This 2010 Close Up excerpt sees presenter Mark Sainsbury interview rock band Dragon. After singer Marc Hunter’s death in 1998, the band went on hiatus until nearly a decade later, when Todd Hunter started rehearsing a new line-up, with Mark Williams on vocals. Hunter talks about reforming — "we are here to service the songs" — and he and Williams reflect on their rock’n’roll lives. "It must have been dangerous to be in the band?" asks Sainsbury. It wouldn’t be a Kiwi summer without 'Rain', and the band ends with a TVNZ rooftop rendition of the classic song.

This ambitious video for Head Like a Hole's cowpunk Bruce Springsteen cover was shot by commercials company Flying Fish — at vastly more expense than the low budget recording which supplies the soundtrack. There's more than a cursory nod to U2's LA rooftop video for 'Where The Streets Have No Name' (including fake radio coverage from Channel Z). But HLAH get a higher building, and, unlike U2's guerrilla effort, the apparent blessing of the city fathers (with Mayor Mark Blumsky on site). The video marked one of the last appearances of drummer Mark 'Hidee Beast' Hamill.

This track by Auckland post-punk trio Blam Blam Blam became a theme song for the long, troubled winter of 1981, as New Zealand was wracked by division during the Springbok rugby tour. Poet and playwright Richard von Sturmer wrote the lyrics; the music was by Blams drummer Don McGlashan. The video features the band after dark on the roof of TVNZ’s old Shortland Street studios in Auckland, alongside fleeting shots of Kiwi celebrity lawnmowing. The dancing Marmite and Vegemite jars were originally created for a piece of political theatre written by von Sturmer.

In the best traditions of the Beatles, U2 and Head Like a Hole, Die! Die! Die! takes to a rooftop in New York for this video made by London-based director and editor Rohan Thomas. They sing of an urban nightmare of burning roads and bridges, places to avoid and not being able to return home – but the song's title takes full responsibility. The clip was the result of a guerilla shoot with a generator in 2009 that had them moved on from a series of prospective locations until they happened on an unguarded rooftop – to the surprise of nearby office workers.

Possibly channelling the final rooftop concert by The Beatles (a number of The Crocodiles were big Beatles fans), this up-on-the roof video was self-produced by The Crocodiles. It marked Fane Flaws first directing credit — made, with fine business sense, for a song that was never released as a single. The location was near Parliament, with the high shots coming from an unauthorised trip to the top of a nearby Government high-rise. Vocalist Jenny Morris and drummer Bruno Lawrence play ill-matched lovers — as they would do in the video for breakthrough Crocodiles hit 'Tears'.

In this excerpt from TV2's 90s late night news show, a bemused Mark Staufer interviews Jordan Luck (aka "slightly tipsy singer") as his band The Exponents plays on a rooftop on Auckland's Karangahape Road, to promote a new album and summer tour. The jokes about not falling off may have a point. Luck suggests the new release is "a magical recording of ancient times" and confirms that they will be touring the whole country, "and Greymouth as well ... and Westport". The bakery underneath is long gone — replaced by an adult shop. Bassist David Gent also says some words.

Actors Tane Williams-Accra and Ngahuia Piripi joined Shortland Street in 2015, as ambulance driver Ali Karim and Nurse Esther Samuels. Here they introduce their favourite Shortie storyline: the one involving Ferndale Strangler Joey Henderson (Johnny Barker). Cut from a longer clip which is viewable on NZ On Screen, the finale has the formerly sympathetic nurse and recently discovered serial killer escaping to the rooftop, where he is tackled by flatmate Kieran Mitchell (Adam Rickitt). When the police show up and make Kieran let go, Joey takes fate into his own hands.

Today Live was an interview show hosted by journalist Susan Wood; it was aimed at “the lighter, more conversational end of the spectrum” from her work at the time as stand-in on Holmes. Part of TVNZ’s search for a lead-in to the 6pm news, it screened 5:30pm weeknights from March 2000 to December 2001. Each episode typically featured three interviews with regular reviewers and guests that included actors, authors, sports people, musicians and newsmakers. Auckland’s rush hour traffic and weather provided a backdrop, courtesy of a rooftop studio with a glass wall.

One shaggy dog, dozens of humans, and a smorgasbord of Kiwi scenery: viewers were glued to the screen for this TV One promotional campaign, which began screening in August 1991. The six-part promo followed a lovable sydney silky poodle cross travelling the country by car, train and paw. En route, roughly 50 Kiwis make blink and you'll miss it appearances: including sporting figures, local townspeople, and 20+ TV personalities (see backgrounder for more info, and clues on who is who). The popular promos were directed by Lee Tamahori, before he made Once Were Warriors.