Dougal Stevenson started his broadcasting career as a continuity announcer, before moving into newsreading. He quickly became one of our most respected news anchors, initially with DNTV-2 in Dunedin, and then nationally. He left newsreading with the restructure of TVNZ that saw the news moving to Auckland, and has subsequently hosted and narrated a number of TV shows, and dabbled in film and television acting.

In this ScreenTalk, Stevenson talks about:

• Feeling constrained as a continuity announcer
• Having an instinct about reading the news
• Being constantly monitored to get the right pronunciation on TV
• Being impressed by the journalists he worked with in the newsroom
• The occasional chaos when technical problems affected bulletins
• Deciding not to make the transition when the news bulletin moved to Auckland
• Presenting the laid-back magazine series The Motor Show
• Being a little intimidated by his co-hosts on Antiques for Love or Money
• Getting to be an actor in classic film Sleeping Dogs
• Playing a ghost in an episode of A Twist in the Tale
• The discipline of doing voice-over work
• Feeling slightly disappointed in himself with what he’s achieved over the years

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via this Creative Commons licence.

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