Onehunga born jazz and cabaret singer Ricky May hosts his own NZ TV special after 20 years of performing in Sydney. With help from special guests including Norman Erskine, Susan Dalzell and Jamie Rigg, May turns in polished big band versions of standards including ‘Running Bear’, ‘Hit The Road Jack’ and ‘Mack the Knife’. The show is long on music and short on patter, but May does talk about how he explains his Maori heritage to overseas audiences — and he acknowledges those origins with a medley of ‘Pokarekare Ana’ and ‘Hoki Mai’. Ricky May died in 1988.

Campbell Live was Three's flagship current affairs programme for a decade. Despite a public campaign to save it, the show ended on 29 May 2015. This final episode presents a greatest hits reel. Alongside acclaimed reporting (Novopay, the Pike River mine disaster and collapse of Solid Energy, the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake) there are campaigns for healthy school lunches, and to get the All Blacks to play in Samoa; plus marvellous moments like the 2011 Rugby World Cup final. An emotional John Campbell tautokos his team, and signs off: "Ka kite anō and a very good evening indeed." 

Sports broadcasters turned entertainers Glyn Tucker and Ernie Leonard invite viewers to 'Walk Right In' in this ill-fated variety show. There are performances from singers including Bridgette Allen and Glyn Tucker himself; and belly dancing from the Elektra Dancers. It’s FA Cup Night, so Glyn interviews the manager of English football team Norwich City (with dimly lit footage of them playing a local selection) and Ernie has a rather odd chat with aviator Fred Ladd (who insists on answering in rhyming couplets). Equally curious is ‘The Silver Shot’ ...

In 1989, before she was an anchor for One Network News, April Ieremia was a 21-year-old  Canterbury University history student, making her netball test debut for the reigning world champion Silver Ferns team. In this One Network News excerpt, Cathy Campbell interviews the "new light" in the Kiwi line-up, the day after Ieremia's star role in defeating Australia in the third test. She talks of dealing with the media attention, while coach Lyn Parker says she has noticed a rush of instant netball experts (the 80s saw a major expansion in coverage of the game). 

This classic sports mishap from the 1974 Commonwealth Games sees weightlifter Graham May fall flat on his face after passing out while holding a 187.5kg barbell over his head. Despite the fall May went on to win gold in the super heavyweight (110kg+) division, and weightlifting gained a local profile due to his and the NZ team's success. The mustachioed Kiwi’s face-plant became a staple of blooper reels worldwide: from the long-running 'It's moments like these …' Minties ad campaign to the title sequence for ABC’s Wide World of Sports on US TV. May died in 2006.

Radio Waves revolves around an Auckland commercial radio station. In this episode, drive-time DJ Win Savage (Grant Bridger) annoys an advertiser and doesn't seem to care. Andy Anderson is a hippy ‘jock’, Alan Dale plays urbane station manager Jack in his screen debut (before finding fame on Australia's Neighbours), and the many women on staff put up with their share of stick from all that male ego. Waves was short-lived — The Bee Gees and flares weren’t enough for viewers to shut the farm gate — but its urban strivers signaled a changing face for NZ on screen.

Hilary Barry was in her early 20s when she began reporting for TV3 in 1993. Twenty-three years later she left the network, after more than a decade co-presenting its prime time bulletin. In this excerpt from her last TV3 bulletin, newsreader Mike McRoberts gives an emotional farewell speech. A best of Barry video package shows her drinking a Spam smoothie for an early story, laughing about an "emergency defecation situation", and reporting from Christchurch and South Africa. Barry later spoke of leaving TV3 after many close colleagues had left the network.

This collection rounds up almost every music video for a number one hit by a Kiwi artist; everything from ballads to hip hop to glam rock. Press on the images below to find the hits for each decade  — plus try this backgrounder by Michael Higgins, whose high speed history of local hits touches on the sometimes questionable ways past charts were created.  

On 8 June 1987 Nuclear-free New Zealand became law. This collection honours the principles and people behind the policy. Prime Minister Norman Kirk put it like this: "I don't think New Zealand's a doormat. I think we've got rights — we're a small country but we've got equal rights, and we're going to assert them." In the backgrounder, journalist Tim Watkin explores the twists and turns of Aotearoa's nuclear history.