Popular consumer affairs show Fair Go is one of New Zealand TV's longest-running series. It began in 1977, devised by Brian Edwards and producer Peter Morritt. The TVNZ programme mixes investigative reporting (daring to "name names" and expose rip-off merchants everywhere) with light-hearted segments. Its roster of presenters has included Edwards, Judith Fyfe, Hugo Manson, Philip Alpers, Kerre McIvor (nee Woodham), Carol Hirschfeld, Gordon Harcourt, and longest serving host, Kevin Milne. A perennial favourite segment is the round-up of the year's ad campaigns.  

Popular consumer affairs show Fair Go is one of New Zealand TV's longest-running series. In this episode reporter Phil Vine investigates Pure Air Ventilation: a "slippery snake" with a string of unhappy customers from Thames to Tokoroa. As burnt customer Belinda Muir says "I hate being taken for an idiot!" A showdown with the touters ensues. There's a classic spoof from the Fair Go archives, looking at "lawn aerator sandals" and featuring Helen Clark, Peter Dunne, Ed Hillary and Spiderman endorsing the jandals-meets-crampons product.   Contact Fair Go here.

Popular consumer affairs show Fair Go is one of New Zealand TV's longest-running series. This episode — presented by its longest serving host, Kevin Milne — looks back at 30 years and 860+ shows of Fair Go. Amidst regular Fair Go stories, there is a flashback to the 1977 debut of original host Brian Edwards; retro segments on soapbox rights in Christchurch Square, blocked gutters, and neighbours at war; a 1982 spoof on the struggle to open screw tops on soft drink bottles; and a 1980 survey of NZ's most untrustworthy occupations (lawyers, car dealers).   Contact Fair Go here.

Popular consumer affairs show Fair Go is one of New Zealand TV's longest-running series. In this episode long-standing host Kevin Milne heads to the Hutt to confront a dodgy landscaper who has left a run of unfinished concrete work in his wake. Heneli Saafi (aka Heneli Finau) an elusive malarky merchant who specialises in grab-the-money-and-run half jobs, was first visited by Fair Go in 1990 in Auckland. Despite on-camera promises to pay back deposits he doesn't deliver. Promos for the episode attracted nationwide responses from dissatisfied customers.   Contact Fair Go here.

New Zealand's representatives in parliament have had some of their most memorable moments captured on camera. This collection showcases their screen legacy: from stirring addresses (Kirk), feisty debates (Muldoon, Lange, Olympic boycotts), revolutions, nukes, and snap elections, to political punches (Bob Jones), and young leaders (Clark). Listener writer Toby Manhire writes about Kiwi politicians on screen here.

Award-winning Māori current affairs show The Hui sets out “to increase understanding and awareness among mainstream New Zealand about the issues facing Māori and the unique aspects of our culture.” The format includes interviews, investigative reports and panel discussions. Fronted by journalist Mihingarangi Forbes, it screens on Sunday mornings on Three. An April 2017 Hui report on the experiences of men who were abused in state boys' homes won acclaim, and led to a government inquiry. The Hui is produced by Great Southern Television.  

Kiwi telly showed it could do sly as well as it could show the shearing of a sheep when, in a 1968 Wellington edition of regional news show Town and Around, reporter Erin Sinclair investigated an innovative farmer whose turkeys were shod in gumboots. The legendary hoax apparently fooled two executives from Skellerup who flew to Whanganui to secure a contract to manufacture the boots' lining. The wool-pulling is often wrongly remembered as a Country Calendar spoof — but that show’s first hoodwinker (a fence-plucking musical farmer) was nearly a decade away.

This edition of the 70s current affairs show sees reporter Joe Coté investigating women in politics. A potted history of the trailblazers — from suffragist Kate Sheppard to Māori MP Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan (first to have a baby while in office) — leads to wide-ranging conversations with contemporary women in politics. Future Christchurch mayor Vicki Buck (here a 19-year-old council candidate) and others from across the spectrum, talk about ongoing struggles for equality: education, empowerment, abortion, childcare support, and the ‘old boys’ network.

With five series and close to 100 episodes, Frontseat, produced by The Gibson Group, was the longest-running arts programme of its time. Billed by TVNZ publicity as a "topical and provocative weekly arts series investigating the issues facing local arts and culture", and hosted by actor Oliver Driver, it (sometimes controversially) took a broad current affairs approach to the arts of the day, covering "all the big events, reporting the stories, and interviewing the personalities."

Māori Television’s flagship news show began in 2007, with a kaupapa of tackling current affairs from a Te Ao Māori perspective. Coverage of Waitangi Day, elections, plus investigations (eg into the Urewera Raids, Kiwi troops in Afghanistan, and management of the Kōhanga Reo National Trust) saw Native Affairs win acclaim, plus Best Current Affairs Show at the 2011 Aotearoa Film and TV Awards. Reporters have included Julian Wilcox, Mihingarangi Forbes, Renee Kahukura-Iosefa and Maramena Roderick. In 2015 the one-hour running time was reduced to 30 minutes.