David Halls

Hudson and Halls were television cooks whose success spawned cookery books, a weekly radio show, their own restaurant, and overseas success.

Brought up by working class parents near London, David Halls was the blonder and more extroverted member of the couple. After moving to New Zealand he worked as a shoe designer, and met Australian Peter Hudson. 

In 1975 the couple debuted with a 10 minute cooking segment on daytime programme Speakeasy. They quickly showed a talent for finding the entertainment value in almost anything. After setting the stove on fire during one Speakeasy appearance, co-presenter Marcia Russell watched as they continued to adlib and cook through the smoke. "The result was the funniest 10 minutes of television most of us had ever seen".

Within two years Hudson and Halls had secured their own prime-time, self-titled show, combining cookery, cutting banter, and the occasional interview. By 1981 the show regularly ranked in the week's five most highly rated programmes, and the public voted them Feltex Entertainers of the Year.

The food was often rich, more "men's food than lighter food", according to sometime guest Alison Holst. The campy, at times anarchic cookery scenes reflected the cutting banter friends had witnessed between the couple off-screen. But a refusal to pre-cook also meant knife-edge timing was required.

In documentary Hudson and Halls - A Love Story, director John Carlaw argues that the extroverted Halls would "light up when the camera turned on". After finding fame, Halls also did a stint hosting the game show Blankety Blank. The couple also opened a restaurant in Auckland. 

Hudson and Halls' television career coincided with an increasing awareness of gay issues in the New Zealand media. Though they rarely talked about their romantic relationship in public, they were popular and high profile homosexuals at a time when homosexuality was still punishable by law. South Pacific Television's public relations department, initially fearing a public backlash, used an old Noel Coward line in early publicity describing the pair: "I'm not sure if they are gay, but they certainly are merry".

After local television executives showed little interest in commissioning another series, Hudson and Halls won a contract to work for the BBC, and later moved to London. Despite initially negative reviews the show won respectable audiences, and sold to many countries in Europe.

After Hudson's death from cancer, Halls changed his name by deed poll to David Hudson-Halls. Fourteen months later, he committed suicide in London.

The famous cooking duo were later the subject of hit play Hudson and Halls Live! — which recreates the filming of one of their cooking shows — and Joanne Drayton book Hudson & Halls: The Food of  Love.

Profile updated on 22 November 2018


Sources include
Robert Boyd-Bell, New Zealand Television - The First 25 Years (Auckland: Reed Methuen Publishers,1985)
Phil Gifford, 'Essential ingredients' - The Listener, 24 September 1983 (broken link)
Philip Matthews, 'Camp cooking' - The Listener, 5 May 2001 (broken link)
'Hudson and Halls - A Love Story' (Television Documentary) Director Juliet Monaghan (Greenstone Pictures 2001)