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The Spinoff reviews New Zealand #8: The Bowls Premier League
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Calum Henderson watches Australasia’s fast and furious new bowls tournament.The North Shore Events Centre was...
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‘You can’t take it too seriously all the time.’ Nadia Reid on her new album...
When your first album sees you described as the savior of folk music, how do you turn around and make a second album that’s even better? Nadia Reid talked with Calum Henderson about her new album...
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‘How is this actually my life?’ Comedian and DJ Matt Okine on 90s cricket,...
Australian comedian Matt Okine sat down with Spinoff comedy dunce Calum Henderson to discuss radio, early-90s cricket memories and his unquenchable thirst for cooking and property shows.Every NZ...
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Sunday is a rare polar bear in the current television climate. Will it survive?
Waiting cautiously in camouflage behind a piece of shrubbery, Calum Henderson observes a rare endangered species in its natural habitat: current affairs television. You almost don’t want to make too...
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Renters is New Zealand’s excruciating, hilarious answer to The Office
In celebration of Rent Week, Calum Henderson watches the hilariously bleak docu-series Renters and finds Kiwi comedy gold. On the face of it, the TVNZ 2’s Renters show seems to exist solely to...
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Prime minister’s pizza ‘not pizza’ – Italian pizza chef
Bill English made pizza for tea last night, igniting widespread internet debate over the leader of the nation’s culinary abilities. We asked one of the world’s best pizza chefs for his thoughts.An...
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Could Darryl be New Zealand’s answer to The Castle?
Calum Henderson watches TVNZ’s Darryl: An Outward Bound Story, a warm Kiwi comedy about how one moustachioed man goes bush to find himself. Few New Zealanders who watched it unfold on television will...
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Finally: The local fishing show we’ve all been waiting for
Calum Henderson watches TVNZ DUKE’s new fishing show Screaming Reels, Leigh Hart’s latest comedy venture to rival Outdoors With Geoff.Leigh Hart makes TV comedy look like the easiest thing in the...
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Meet the artist who paints the world’s biggest rugby stars as adorable penguins
Calum Henderson talks to Yuko Inaba, the rugby-loving artist behind the delightful internet presence Nadegata Penguin.In the cutthroat world of art it is important for an artist to find their niche....
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Where are the stars of 2001’s Celebrity Treasure Island now?
Before there was Survivor, there was New Zealand’s own reality juggernaut Treasure Island. Calum Henderson revisits the first episode of 2001’s Celebrity Treasure Island and finds out what the...
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The telly legend behind Neighbours at War is back with a brand new show
The unmistakable voice of Neighbours at War, Bill Kerton tells Calum Henderson about making his new show Gutsful and how he cut his TV teeth directing Havoc and Newsboy at the height of their...
View ArticleSpinoff staff picks: Calum’s top 10 rainy day songs
There’s a perfect playlist out there for every scenario. Chances are the Spinoff staff playlists won’t be among them but we gave it a go anyway. Today: Calum Henderson details his very specific...
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Fecal horror and more: Gutsful puts the realest New Zealand on TV
Calum Henderson reviews Gutsful, the new factual series from the brains behind Neighbours at War. When Neighbours at War wrapped up last year after eight seasons it left an unexpectedly big gap in the...
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Yvonne and Ben: Shortland Street’s greatest love of all
Calum Henderson pays tribute to the most beautiful romance storyline of Shortland Street’s first 25 years.Two weeks after their daughter’s civil union, Yvonne Jeffries’ husband fell down a cliff and...
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Where were you the day a deadly volcano erupted on Shortland Street?
Births, deaths, fake deaths, reunions, vomit, sperm and a massive bloody volcano – there was a lot going on in Shortland Street’s 25th anniversary episode.Chris Warner found out he had leukaemia the...
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Here’s everything you need to know about Amul, the Blackcaps’ latest shirt...
The new logo adorning the Blackcaps’ shirts belongs to an Indian dairy giant with a long-running advertising campaign based around spectacular puns. It looks like it could be a secret society which...
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The greatest reality TV hits of Dame Julie Christie
Regardless of whether she is good or bad, there’s no denying that Julie Christie made a tonne of iconic New Zealand reality television. Calum Henderson breaks down her top five efforts. They don’t call...
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The Spinoff reviews New Zealand #30: The Earthcare Bear
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Calum Henderson takes down an awful bear.When I was five I had a nightmare that a wolf walked into my house on its...
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Piers Morgan’s tweet ‘I want to die.’: The definitive history
It is a succinct, disquieting, apparently context-less tweet that has become a classic of the form. But why did Piers Morgan write it? Calum Henderson investigates. At 12:51pm EDT on Sunday the 2nd of...
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From Butt-head to Bravo: Happy 20th birthday to New Zealand’s fourth TV channel
From Beavis and Butt-head to Drew and Shannon, TeleTrader to the Champagne Lady, Calum Henderson looks back on the first 20 years of New Zealand’s fourth TV channel.In 1997, I spent a week of...
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