You may recognise James Nesbitt as Bofur the dwarf from The Hobbit. The British actor lived here for two years while filming the trilogy and, before leaving, fronted the documentary James Nesbitt in New Zealand, which screens tonight on Prime.
Made by a British production company for Britain's largest commercial television network ITV, the doco screened to four million there on Christmas Day last year. Tourism New Zealand has since made self-congratulatory noises about having its mitts all over it. The upshot is basically a beginner's guide to New Zealand for Brits who presumably don't know we exist.
"On the other side of the world lies the remote island of New Zealand," Nesbitt says, outlining the country's discovery and history. New Zealand, he adds, still feels largely undiscovered. Someone should have pointed him towards some Marcus Lush docos, but Nesbitt clearly fancies himself as the man for the job. "I'm about to explore the two islands from north to south to find out what makes New Zealand and the Kiwis tick," he announces ambitiously. Unfortunately, he leaves out most of the country on his whistle-stop tour off the beaten track. No, he can't go everywhere and do everything, but if he'd been to, say, Northland or the West Coast, he'd get a different perspective. His most accurate take is on coffee-obsessed Wellington, where he lived, but otherwise he seems to be quoting a Tourism NZ highlights package. We get little more than the usual suspects: landscapes, rugby, sheep-shearing, wine, the Maori as tribal warriors who bathe together.
At the end, Nesbitt admits he didn't discover what makes New Zealand tick. "But funnily enough I think I've found out what makes me tick, what makes all of us tick." Really? What?
