Don McGlashan is renowned for the sense of place in his songs. In 'Bad Blood', the trees along the Shore are turning red and immediately the listener is on the bus on Auckland's North Shore, gazing out the window with him. This video was directed by Aucklander Sally Tran (before she relocated to NYC) and demonstrates her love for textiles and cardboard cut-outs. McGlashan 'appears', but in two dimensions, something repeated in the video for his 2015 track 'Lucky Stars'. 'Bad Blood' reveals a master storyteller at work; the 'stranger' he obsesses about is part of himself.

In this episode of Talk Talk musician Don McGlashan discusses politics, growing up and the art of communicating emotions and ideas, with journalist Finlay MacDonald. The Talk Talk host starts by asking McGlashan to explain how he managed to offend Kiwi seafood lovers across the country with a political analogy during the 2008 general election. Then the pair explore McGlashan's early inspirations and musical development. McGlashan finishes with a live rendition of his 2009 single 'Marvellous Year', complete with accordian, theremin and strings.

After time in post-punk trio Blam Blam Blam, the unclassifiable The Front Lawn and percussion group From Scratch, Don McGlashan released four studio albums during a decade long run with The Mutton Birds. In the early 2000s he  launched his solo career. New songs were performed during Auckland festival AKO3, and McGlashan's first solo album Warm Hand finally emerged in 2006. Follow-up Marvellous Year (2009) — credited to Don McGlashan and the Seven Sisters — featured McGlashan's version of his hit 'Bathe in the River'. For Lucky Stars (2015), he largely abandoned his habit of portraying other characters.

This Inside New Zealand doco takes a calm, no nonsense look at one man’s encounter with heroin addiction — a habit he estimates cost him a seven figure sum. Far from being the clichéd junkie loser, Tim was a husband, father and successful businessman who remarkably didn’t think twice about dabbling with a drug that had already taken the life of one of his sisters. Nine years after it led him to detox and rehab, Tim and his mother and sister talk about his addiction and its impact on their lives — without glamorising or demonising the drug or its users.

Australian diva Kylie Minogue is in New Zealand to promote her 1997 Impossible Princess album in this interview for the Queer Nation TV series. Filmed in an Auckland hotel room, Libby Magee asks the pint-sized gay icon why ‘the boys’ love her and whether she’s ever kissed a girl. Kylie talks about Royal Albert Hall collaborations with Nick Cave and Elton John, what it’s like to snog Jason Donovan, and needing to wear heels while performing at Sydney’s Mardi Gras: “Most of the Kylies here are about seven feet tall!”. Kylie finishes by coming out of the closet. 

Seven stand-alone contemporary dramas, collected together under one umbrella. The stories in this television series showcase a fresh wave of 1980s independent filmmakers. They cross the gamut from gritty kitchen sink dramas and oddball tales of Kiwi heroes, to Jewel's Darl, an acclaimed romance staring future transsexual MP Georgina Beyer. Five of the About Face directors went on to make feature films; 23-year-old Jennifer Ward-Lealand's performance in Danny and Raewyn won a GOFTA award.

The first movie written and directed by playwright Anthony McCarten is a portrait of a family melting down under the media spotlight. The comedy/drama stars Danielle Cormack in two roles — as a swimmer on the cusp of Olympic glory, and as the twin sister back home, looking on as her family descends into spats and bickering as they find the pressure to perform too much to bear. Via Satellite showcases a topline cast, including Tim Balme, Rima Te Wiata, and a scene-stealing and heavily-pregnant Jodie Dorday, who won an NZ TV and Film Award for her work.

Train enthusiast David Sims captured the dying days of steam trains in this 1968 National Film Unit short. It features arresting images of a Kb class locomotive billowing steam as it tackles the Southern Alps, en route from Canterbury to the West Coast. Kb Country was released in Kiwi cinemas in January 1968, just months before the steam locomotives working the Midland Line were replaced by diesel-electrics. Sims earned his directing stripes with the film. As he writes in this background piece, making it involved a mixture of snow, joy and at least two moments of complete terror.

National treasures The Topp Twins (aka twins Lynda and Jools Topp) have performed as a country-music singing and yodelling comedy duo for more than 25 years. In the late 90s they created their own TV series which ran for three seasons and showcased their iconic cast of Kiwi characters, including Camp Mother, the Bowling Ladies and cross-dressing Ken and Ken. The series, travelling from a Highland Games to a Tauranga triathlon, won the twins - out-and-proud lesbians - several gongs at the NZ Film and TV Awards and screened on the ABC and Foxtel in Australia.