Doco charts New Zealand history from the year dot

Millions of years in the preparation, five years in the making and now weeks away, the story of New Zealand is almost ready to beam into our living rooms.

A TVNZ history programme Frontier of Dreams, the biggest documentary series produced in this country for two decades, is undergoing final touches before it screens on TV One in September.

It tells the story of New Zealand, from the country's birth millions of years ago to the present day, through key events, major figures and experiences. Along the way it covers natural history, geographical and social development.

NZ On Air contributed $3.6 million towards 13 one-hour episodes, its biggest commitment yet to a factual series.

The programme also had a "significant contribution" from TVNZ, said co-producer Vincent Burke. Mr Burke described the series as a "mammoth" undertaking but said the facts were presented in a way most people would find easy to understand.

"While it has a badge of authority and authenticity it is very approachable," he said.

"It's not stuffy, we're not being walked through it by a boring old historian.

"It's fast-paced and very accessible. You've got to go at quite a pace to get history told in that time."

Mr Burke believes the appetite for New Zealand history is at an all-time high after historians such as Jamie Belich and Michael King brought it into the mainstream. Belich declined an offer to work on the series. King was interviewed shortly before his death.

A team of more than 20 of the country's top historians were invited to work on the series, including Ranginui Walker, Gavin McLean, senior historian at the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, and others from the ministry. The series is based on their essays, to be published in the book, Frontier of Dreams, released next month.

Mr Burke said the challenge was to show New Zealand through the ages through a variety of techniques, including local and international archives and film shoots here and abroad. The makers travelled to Whitby in York, the hometown of Captain James Cook, and parts of Polynesia to trace ancestry of the first settlers on film.

Computer-generated imagery was used to recreate extinct birds the Haast eagle and moa.

"Where possible we talked to people who were there at the time or their children and grandchildren who were affected by these events," said Mr Burke. "It brings it to life because you get very personal stories.

"For instance, many of the soldiers who came back from WWI settled in difficult parts of New Zealand, in the bush.

"We talked to a woman who told us about her mother's experience, from a well-to-do English environment, suddenly finding herself in the bush having to cook on a kerosene tin. It's powerful and emotive."