Under the Vines headlines TVNZ showcase for 2022
TVNZ has revealed its programme line-up for 2022 and, as Mark Jennings writes, fans of quality drama are unusually well catered for
From Newsroom, 19 November 2021:
TVNZ: A weighty offering ahead of a digital future
Rena Owen’s performance as Beth Heke in Once for Warriors left a deep impression on movie goers in the mid 90s. Her portrayal of Dame Whina Cooper in TVNZ’s new drama is likely to have a similar impact on TV audiences next year. Owen’s now-lined face seems to channel those lasting images we have of the “mother of the nation.”
It is likely to provide Owen, one of the best New Zealand actors, with another defining role. Based on the clips chosen by TVNZ for its virtual programme launch the cinematic treatment in Whina looks to be ‘old school’ and gives off a slightly grim air. Documentary audiences will probably be the target market.
TVNZ’s other big new local drama hope, Under the Vines, is almost at the other end of the spectrum – breezy, light and mildly entertaining.
Levin-born Rebecca Gibney (whose face is extraordinarily unlined) of Flying Doctors fame stars alongside Charles Edwards of The Crown and Downton Abbey.
In a scenario that we have seen before in Russell Crowe’s 2005 romantic comedy, A Good Year, two city slickers team up to run a failing vineyard. But, instead of Provence it's Central Otago.
The Newsroom article continues here.