Heartland - Pātea

Occasional Heartland host Annie Whittle visits Pātea in this full-length episode, and finds the town in rehearsal for the story of its own life. A decade in the making, Poi E - The Musical chronicles Pātea's triumphs and tragedies, following the closure of the local freezing works in 1982. Whittle talks to Dalvanius Prime — the musician behind both the original number one song, and the Poi E musical — about the impact the closure had on the township. The programme ends with a rousing live version of 'Poi E'. Prime would pass away in October 2002.

When the works closed we tried to buy some of the buildings, and they wouldn't sell to us. Ridiculous. We wanted to use the cafeteria and dismantle it and take it up and put it under the canoe for our town hall, because we don't have one.

– Dalvanius Prime

Key Cast & Crew

Bruce Morrison

Director

Dalvanius Prime

Subject

Annie Whittle

Presenter

William Grieve

Producer

Swami Hansa

Camera

Ken Sparks

Editor