Outspoken broadcaster Paul Henry is returning to New Zealand's TV screens to front a "hard-hitting" new current affairs show. Photo / MediaWorks
Outspoken broadcaster Paul Henry is returning to New Zealand's TV screens to front a "hard-hitting" new current affairs show. Photo / MediaWorks
Outspoken broadcaster Paul Henry is returning to New Zealand's TV screens to front a "hard-hitting" new current affairs show.
MediaWorks will screen "Rebuilding Paradise with Paul Henry" from April 20.
The show is described as "positive yet hard-hitting show, aimed at finding the truth about where we are as a nation as we come out of lockdown and what possibilities lie ahead for us in the future".
Henry said: "This show is about something very important, rebuilding paradise. The pandemic has been bloody awful, but it's handed us an extraordinary opportunity and it's an opportunity we've proved we're up for.
"In a few years, I want us to be a country that looks back and says that was a shitty time, but look how well things turned out.
"The glass is half full. We have a fantastic foundation in New Zealand on which we can work together and build a brilliant future. What do we want New Zealand to look like in six months? In 12 months? We get to decide. What a privilege!"
Henry will conduct interviews and cover topics such as business, global impacts on our country, moral conundrums, health, changes to human behaviour and what the future might look like.
Henry's return is a boost for MediaWorks, which is currently for sale.
Outspoken broadcaster Paul Henry is returning to New Zealand's TV screens to front a "hard-hitting" new current affairs show. Photo / MediaWorks
He was a popular and controversial host of MediaWorks' breakfast show, simulcast live on TV and on radio.
He finished fronting the show at the end of 2016.
His new show is the first major programming decision by Newshub's new director of news Sarah Bristow.
She was the executive producer of Henry's morning show and the pair are close friends.
Bristow said today: "We are very excited to have Paul back on Three and back in the Newshub newsroom. With Paul's talent, experience and wit we can have positive discussions about our future and how we can all contribute to it. This show is going to provide Kiwis with a fantastic new way of thinking about what's to come."
The Herald revealed in December that Henry was in talks with MediaWorks about the possibility of his own show.
Henry married Diane Foreman last month in Auckland.
