Bettina Hollings

Pioneering TV programmer Bettina Hollings can list launching Shortland Street and being the first woman to head a major local television network among her credits. In 2000, she left TV channel C4 and formed Imagination Television. The company is responsible for making some of New Zealand’s most popular shows, including MasterChef New Zealand, New Zealand’s Got Talent and Grand Designs New Zealand.

We need a five-day-a-week soap. What Bettina Hollings said to NZ On Air to pitch Shortland Street, according to Shortland Street producer Caterina De Nave in a May 2008 Listener interview