26 NATURAL HISTORY FOCUS NHNZ
THE HISTORY OF NHNZ
WE COULD BE HEROES The Trashspresso machine, featured in Jackie Chan’s Green Heroes by NHNZ turns waste plastic into multi-use tiles on-site – even in remote locations
1981 The story of Don Merton’s rescue of the New Zealand black robin from the brink of extinction captures international attention, resulting in Seven Black Robins , followed by The Robin’s Return and finally The Black Robin – A Chatham Island Story . Also the year of the unit’s first documentary in Antarctica, Same Time Same Place , an intimate look at Adelie penguins. 1989 Under the Ice is the first wildlife film shot under the Antarctic sea ice. The award-winning film’s innovative photography reveals an other-worldly beauty beneath two metres of solid ice and the surprisingly rich life in its sub-zero temperatures. Made for PBS in the US, Under the Ice is an early offshore success. 1992 Max Quinn is the first documentary filmmaker to overwinter in Antarctica in 1991. The resulting films are released in 1992. Emperors of Antarctica tells the story of the emperor penguin and how it survives vicious winter conditions. Also produced during the trip is The Longest Night , which follows the team at New Zealand’s Antarctic Scott Base as they face four months of winter darkness. These films, along with Solid Water Liquid Rock , produced by Mike Single, become part of the Antarctic Trilogy, which sees Max and Mike win Best Director Award at the 1994 NZ Television Awards and cement a co-production relationship with Discovery Channel.
1993 Kea – Mountain Parrot , an award-winning Wild South documentary by naturalist-producer Rod Morris, makes the case for the charismatic kea to be a national icon. The documentary also features the first video evidence of kea attacking sheep. 1999 Mike Single wins an Emmy Award for outstanding cinematography for The Crystal Ocean , a visually stunning documentary on the dramatic cycles of freeze and thaw in Antarctica. The Devil’s Playground , produced by Rod Morris, wins NHNZ a Wildscreen Panda Award for Best Animal Behaviour. 2006 Buggin’ with Ruud and Equator both receive two Emmy nominations. 2013 ZooMoo launched in September 2013. It is an English-language children’s channel devoted wholly to animals and the first to be fully synchronised with a second-screen app. ZooMoo launched in Brazil and has since expanded to Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Maldives, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and China. 2014 The NHNZ Archive Unit is established. Drawing on the massive footage collection found in the Moving Images library, the specialist team has more than 30 hours of production greenlit in its first year.
recognition of the impact it had in China.” With such an impressive portfolio, are there any animals and plants the producers would like cover in the future? “Where do we start?” says Murdoch. “We are so used to seeing programming with the big five African animals, but our planet is home to some amazing species. Sometimes the animals and plants we see every day can have the most amazing abilities we can take for granted.” When it comes to showing scenes that depict nature being brutal, Murdoch feels it is important to try and tell the truth and let nature take its course – to an extent. “Often the tone and style of the show will dictate how real sequences are treated,” he explains. “For example, lots of nature programming is family-friendly and we are required to make the sequences available for general broadcast.” The natural world is, by definition, global, but are there any particular areas that NHNZ would like to visit, but the circumstances make it too problematic?
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