was realising plans for the HMNZS Otago to join the vigil. Protest yacht Fri was later stormed by French commandos, and the protests made world news. French nuclear testing in the Pacific finally ceased in 1996.

In this Gallery episode David "Mr Current Affairs" Exel politely interrogates Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk on his first 250 days in office; ranging from Britain's changing role in the Commonwealth to Kirk's weight loss. Dairne Shanahan comments on the PM’s image and Ross Stevens weighs in on broken election promises. Exel became Gallery host in 1971, when Brian Edwards quit after NZBC refused to screen a notorious pilot for an Edwards-fronted show (then-Finance Minister Rob Muldoon sparring with young critics Tim Shadbolt, Chris Wheeler and Alister Taylor).

The decade of fondue and flares also cooked up colour television. Our black and white living room icons — from Selwyn Toogood to Space Waltz — melted into a Kiwi kaleidoscope of Top Town, Grunt Machine, and Close to Home. And 'our stories' and rights fights — boks, hikoi, nukes and 'nam — echoed onscreen (Sleeping Dogs, Tangata Whenua). Ready to roll?

For this screen showcase of NZ visual arts talent, critic Mark Amery selects his top documentaries profiling artists. From the icons (Hotere, McCahon, Lye) to the unheralded (Edith Collier) to Takis the Greek, each portrait shines light on the person behind the canvas. "Naturally inquisitive, with an open wonder about the world, they make for inspiring onscreen company."

Before X Factor there was New Faces, before Masterchef ... Graham Kerr, before Country Calendar there was ... er, Country Calendar. This collection picks the screen gems from the decade that gave Kiwi pop culture, "miniskirts, teenagers — and television." Peter Sinclair, Sandy Edmonds, Howard Morrison, and Ray Columbus star. Do your mod's nod and C'mon! 

Pacific Monarch by New Zealand sculptor Paul Dibble was installed in front of the Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, in 1995. This film documents the production of this large scale bronze sculpture, and in doing so reveals something of its maker. Dibble's knowledge and skill in manipulating the process of bronze casting to produce his delicately balanced sculptures is evident - the casting, the welding together of all the parts, and the assembling of a team of sympathetic experts. 

Before he was an acclaimed cinematographer, Leon Narbey was another kind of artist. Narbey shot this film to document Real Time, an immersive light and sound installation he created for the opening of New Plymouth's Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 1970. Real Time took over the entire gallery: viewers entered an altered landscape of glittering materials, neon flashes and an industrial soundtrack triggered by the movements of the crowd. The film opens with quickfire shots of the official opening ceremony, before the camera enters a new and strange world of sensory thrills.