Philip Sherry

Philip Sherry spent his career in and out of newsrooms, from Wellington’s WNTV-1 to the launch of TV3. Although his statemanslike style moved in and out of favour with broadcasters, he always maintained an air of authority with viewers and listeners — he was nicknamed 'Mr Credibility'.

Sherry belonged to a generation of newsreaders who were committed to delivering information in a formal, measured style: a single reader concisely delivering news, without personal comment. One writer argued that he and Bill Toft shared "an almost classical newsreading style that was dignified and authoritative, yet always warm". As colleague Dougal Stevenson put it, "When we did the news, it was hard, and it didn’t masquerade as anything other than the news". The approach would be phased out by TV One in the 1980s and then by TV3 in the late 90s, as the drive for ratings grew more fierce.

Philip Sherry was one of eight children. He grew up Catholic in the Hutt Valley, and left high school early to help his family. In 1960 he began presenting radio on Wellington station 2YD (later 2ZM), and also worked in Palmerston North. He headed abroad, taking radio announcing jobs in Vancouver, London, doing two years on Dutch state radio in Hilversum, then writing and broadcasting for the Swiss Radio Service in Berne.

After returning to New Zealand in 1967, he began working on Town and Around. Then he shifted into announcing, which involved everything from newsreading to introducing the evening's programmes, to narrating for magazine show Landscape, to compering shows on state radio. When the NZ Broadcasting Corporation launched the first nationwide news programme in November 1969, Philip Sherry was on the roster of newsreaders, which included Dougal Stevenson and Bill Toft. He also returned to National Radio again in 1975, on Morning Report. "I started work at 5am for radio and would be reading the television news at 9pm. It was a longish day but very disciplined."

The introduction of a second channel meant major change for local television. On TV1 the evening news was brought forward from 7pm to 6:30pm, and was fronted alternately by Dougal Stevenson and Bill McCarthy, with no room left for Sherry on the bulletin.

Sherry was not gone for long. After a brief return to state radio, he joined Tom Bradley on TV2’s late bulletin News at Ten in early 1976. "We were looking for maturity and authority — a sort of Walter Cronkite, if you will," said TV2 News Director Bruce Crossan. News at Ten was a combined news and current affairs show, which crossed between Bradley in Auckland and Sherry in Wellington. Although it won a Feltex Award for Best Current Affairs Show, the threatened amalgamation of the two networks by the government helped lead to its cancellation the following year. In spite of this, Sherry was awarded 1977’s inaugural Bill Toft Memorial Trophy, for Broadcaster of the Year.

In 1978, he began presenting new twice a week current affairs slot Eyewitness News. By 1980 he'd headed north to Auckland, to read news for TV1, including reading the news for the prime time bulletin.

By 1986 TVNZ were beginning to modernise their approach to news, which meant switching to the more internationally popular format of pairing male and female co-presenters. TVNZ instated Judy Bailey and Neil Billington (who was later replaced by Richard Long) as co-anchors. Sherry was offered shorter news bulletins, but turned them down. Again, it was back to radio, reading the morning news bulletin for 1ZB between 6am and 10am. He also began presenting a string of programmes for the Christian Broadcasting Association, and played himself in early Niki Caro film Sinistre.

The launch of TV3 in 1989 presented another new opportunity. Sherry signed on as the solo anchor of the station’s half hour 6pm news broadcast, and led the bulletin on the channel's first full day of broadcast, on 27 November 1989. The return to television was to be short-lived. In June 1990, facing poor ratings, he was replaced as 6pm anchor by late night newsreader Joanna Paul.

After doing radio for a while longer, Sherry retired from newsreading in the early 1990s. Asked in 1992 about returning to television, he said "I don't miss it at all", and that he only watched news and sports. "If I watched anything else, I'd turn into a couch potato. I'm really idle by nature, you know.". But retirement was never in the plan. Sherry moved into local body politics: he spent six years as deputy chairman of the Auckland Regional Council, representing North Shore and Takapuna, then did 12 more on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. In 1999 he was number two on the party list for the unsuccessful Christian Heritage Party.

In 2014 Sherry returned to the news desk to present another bulletin — a public service announcement for Macular Degeneration Awareness Week — more than half a century after his first broadcast. Publicity shy, the devout Catholic had driven retirement home residents around at the height of his newsreading fame; he was also a Justice of the Peace and marriage celebrant. 

In 2018 Sherry was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the yearly round of New Zealand Honours, for services to local government and broadcasting.

Philip Sherry died on 18 July 2021, after being treated for cancer in 2020. He was 87. 

Profile written by Simon Smith; updated on 26 July 2021

Sources include
Infofind - Radio New Zealand Library
Jane Bowron, 'Evening Stars' - The Dominion, 6 March 1999
Robert Boyd-Bell, New Zealand Television - The First 25 Years (Auckland: Reed Methuen Publishers, 1985)
John Drinnan, 'TV3 dumps news anchorman Philip Sherry' - The Dominion, 9 June 1990, page 1
Karl du Fresne, 'Obituary: Philip Sherry brought gravitas and authority to the news' Stuff website. Loaded 28 July 2021. Accessed 28 July 2021
Barry Shaw, 'Sherry a fillip for TV3 news' - The NZ Herald, 15 August 1989
Sarah Stuart, 'Return of the ‘Dinosaurs’!' - The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, 22 June 1992, page 8
Robin Turel, 'Philip Sherry To Join "News at 10" - The NZ Herald, 28 January 1976
Unknown writer, 'Weekend Profile: Environment BOP councillor Philip Sherry' (Interview) - The Bay of Plenty Times, 14 November 2004
John  Weeks, 'Former TVNZ and TV3 newsreader and 'thorough gentleman' Philip Sherry has died' - The NZ Herald, 19 July 2021
Unknown writer, 'The Classical Style of Philip Sherry' - The Listener, November 1977
Unknown writer, 'Sherry Leaves TV for Radio'- The NZ Herald, 13 January 1987
Unknown writer, 'Christian Heritage pins hopes on Philip Sherry' - The NZ Herald, 30 June 2000