A tribute to New Zealand’s finest: John ‘Cocksy’ Cocks

New Zealand’s first celebrity builder, John “Cocksy” Cocks, died yesterday. Tara Ward takes a look back on some of his finest television moments. There was only one celebrity builder who ruled our screens at the turn of the millennium. It was John “Cocksy” Cocks, and we knew him best as the unassuming expert builder in … Read more

Holy time-travelling culottes! The top 10 moments of Outlander season 4

Outlander is over for another year, but don’t let #droughtlander get you down. Tara Ward keeps the thirst at bay with a look back on some of season four’s best moments, including baby goats, spotty Lords and a saucy sponge bath.  Season four of Outlander has come and gone like an exploding hernia of emotion. We’ve … Read more

Outlander recap: Lightning crashes, a sad Jamie cries

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that the path to the Idiot Hut is paved with trouble. Will Roger escape? Will Brianna marry Lord John? Will Jamie Fraser ever cry more than single tear? Tara Ward recaps the dramatic season finale of Outlander. Friends, we’ve reached the end of the Outlander highway, and I’m as exhausted as if … Read more

Outlander recap: Welcome to the Idiot Hut, population Roger

It’s the pentultimate episode of Outlander season four, and things couldn’t be worse. Or could they? Tara Ward finds out. Friends, we are well and truly up the shitter. I thought we’d peaked in the Outlander disaster zone with last week’s craptacular camping trip and Murtagh putting his boots on Marsali’s blankets, but this week life in the Colonies … Read more

What the heck is Drew’s Christmas Holiday and why is it so weird?

To many, Drew’s Christmas Holiday was a light-hearted, comedy filler to keep thirsty Shortland Street fans satiated during the long summer hiatus. To others, it was a terrifying descent into the empty soul of a confused and lonely man. Tara Ward finds out what really went on.   All I know for sure about Drew’s Christmas Holiday is … Read more

Outlander recap: A billionth reunion still feels as sweet

Outlander fans around the world rejoice, because this week’s episode delivered the Fraser family reunion we’ve waited 200 years for. Tara Ward recaps episode nine of season four. Imagine you’re Jamie Fraser, taking a humble pee in an alleyway, watching the steam rise off the bricks one cold morning in 1769 and thinking of nothing more … Read more

Outlander recap: Night of the exploding hernias

It’s a bad week for time-travellers, insurgents, newlyweds, blokes with misdiagnosed hernias, and basically everyone else in this week’s episode of Outlander. Tara Ward recaps.  Friends, if I ever have the fortune to fall through a vortex of time and space and find myself two hundred years in the past, please make sure I do not end … Read more

The Great Kiwi Bake Off Finale power rankings: Sausage rolling to victory

The week’s episode of the Great Kiwi Bake Off was a right old sausage-fest, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Tara Ward power ranks the grand finale. This is how we roll on the Great Kiwi Bake Off: sausage-fests and tight buns aplenty. After ten glorious weeks, 12 amateur bakers, a shedload of soggy … Read more

Howard Morrison, Telethons and Lionel Skeggins: a brief history of NZ TV

For nearly 60 years our image of who we are has been reflected back at us from our TV screens. Tara Ward explores the evolution of New Zealand television.  Some people reckon the internal combustion engine is the world’s greatest invention, but to them I say “have you ever tried to watch an amateur baker … Read more

Outlander recap: What’s going on with Brianna?

Brianna fell down the time-travelling rabbit hole in this week’s episode of Outlander, but who did she meet there? Tara Ward recaps. Chuck me in the Fraser bathtub and sponge me down with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, because this season of Outlander is stronger than Claire Fraser’s wig in a hurricane. ‘Down the Rabbit … Read more

The Great Kiwi Bake Off power rankings: A shocking twist, and not the apple kind

Where were you when the person you thought would get sent home from Great Kiwi Bake Off didn’t? Tara Ward was in her pantry, praising the chocolate gods for blessing us with the nicest show on television. “It’s all about the crust and the goo,” Sue said, as she welcomed us to Chocolate Week. Sue … Read more

The Great Kiwi Bake Off power rankings: Swans, swans on the side of my face

Welcome to Pastry Week, my little overstuffed cherubs. Tara Ward power ranks episode eight of the delicious televisual feast that is The Great Kiwi Bake Off. This morning Sir David Attenborough announced that civilisation was on the brink of collapse. Seems likely, but let’s just eat some cake and chill out for a bit. I’m … Read more

