Marcia Russell: Behind the revolution...

The late Marcia Russell was an award-winning journalist and TV writer/producer with a long career in New Zealand media. Her first television role was as host of the 1970s talk show Speakeasy. Russell moved on to news and current affairs roles with TVNZ, and helped set up the fledgling TV3 news department in the late 1980s. She was involved with some of the most notable documentary series produced in New Zealand such as Landmarks and The New Zealand Wars. Russell also produced the four-part documentary series Revolution, which chronicled the rise of the Lange Government and its impact on the New Zealand economy and society. Russell was awarded an OBE for services to journalism in 1996 and was a recipient of the Academy of Film and Television’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

In this ScreenTalk, Russell talks about:

• Being the first ‘live’ presenter on TV2 in the show Speakeasy
• How the show debuted future politician Jeanette Fitzsimons and TV cooking superstars Hudson and Halls
• Being a panelist on Beauty and the Beast and how it enabled her to be subversive
• Helping set up TV3 news and how the new Minister of Broadcasting pulled the rug from under them
• Having a slight falling out with Dame Cath Tizard on the doco Dame Cath Moves Up
• Her passion for history leading to her involvement in the series Revolution
• How James Belich resisted script changes in the series The New Zealand Wars

This video was first uploaded on 27 September 2011, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing - Andrew Whiteside