Three Turns 30 - Promo
Big hair, big shoulder pads and big earrings feature in this video celebrating Three’s 30th birthday. On 26 November 1989, TV3 — the first privately owned TV channel in New Zealand — transmitted from its Auckland studios for the first time. The promo opens with fresh-faced news reporters/presenters hamming it up for the camera, including Joanna Paul, Eric Young and Genevieve Westcott. The rest of the clip celebrates Three's successes (Outrageous Fortune, bro’Town, 7 Days) and takes a light-hearted look at its failings, revisiting times it went into receivership.
Oscar Kightley
PI Kiwi Oscar Kightley is a writer, actor, presenter and director. After co-creating The Naked Samoans, he worked with the comedy troupe on five seasons of hit series bro’Town, NZ's first animated show to play in prime-time. Kightley has also worked with the Samoans as an actor and writer in hit feature Sione’s Wedding and its 2012 sequel. In 2013 he took on a serious role, starring as the detective in TV series Harry.
Petra Bagust
Fine Arts graduate Petra Bagust first won screen fame in 1996, as one of the irreverent Ice TV trio on TV3. Since then she has shown her versatility by fronting everything from quiz shows and charity boxing, to awards ceremonies. The high-rating What's Really in Our Food? saw her nominated for a trio of Qantas Best Presenter awards. In December 2010 Bagust began a two year stint co-hosting TV One's Breakfast.
John McDonald
Trained at Ilam School of Fine Arts, John McDonald cut his teeth directing at TVNZ in the 80s before producing sport for Sky TV. An OE producing at MTV Asia was followed by roles for Screentime. Since joining Mediaworks (TV3) in 2000, he has led an award-winning run of live coverage (Fight for Life, Rugby World Cup, the NZ Music Awards) and comedy. He is Head of In-House Production at Mediaworks.
Jon Bridges
Jon Bridges developed his stand-up comedy skills as part of group Facial DBX, while studying at Massey University. In 1991 he moved into television, via sketch show Away Laughing and drama Homeward Bound; in 1995 he became a presenter on cult youth show Ice TV. By 2009 Bridges was producing the first of seven seasons of hit panel show 7 Days. The show won him two awards. In 2017 he oversaw the launch of Three's prime time show The Project. Bridges has written for kidult series Secret Agent Men and The Amazing Extraordinary Friends — plus a column for The Listener, from 2006 to 2011.
Nathan Rarere
Nathan Rarere was voicing the midnight to dawn shift at Hastings radio station 93FM while he was still at high school. Television fame followed in the 1990s, as one of the trio of presenters on madcap youth show Ice TV. Since then, many of his screen appearances have been in tandem with Oscar Kightley — from a run of TV3 sports shows, to bro'Town (Rarere provided voices for 12 characters), to co-hosting origins documentary Made in Taiwan. In 2015 Rarere hosted Māori Television's satirical news show Brown Eye. The following year he produced Māori TV sports show Play, and joined the breakfast crew on Radio Sport.