Outlander recap: The return of a saintly man

Stand aside, Jamie Fraser, there’s a new pork chop in town. Tara Ward recaps ‘Savages’, episode five of the fourth season of Outlander. Welcome to ‘Savages’, or as I like to call it, ‘The Mystery of Jamie Fraser’s Hat’. Just where was Jamie’s hat? Claire didn’t have it, Jamie didn’t have it, and it certainly … Read more

The Freeview documentary guide to getting smarter

You’ve already met the new Freeview On Demand – now it’s time to get acquainted with the documentaries on it. Tara Ward has you sorted. Don’t listen to what your parents told you, because watching television definitely makes you smarter. It’s especially true for a good documentary, which can enrich your life, challenge your thinking … Read more

Outlander recap: Jamie and Claire show a bear who’s boss

The new world ain’t so new anymore – especially when you’re killing bears who might not actually be bears, and when your mum has already been there for approximately two hundred years. Tara Ward recaps episode four of season four of Outlander. Holy guacamole, mates, Outlander is BACK. I know it never really went away, although … Read more

Outlander recap: Two Frasers and a donkey named Clarence

Claire finds the foundation for her very own American Dream, while Brianna encounters second wave feminism – same difference, right? Tara Ward recaps episode three of season four of Outlander. There’s an old Scottish proverb that says “he who finds the strawberries, must smoulder at the horizon until his donkey flees and his wife loses her … Read more

The Great Kiwi Bake Off power rankings: Step inside my Biscuit Birdhouse of Love

It’s week 5 of GKBO, which means we’re halfway through our delectable voyage into baking nirvana. Tara Ward power-ranks the performances. I don’t even want to contemplate what I’ll do with my empty husk of a life when this is all over. GKBO is my TV biscuit lighthouse. Without it, the lolly stained-glass windows of my … Read more

Outlander recap: You’re not in Scotland anymore, Dorothy

Claire and Jamie aren’t in Lallybroch anymore. They’re in Kansas (or somewhere south of there). Tara Ward recaps the second episode of season four of Outlander. When we last left Outlander, things were more desperate than the time Jamie had to eat Mrs Crook’s lumpy bannocks. The Fraser’s journey to Aunt Jocasta’s plantation River Run … Read more

The Great Kiwi Bake Off power rankings: Scone but not forgotten

Zip yourself into your sourdough onesie and relax into your ciabatta couch, because it’s Bread Week, my little GKBO doughballs of happiness. Tara Ward power-ranks episode four. Bread is both delicious and a science, which means eating lots of it makes you smarter. Don’t question me, my research is flawless and if anyone needs me … Read more

Outlander just made a bloody strong (and sexy) return

Tara Ward recaps the rollicking premiere of Outlander season four, available exclusively on Lightbox. Contains major spoilers.  The season premiere of Outlander was, as Queen Oprah would say, a full circle moment. Mostly because Claire Fraser kept wanging on about all the circular things she could think of – her wedding rings, the hangman’s noose, those soft … Read more

The Great Kiwi Bake Off Power Rankings: Pavlova puts national pride on the line

Polish off your whisk and separate your egg whites because it’s Dessert Week on The Great Kiwi Bake Off.  Let’s pray to the gingerbread gods that Harry and Meghan managed to catch this week’s episode, because they’d learn more about Aotearoa in one hour of GKBO than three thousand years of Orc visits and Government House … Read more

The Great Kiwi Bake Off power rankings: Sweet tops and salty bottoms

The slice of heaven that is The Great Kiwi Bake Off was this week awash with sweet and/or salty caramel. Tara Ward ranks the gooey results. It seeped over slices, it poured over pineapple, it oozed over benches and onto floors and threatened to drown us all in a sticky sea of sugar. Drowning in caramel … Read more

The Spinoff reviews New Zealand #72: Kowhai Park, the nation’s best playground

Best playground in New Zealand? According to whom, exactly? Tara Ward and her kids review Whanganui’s greatest claim to fame. In last week’s debut episode of The Great Kiwi Bake Off, one contestant made a statement that shook me like an underbaked ornamental trifle terrine. “I’m from Whanganui,” said amateur baker Clayton, “and it’s a … Read more