Tom Parkinson is a veteran television producer and director who has worked on iconic Kiwi TV shows such as Hunter’s Gold, Hudson and Halls and Telethon. Parkinson was a key force behind many of our hit comedies in the 70s and 80s, including Billy T James’ shows, A Week of It, Issues, and Letter to Blanchy. Parkinson is also a former Head of Entertainment Programmes at TVNZ, and helped launch TV3.

In this ScreenTalk, Parkinson talks about:

• The challenges of filming early TV drama Hunter’s Gold
• The reason he believes the drama series Gather Your Dreams was less of a success
• How Brit comedian Tommy Cooper influenced popular cooking show Hudson and Halls
• The mammoth production that was Telethon
• Creating a ‘style’ for Billy T James’ sketch comedy shows
• The success of long-running music show That’s Country
• His strategy on becoming the Head of Entertainment at TVNZ
• The secret behind The New Adventures of Black Beauty
• The challenges of getting Letter to Blanchy up and running
• Battles between TVNZ and TV3 in the early days of TV3

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

NZ On Screen: Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside