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Hero image for Hillary - First Episode

Hillary - First Episode

Television (Full Length Episode) – 2016

Acclaimed miniseries Hillary chronicles the fascinating life of Kiwi mountaineer and philanthropist Sir Edmund Hillary. The first episode explores his 1930s childhood in sleepy Tuakau, and trying times in the 1940s, when his desire to join the war effort clashes with the beliefs of his pacifist father. Ed's young life is sketched in three chapters: a stolen library book ignites a passion for the mountains, teenage Ed experiences the grandeur of Mt Ruapehu, and adult Ed (played for the remainder of the series by Andrew Munro) grows restless with life as a beekeeper, while being labelled a coward for his family's war stance. 

It's an amazing sight, isn't it sir.
– Sixteen-year-old Edmund Hillary (Simon Mead) takes in the beauty of Mt Ruapehu

Acknowledgements

Made in association with NZ On Air's Platinum Fund and Television New Zealand
Developed with the assistance of the NZ Film Commission, and produced with the assistance of the Department of Conservation

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