Best Kiwi documentary series
A curated collection of popular documentary series from New Zealand.
Live and Let Dai (2024)
Kiwi Living (2015)
Kiwi Living (2015)
We proudly present your very own brand shining new lifestyle programme that is here to kick start your weekend. Whether we teach you a new DIY trick, help you start that untouched health resolution or insipre you to try your hand in the garden, we have something to cater for everyone.Hosts Miriama Kamo and renowned chef Michael Van de Elzan, joined by the Kiwi Living, team will share practical tips inspiring you to try something new and make the most of your weekend.We present the best of New Zealand's food, travel, living spaces, health and well-being, fashion and the outdoors.
Border Patrol (2002)
Border Patrol (2002)
The all favourite Border Patrol follows staff at the New Zealand Customs Service and Ministry for Primary Industries as they work the frontline checking for drugs and illegal goods and monitoring the border for potentially harmful diseases that could cripple New Zealand's economy overnight.
Motorway Patrol (1999)
Motorway Patrol (1999)
This award-winning programme has total access to the men and women who patrol the main arteries of Auckland City. Each series has a whole new helping of adrenaline packed stories and lunatic motorists.
This Could Go Anywhere (2020)
This Could Go Anywhere (2020)
This highly entertaining series follows two famous cricketers, Brendon 'Baz' McCullum and Phil 'Tuffers' Tufnell, travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand playing golf and discovering the country's most famous and picturesque courses, playing the game they love, sharing great stories, eating the finest food, drinking the finest wine and meeting New Zealand's wonderful people.
Passengers (2023)
Passengers (2023)
Journey back through the hardships and triumphs of some of Aotearoa's earliest Anglo Indian, Cook Island, Chinese & Bohemian settlers through the lens of their modern day descendants.
Off the Rails: A Love Story (2003)
Off the Rails: A Love Story (2003)
"We started in Bluff and ended up in Opua and, in-between, we've been on coal trains, freight trains, steam trains, railcars, even a jigger or two".This highly popular series, produced by Jam TV, has garnered awards across most production categories, and rightly so. All aspects of the programme, from filming, to editing, to the soundtrack, make this a stand-out series, and Marcus Lush is the perfect minstrel to tell the tale.On his journey along the railroad, Marcus catches the train wherever he can, but if the tracks are gone or out of use, he walks, rides, cycles and pedals his way along the old railway line tracks. Along the way he meets locals and recounts the social history of the area, all with his trademark mix of warmth and wryness.
Rapid Response (2010)
Rapid Response (2010)
Follows the life-threatening and emotionally charged situations encountered by St John Ambulance Officers as they tend to and save the lives of people in their homes, work-places and on the streets. Delivers diverse and moving real-life medical emergency stories.
Lost & Found (2015)
Lost & Found (2015)
Lost & Found is a new ten part documentary series that sets about reuniting families, uncovering cultural identity and discovering lost family heritage. Each week seasoned investigative journalist David Lomas, along with a specialist search team of genealogists and researchers, tackles the cases of up to three seekers who are on an emotional journey to discover their family members and cultural pasts that they have not been connected to. Lost & Found is real, raw and - at times - heartbreaking as each episode showcases a basic primal need – just how important it is to know who we are and where we’ve come from. Tissues advised.
Reality Trip (2015)
Reality Trip (2015)
Reality Trip is a documentary series (seven one hour episodes), which takes five young Kiwi consumers to three different countries to see where the products they buy come from – computers, bananas, costume jewellery, clothes, and tea. They’re products most New Zealanders buy without thinking about their origins and who makes them.
Street Hospital (NZ) (2013)
The Secret Lives of Dancers (2010)
The Secret Lives of Dancers (2010)
Through the eyes of the best dancers in the country follow the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company as they rehearse, cast and then tour their notoriously tough Triple Bill season.With an unprecedented all access pass the series goes behind the glitz and the glamour of showbiz into the dressing rooms, hotel rooms and even the dancers’ homes to expose the gruelling training schedules, the fierce competition for roles, and the devastation an injury can bring for a dancer.Through the deeply personal journeys of these extraordinary dancers we also find out what happens when romance between dancers moves off-stage, explore the hierarchy of the company and witness the heartache when things don’t go to plan.See behind the scenes the workings of a major production, from the choreography and rehearsals, to the costuming and the sets, and the logistics of touring a professional production around the country.Funny, candid and revealing this fresh new series will challenge stereotypes and change the way we think about ballet dancers forever.
Highway Cops (2012)
Abalone Wars (2012)
Abalone Wars (2012)
For these brave few, there is a killing to be made. Millions of dollars' worth of abalone lay there, just below the surface ripe for the picking, but can the divers make it out alive? The Southern Ocean, off the tip of South Australia is home to more sharks per square kilometre than almost anywhere else in the world. The risk of death by shark attack is very real here, many divers personally know the heart ache felt from losing loved ones. But that doesn't stop this group of fearless men who, every season, battle against their nerves plunging to the depths and scouring the ocean floor for the much-prized green and black abalone.
Women In Blue (2014)
Women In Blue (2014)
Women in Blue, follows the lives of seven Kiwi female police officers, working the beat in cities and towns across the country.
The Life and Times of Temuera Morrison (2013)
The Life and Times of Temuera Morrison (2013)
With fame and fortune, Tem's star was flying high, until the acting jobs dried up. So, what did he do next? Made with the support of NZ on Air
Life Flight (2013)
Life Flight (2013)
Life Flight is a charity providing emergency air services. Every six hours someone urgently needs our help. Supporters of Life Flight ensure that emergency air services remain available 24/7 and provide the best possible outcomes for patients. 22,000 people have been helped by Life Flight in their hour of need. For many of those the emergency flight saved their life.
Raising Children in New Zealand (2011)
Raising Children in New Zealand (2011)
Raising Children in New Zealand is a new ground-breaking parenting series, designed to be a one-stop-shop for parents.Based on research that confirms the crucial importance of the first few years of a child's life, Raising Children In New Zealand combines the knowledge and expertise of all of New Zealand's key child-focussed agencies to create a comprehensive multi-platform audio-visual resource for parents.
The Best of New Zealand with Nick Honeyman (2016)
The Best of New Zealand with Nick Honeyman (2016)
Nick travels around the country meeting farmers and sampling fresh produce along the way before turning it all into delicious recipes. The cooking is done on location against the stunning natural back drops of arguably one of the most scenic countries in the world. Young and energetic, Nick always has an eye for adventure and his fresh food safari sees him jumping into helicopters, jumping out of planes and riding in 4-wheel drive vehicles. He pulls fresh mussels out of the sea, tastes honey from a hive and picks Kiwifruit off a vine. Nick is a well-respected fine dining chef but his recipes are easy to follow. South African by birth, an Australian by choice, Nick has settled in New Zealand and has a friendly manner and wry humor that will appeal to everyone.
The Palace (2016)
The Palace (2016)
The Palace - Auckland-based dance crews prepare for the World Hip Hop Dance Championships.This series chronicles the blood, sweat and tears, where viewers get an exclusive look inside the lives of world champion dancers from New Zealand’s very own, Royal Family.
The World's Strictest Parents New Zealand (2012)
The World's Strictest Parents New Zealand (2012)
A New Zealand adaptation of The World's Strictest Parents aired in 2012 on TV One. Only one series was made.
Moving Out With Tamati (2017)
Moving Out With Tamati (2017)
Tamati Coffey follows the fortunes of City dwellers as they turn their backs on city life and attempt to forge new futures and better quality lifestyles in Provincial NZ.
David Lomas Investigates (2020)
David Lomas Investigates (2020)
Following on from the success of Lost & Found, David Lomas is back in this brand new series for Three, investigating New Zealand's family secrets. David travels across the world to find the answers and to reunite families. Have a box of tissues at the ready!
The Hard Stuff With Nigel Latta (2014)
The Hard Stuff With Nigel Latta (2014)
The Hard Stuff sees Nigel Latta tackling the key issues facing NZers. Made with the support of NZ on Air.
Unbreakable (2020)
Unbreakable (2020)
This heart-warming local series follows a group of remarkable individuals as they pursue their life goals. Unbreakable features a cast of twelve Kiwis with disabilities as they shoot for the moon, their ambitions are huge but so are the obstacles. Made with the support of NZ on Air.
Wild Work: Sumatra (2020)
Wild Work: Sumatra (2020)
Join Auckland Zoo's primate keeper Amy as she journeys to Sumatra to learn about how money raised by the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund is helping to save wild orangutans and elephants and preserve the ecosystem of the largest forest in South East Asia.
Sensing Murder (2006)
Sensing Murder (2006)
Sensing Murder is the New Zealand's and Australian psychic investigators on TV2 NZ/AU.Presented by Rebecca Gibney, the 90-minute episodes follow the team of gifted psychics – Australian Deb Webber and Kiwi’s Kelvin Cruickshank and Sue Nicholson – as they attempt to uncover new leads in more of New Zealand’s most intriguing unsolved cases.Each case puts two psychics to the test to see what they can uncover with a team of private investigators analysing their findings.The program recreates the victims’ last known living moments in a dramatic and stylised production. The reconstruction is based on forensic information, extensive research with case experts and family, along with interviews from police who were involved in the investigation.With no prior knowledge about the crime, the psychics reveal astounding new information about the victim, case and perpetrator – groundbreaking information that has the potential to break these cases wide open.
Dark Days in Monkey City (2009)
Dark Days in Monkey City (2009)
Dark Days in Monkey City is an Animal Planet documentary about the lives of wild Toque Macaques in Sri Lanka. In the tradition of Meerkat Manor it followed the stories of individual primates, but differed from earlier shows by adding special effects and transitional animation.It was devised as part of Animal Planet's strategy to re-brand itself as an "entertainment" network. Its entire 13 episode run was broadcast in 2009.
The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
The three-part documentary series, compiled from over 60 hours of unseen footage, captures the warmth, camaraderie, and creative genius that defined the legacy of music's most iconic foursome. The series also includes – for the first time in its entirety – The Beatles' final performance at London's Savile Row.