Wallace Chapman

Wallace Chapman completed a degree in English and Education at Otago University, then took on varied roles at Dunedin’s Radio One 91FM and Auckland’s bFM. Early screen credits included co-directing a 2005 documentary on his old student flat, and reporting for Eating Media Lunch. In 2008 he began co-hosting new political show Back Benches, filmed at a pub across from The Beehive. Over nine years, the show won fans for its ad-lib style, which mingled MPs with punters. The NZ Herald called it a 'sort of Top Gear for politics'. Since 2013 the occasional Project host has presented Radio New Zealand's Sunday Morning slot.

He’s fascinated by politics but he’s not frightened to ask the very simple questions we sometimes forget to ask. He’s disarming because he asks that very hard question in a very simple, direct way. And he’s not mean, so his questions don’t upset people. Back Benches producer Maryanne Ahern on Wallace Chapman, in The Listener, 14 January 2012