Kate Peacocke
Raised on a farm near Pureora Forest, Kate Peacocke grew up with animals, learning to ride on horses that were 'rejects' from her grandparents’ racehorse breeding endeavours. After finishing high school, she spent a year abroad on an American field scholarship in Tempe, Arizona. Back in New Zealand, she studied political science and English at Canterbury University.
In the late 1980s Peacocke got her start in the screen industry, as an assistant editor for TVNZ’s drama department. She quickly moving into editing news and current affairs, then moved over to TV3 when the channel launched in 1989, joining the team on late night news show Nightline. "It was a fun place to be at the time", Peacocke remembers. "Everyone was young and inspiring and full of creativity. Even when the network went into receivership in 1990, there was no money, but loads of room for experimentation." While working on Nightline, Peacocke was also studying psychology at Auckland University.
In the same period, she was cutting interviews for director Irene Gardiner on music show CV, including major artists like Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) and Nick Cave. Immersed in the music scene, she edited several music videos for Headless Chickens and other local bands. "We'd finish Nightline at the end of the night, then [bassist] Grant Fell would come in and we'd work on the video clip together." Among the videos Peacocke cut were Headless Chicken classics 'Gaskrankinstation' and 'Cruise Control'.
Growing eager to tell her own stories, Peacocke began looking for opportunities to get into directing. "I had reached the stage with editing, where I felt like I was putting together everyone else's stories." Then she was offered the opportunity to direct segments on gardening series The Living Earth (1992), followed by stories for Animals and Us (1993), where she quickly found her passion for directing. "I like being out in the field, and talking to people and being a part of sharing their story."
The 90s saw Peacocke directing Suzanne Paul show Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?, followed by architecture and design programme Home Front and Maggie’s Garden Show. She then moved on to observational series Middlemore, filmed at Middlemore Hospital's Accident and Emergency Department. Follow-up Serena’s Story was about a Middlemore burns patient. Peacocke also directed several one-off docos for TV3’s Inside New Zealand slot, including Animal Phobias, Tattoo and Piercing - The Hole Story.
Celebrating the new millennium, Peacocke began a project capturing the remarkable transformations of seven ordinary children. First up, she directed Millennium Babies, capturing the lives of seven families across Aotearoa whose babies were all born in January 2000. Inspired by acclaimed British documentary series Seven Up!, Peacocke's team revisited the same families three years later for Millennium Families, to see how life had changed for the babies — now toddlers.
In 2018 Peacocke returned for Millennium Teens, catching up with the now 18-year-olds as they stepped into adulthood. "Normally when you are making a documentary about someone, it’s because they’ve done something extraordinary", she says. "With these kids it wasn’t until we started making it that we realised what was special about each of them."
Peacocke was also a director for long-running series Animal House, which offered an inside look at SPCA staff as they rescued and rehabilitated various injured and neglected animals. After working on four seasons from 2005 to 2009, she would return to the SPCA in 2023 as a producer on series SPCA Rescue.
In 2010, Peacocke was set to join reality series Dog Squad as a post-production director, but a last-minute shake-up saw her unexpectedly landing a producing role instead. Following the high-stakes work of various dog teams used for crime fighting and rescues, the show became another long-running favourite; Peacocke working on eleven seasons, until 2021.
From Dog Squad came spin-off series Dog Squad Puppy School. The show began after Peacocke realised "there were also stories about the puppies' journeys" to be told. The series followed the training of excitable young puppies for roles with various agencies, including the Police, Corrections, biosecurity and helping those with disabilities.
She combined producing and directing on several TVNZ reality series aimed at younger viewers. In 2020 she began working on dance series K-Pop Academy, featuring kids from across Aotearoa training in K-pop song and dance styles with 'NZ's Queen of K-Pop', Rina Chae. Peacocke followed up with KPA Battle Squad in 2023, which focused on street dance styles. Both shows were a highlight for her, because those on-screen are "the contemporary face of New Zealand — it was just the ultimate in diversity".
In 2019 she began directing and producing another show for company Greenstone TV. Young Riders following talented young equestrians competing and training in show jumping. "It was so fun to work on because of the super-talented kids we followed; that’s the ultimate if you’re telling stories, I mean that's super rewarding." She returned to work on the fourth season of the series in 2024.
Peacocke has continued to produce and direct factual television. While she still directs, she now sees herself primarily as a producer, describing her role as "a producer who directs rather than a director who produces. It's always fun keeping a hand in both roles".
Profile written by Alexandra Paterson; published on 27 September 2024
Sources include
Kate Peacocke
Greenstone TV website. Accessed 27 September 2024
Jodi Bryant, 'Dargaville students to star in TV series K-Pop Academy' - The Northern Advocate, 30 July 2021
Sarah Catherall, 'From babies to teens: TV doco shows the lives of young kiwis' - The NZ Herald (Canvas section), 1 September 2018
Melenie Parkes, 'Dogs with Jobs' (Interview) - The TV Guide, 3 October 2019
Leanne Warr, 'Takapau sisters featuring on the small screen in Young Riders' - Bush Telegraph, 16 April 2024