Paul Gittins

History enthusiast Paul Gittins devised award-winning show Epitaph. As well as hosting it, he directed episodes across three seasons. The series used gravestone epitaphs to explore stories from New Zealand history. Gittins also presented historical show Shipwreck, and directed one-off documentary My Kainga My Castle. As an actor, he did extended shifts in the early days of Shortland Street, playing clinic boss Michael McKenna (father of Angela Bloomfield's character Rachel). He also plays father to the hero in two films directed by Ian Mune: The End of the Golden Weather and The Whole of the Moon. 

I got this appreciation of New Zealand's history through doing this series. I realised that our history ... it was raw, it was vivid, exciting, dramatic. Paul Gittins on his television series Epitaph, in an October 2011 ScreenTalk interview with NZ On Screen