Poetry, satire and music were the mainstays of Gary McCormick’s life, before he took his unique world view to television. His onscreen career began with the award-winning documentary Raglan by the Sea, on which he collaborated with filmmaker Bruce Morrison.

Poetry, satire and music were the mainstays of Gary McCormick’s life, before he took his unique world view to television. His onscreen career began with the award-winning documentary Raglan by the Sea, on which he collaborated with filmmaker Bruce Morrison.

McCormick’s best-known TV series was Heartland, which ran for four years and told the stories of communities across the country. In the mid 90s McCormick teamed up with his buddy and fellow poet Sam Hunt for a romp around New Zealand in the celebrated documentary The Roaring 40’s Tour.

In 1998 McCormick returned to his home town of Porirua to host The Bay Boys – a gripping documentary about life in the suburb. Since then McCormick has hosted other talk shows and was a guest host on Nightline. Now resident in Lyttelton, McCormick shares hosting duties on More FM in Christchurch with his mate Simon Barnett.

In this ScreenTalk interview, McCormick talks about:

• The pleasure of working on Heartland

• The challenge of interviewing the Rastafarian community

• Playing tricks on the director of Heartland

• Learning to dodge a knife attack with Sam Hunt

• Taking a nostalgic look back at his home town

• The on-set shower and other quirks of McCormick Country

• Being mistaken for other celebrities

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

NZ On Screen: Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside