Speakeasy - Breaking In

This second episode of the early 80s chat show sees host Ian Johnstone welcome Howard Morrison, Pita Sharples and Rosa Tamepo to talk about ‘breaking in’. Morrison and Sharples discuss being Māori ‘breaking in’ to a Pākehā world. Tamepo reflects on being a Pākehā married to a Māori. Sharples recalls being a Kahungungu boy from the backblocks at Auckland University; Morrison twists the theme to talk about growing up as a Te Arawa tama in Tūhoe country. Made by David Harry Baldock, the show was inspired by the relaxed style of English interviewer Michael Parkinson.

We made the programme in the early 80s, when New Zealand was just beginning to realise that although it prided itself on being a country where everyone had a chance to get ahead, there was only one way of doing that — the Pākehā way.

– Ian Johnstone on Speakeasy, in his 1998 book Stand and Deliver

Key Cast & Crew

Ian Johnstone

Presenter

Howard Morrison

Subject

David Harry Baldock

Director, Producer

Michael Scott-Smith

Executive Producer

Mike Gits

Technical Producer

David Filer

Research