Superfan Joseph Harper tackles the fourth week of Survivor NZ, including Jak the joker and Avi’s gladeyes. Click here for last week. Week four on the Survivor NZ island/Nicaraguan peninsula (I don’t know geography), produced a mixed bag. Shay’s ousting at the hands of the Boytown alliance was all too predictable. At least she can … Read more
Following Shortland Street’s 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’s biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. In the final episode, we present… the outtakes. “If you love someone, get amongst it” Click here to watch all of the episodes of … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of extraordinary Kiwi citizens. In this episode, the Nick Harrison Fan Club meets after watching the 25th anniversary episode of New Zealand’s favourite soap opera, Shortland Street. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos.
Jessie Moss on Aldous Harding’s disruption of gender norms and her (mostly male) backlash. This week, on the release of her sophomore album Party and during her skyrocketing ascent to a greater public consciousness, Aldous Harding’s hard graft has been highly lauded. The craft and skill that weaved Party‘s nine songs together have been carefully … Read more
Now that The Bachelor NZ roses have wilted, Ghazaleh Golbakhsh rounds up some of the best dating shows to fill the aching void in your heart. The idea of institutionalized marriage first started off in the West as a way to gain property and to procreate. It was seen as something serious and respectful (well … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’ biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss the objectification of men. “Know your niche. It’s a market. It’s a business. You give the market what they … Read more
The Spinoff Music team review new albums from Paramore, Harry Styles and Low Cut Connie, and a not-new album from The Beatles. Paramore – After Laughter The best pop-rock front person of the 2000s is back! I’ve been a casual fan of Paramore for a decade now (gosh, that caught up with me quickly!), spanning as … Read more
Tara Ward recounts the surreal experience of being invited to Chris Warner’s intimate 50th birthday shindig – eruptions and all. Last year Chris Warner celebrated his birthday by having sex on his couch. To everything there is a season, for one year later I found myself perched on the same sofa, drinking gallons of pink … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Henry Oliver talks to Johnny Barker. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to Johnny Barker a musician, actor (the Ferndale Strangler!), screenwriter and director, who under the moniker Barker, has a new album hot off … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’ biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss cyclists. “Get on the side, mate. You’re a bike.” Click here to watch the entire Real Talk series This … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’ biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss their favourite conspiracy theories. “It sounds a bit hippy and I don’t like hippies. They annoy me.” Click here … Read more
We read the entire Simon Sweetman/Aldous Harding Facebook thread so you don’t have to. Last week music blogger Simon Sweetman reviewed Aldous Harding’s album Party with a video of goats screaming. Then, a couple of days ago, he added to that critique with a Facebook post of Harding’s Jools Holland performance with the comment “I … Read more
Shortland Street’s explosive episode last night featured mass death and destruction, but what does it really feel like when your character is killed off? Gerald Urquhart, aka Luke Durville, comes back from the grave to tell his story. ‘Sir, sir you were on Shortland St last night.’ Initially, I was confused when my students would … Read more
Ethan Sills talks to Matt Letscher, star of The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, about playing the villain and what it’s really like to wear a superhero costume all day. Superhero shows are unavoidable these days. With basically every American network and streaming service trying to launch their own brand, and comic book adaptations continuing … Read more
Births, deaths, fake deaths, reunions, vomit, sperm and a massive bloody volcano – there was a lot going on in Shortland Street’s 25th anniversary episode. Chris Warner found out he had leukaemia the day before his 50th birthday. Then, the day of his party, ever worse news: a volcano erupted, spewing rocks and ash and … Read more
BREAKING: Mount Ferndale has erupted, engulfing the town in a deadly cloud of ash and totally ruining Chris Warner’s 50th birthday party. We bring you a chronological selection of the best lines of dialogue from tonight’s one-liner-filled special episode. Read all our Shortland Street 25th anniversary coverage here. “This hospital’s gone to rack and ruin … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’s biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss the culture of outrage. “I’m showing them a dichotomy. Keep it real man, we’re all fallible humans” Click here … Read more
We asked Spinoff writers, contributors and pals to share their very favourite Shortland Street moments from 25 rich years of soapy drama. Tara Ward on Lionel and Kirsty’s wedding Every moment of Lionel and Kirsty’s 1994 Christmas cliffhanger wedding gleams with the magnificent glory of early Shortland Street: Lionel angsting aboard the Toroa, Carmen wearing a designer … Read more
Millie Lovelock, who wrote her MA thesis on One Direction, answers Harry Styles’ critics. When Steve Braunias wrote that ‘Sign of the Times’ would be the end of Harry Styles’ career he had no idea what he was talking about. When he wrote that Styles had fallen into the trap of wanting to be taken … Read more
Calum Henderson pays tribute to the most beautiful romance storyline of Shortland Street’s first 25 years. Two weeks after their daughter’s civil union, Yvonne Jeffries’ husband fell down a cliff and died. She must have thought that was it, she would never love again, there would never be another man like Ian, not at her … Read more
Angela Cuming remembers watching Twin Peaks as a child, and the power cut that kept Laura Palmer’s killer a mystery. I was only 10 years old when Twin Peaks – and the real world – found me. Once a week, in the dark, I would sit on the sofa bed in Dad’s home office and, … Read more
Following Gemma Gracewood’s call to arms yesterday, Shortland Street have decided to un-geoblock their monster 25th anniversary episode for superfans abroad. “Five years ago when Shortland Street turned 20, the special 90 minute feature-length episode was due to air on my birthday. Alas, I was overseas, with no way of watching the events of that … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’s biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss the internet. “If there’s an important email, someone will tell me there’s an email” Click here for episode one: … Read more
For Shortland Street’s 25th anniversary week, Alex Casey interviews the soap’s longest serving extra. In Ferndale, Dr. Mary Tompkins is a god among mortals. She was there when Luke Durville died of a brain bleed. She was on duty when a gunman unleashed hell in the cafeteria during the Christmas party. She treated a pilot after … Read more
With the release of his fifth album, The Afterlove, James Blunt has managed to keep making music despite being the recipient of perhaps the most unreasonable level of hate from around the world. Madeleine Chapman caught up with one of her favourite musicians to find out how he blocks out the haters. It’s hard work being a … Read more
Five years ago, South Pacific Pictures responded to an online campaign from fans outside NZ and unblocked the 20th birthday special for a couple of days. A repeat, please, this time round, beseeches Gemma Gracewood from New York. Dear South Pacific Pictures, Five years ago when Shortland Street turned 20, your special 90 minute feature-length episode was … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’s biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss women and gender. “The feminist movement…sometimes it takes a bit of that feminine radiance of out them” Click here … Read more
Alex Casey watches The Bachelor NZ’s ‘Women Tell All’ special, and finds a fittingly tame end to the season. Will we ever forget the moment that Naz stomped onto The Bachelor NZ’s Women Tell All stage last year, brandishing her manicured fingers like knives and effing and jeffing up a storm? It was better than … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today, Ed Sheeran fan Fantasia tries her best to win tickets from The Edge.