The Listener Gofta Awards 1987

One of New Zealand television's more notorious episodes, the 1987 Gofta Awards start promisingly with an extended montage of Auckland scenes (just before the sharemarket crash). It's downhill from there. Presenters Nic Nolan and Leeza Gibbons (Entertainment This Week) look bizarre in silver suits; an underfed and overexcited audience grows more and more vocal; special guest John Inman (Mr Humphries from English sitcom Are You Being Served?) is heckled; and things come badly unstuck as timing issues see winners turned away as they try to collect their awards. 

The audience was locked in the room with no food but lashings of champagne as the long, long show (being broadcast live) descended into anarchy. It was my first year working as a television presenter and I remember thinking, "These are my workmates? They're all mad. How cool! This is going to be fun."

– Michele A'Court

Key Cast & Crew

Nic Nolan

Presenter

Ron Pledger

Director

Tony Holden

Producer

John Inman

Presenter

Leeza Gibbons

Presenter