Outlook: Fair with fireworks

Dream Team: The Fair Go crew - Gordon Harcourt, Alison Mau and Kevin Milne. Photo / Supplied

Fifteen years ago, journalist Gordon Harcourt put together one of his most memorable Fair Go stories. Amigo the horse, stolen by a prolific thief, was happily found alive and well, and returned to his rightful owner. The story touched hearts around the country.

This week, Harcourt has been working on a similar warm and fuzzy piece, about three children who lost their dog in Papamoa. But have no fear, Fair Go was on the case, and Harcourt tracked down the puppy for a heart-warming reunion (you'll have to watch the show to find out how).

Harcourt jokes that while on the hunt for the beloved mutt, a friend was busy setting up a high-powered panel to discuss the issue of global nuclear disarmament on TV One current affairs show Q&A.

"So this is what it's come to," the 43-year-old laughs. However, he admits more people will be tempted to watch Fair Go's puppy rescue than the political powwow.

And why not? The Fair Go formula of righting the wrongs of the world, sticking up for the underdog, exposing the lemons and telling the odd corny animal tale can't go wrong with Kiwi television audiences. It started in 1977, and is now one of the highest-rating shows in its time slot. The mere mention of the name is enough to send a shiver down the spine of many a retailer or tradesman, Harcourt says.

"I still ring people and hear them taking a deep breath when they hear I'm from Fair Go. I have to say `but don't worry, I'm not chasing you'," he explains. "It's got a cred and a power, and as a journalist you have to be a very careful wielder of that power."

This year the ever-popular consumer affairs show has had a makeover. Veteran host Kevin Milne is back after a break last year to deal with a benign brain tumour, but will be co-hosting with long-serving news presenter Alison Mau and Harcourt, who has been a reporter on the show for the past two-and-a-half years.

The changes are all positive, Harcourt says, particularly the profile that Mau's appointment obviously brings to the show.

Studio presenting is something that comes with relative ease to Harcourt. Hailing from a "thespy family", as Harcourt puts it - his mother Kate and sister Miranda are stalwarts of New Zealand's acting fraternity - he enjoys the performance aspect, but jokes that audiences are lucky his teenage ambition of becoming a full-time actor didn't pan out. His claim to fame in that world was starring in soap opera Close to Home when he was 9 years old.

"It was cool because the TV One car would come and pick me up from school," he grins.

Childhood acting aside, the father of two has a long association with Fair Go. After starting on the first news team for TV3 in 1989 as the "lowliest news gimp", he worked his way up to a mid-level reporter, but jumped ship for TVNZ's Fair Go in 1995. After a year of chasing rip-off merchants - and horse thieves - he was deemed surplus to requirements. He went on to report for and produce local arts show Sunday, then co-devised and produced arts and media show backch@t, fronted by Bill Ralston.

In 2001, Harcourt flew the nest to London, and spent the next six years with the BBC, producing and gathering news for BBC World Television, and acting as a London correspondent for TVNZ and Radio New Zealand. He returned with his wife after the birth of their first daughter, and ended up back almost where he had started.

"I had never dreamed of working at Fair Go again because I had done it before, but various opportunities came and went, and then I got the call from Kev," he says.

He decided to return, and has been there ever since.

"It suits me down to the ground, it's a fun job. I feel genuinely lucky."

The role has some unique challenges, Harcourt points out, not least that people often expect him to fix their lives.

"That makes the onus incredibly heavy, which is daunting, but is also incredibly satisfying," he says. "But sometimes you have to walk away from it. People do expect you to ring up and bully people when there is no prospect of doing a story, but you can't threaten to put someone on Fair Go if you have no intention of doing that."

And despite the "fluffy" nature of some stories, the legwork involved is certainly no walk in the park.

"Fair Go remains the most rigorous form of journalism I've ever done. You've just got to get it so right."

Every word and frame of footage is checked by lawyers, and every angle of the story has to be checked out to ensure the complainant has not left out any pertinent information, Harcourt explains.

Then, and only then, comes the confrontation with the dodgy plumber, shop owner, or salesman. Probably the most famous clip in the history of Fair Go shows a young Sean Plunket being attacked by a painter with a ladder in a confrontation in `93. A "bit of biffo", as Harcourt describes it, has been a common feature of the show throughout the years.

However, Harcourt says a multitude of regulations protect the crew's safety now, and while a spectacular confrontation makes for good TV, it's never manufactured or taken lightly. On a recent story which involved confronting a fraudster plumber, Harcourt was accompanied by an SAS-trained guard in case anything happened. Nothing did, but Harcourt was glad to have the company.

"Before the camera starts rolling I'm nervous, but it's more excitement, and being nervous - not that someone's going to hit me, but that the story might fall over or we might not get the shot," he adds.

And while he claims to be a "bit of a wimp in real life", Harcourt's eyes light up when talking about the face-to-face showdowns that are the bread and butter of Fair Go, despite its flash new ads, studio and hosting line-up.

"I love a good argument. I have researched every single fact exhaustively, sometimes for months, so if I feel the story is worth a confrontation then I will be in there boots and all. It's fantastic."

* Fair Go returns to TV One Wednesday at 7.30pm.