Far-flung, risky jobs show tests breakfast TV host

Paul Henry

Breakfast co-host Paul Henry is going in search of New Zealanders doing risky jobs overseas in TVNZ's lineup for next year.

In Ends of the Earth, Henry travels to far-flung nations to profile New Zealanders who have taken their families overseas to work. He has just finished his first filming session - up the Nile River, where he had a timely escape.

A few days after Henry left Uganda, where he had been filming New Zealander Cam McLeay, who is on the Ascend the Nile expedition, Mr McLeay was shot at and one of his companions killed during an ambush by rebels.

The story ended up leading the news.

The bulk of filming on the series will not be done until early next year but also on the list are workers on a North Sea oil rig, and a land-mines removal expert in the Sudan.

The series is plugged as part adventure, part travel and part documentary. It is also a good chance to laugh at Paul Henry, says the man himself. "I'm not the fittest person in the world and hiking through bush you have to machete through is not easy. There was a moment when it was really hard going. I was ill-equipped to handle it, but you get through."

TVNZ's programme launch for next year could not have been more ill-timed. The state broadcaster has been in the news over shrinking audiences, employment battles with Susan Wood and chief executive Ian Fraser's dramatic resignation.

The new lineup reveals yet more legal, procedural and forensics drama, as well as the return of some favourites such as Desperate Housewives, Lost and Cold Case.

Hot on the list of new dramas is Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis as the first female United States President.

The supernatural drama Lost has spawned others, including Invasion, which drew 16.4 million viewers for its first episode in the US - the highest-rating debut of a new series.

Cold Case has also inspired others in the same ilk, such as The Closer on TV2, which stars Kyra Sedgwick as a police interrogator.

Chick-lit lovers should watch for Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee, which follows three Indian women in their 30s and is based on the novel by The Kumars at No 42 star Meera Syal, and features her as well as the Kumars' Sanjeev. Crowd favourite Jamie Oliver is back with yet another offering, cooking his way round Italy in Jamie's Great Escape.

Among local offerings, Dancing with the Stars is back, and new dramas include Rude Awakenings and Orange Roughies, the latter a fictional take on Border Patrol.

Home-grown reality shows include Redemption Hill, which locks 10 troubled teenagers in prison for a bit of tough love, and the hunt for New Zealand's Brainiest Kid.

In How Clean is Your House, two cleaners invade homes, test the grime and teach home-owners the delights of a good scrubbing session.

Documentary-style Coroners' Inquest goes behind the scenes of sudden deaths and Mind Games has eight ordinary New Zealanders training for an ironman event.

Ones to watch in the TVNZ schedule

New Zealand programmes:

* Orange Roughies, fictional take on Border Patrol.

* Ends of the Earth - Paul Henry visits all corners of the globe to find New Zealanders living bizarre lives.

* The Lost Children - three children are washed up on a remote beach on newly-discovered New Zealand.

* Hidden Numbers - comedian Te Radar looks at how New Zealand has changed, according to statistics.

* Redemption Hill - 10 out of control teenagers undergo tough love in a prison.

International programmes:

* Rome - epic drama chronicling the rise of the Roman Empire. Set in 52 BC.

* The Evidence - detective drama, from producer of ER and Third Watch.

* The Closer - interrogator Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) heads the LAPD's priority murder squad

* Invasion - drama about supernatural forces behind earthly events.

* We Can be Heroes - Australian comedy, from writers of Kath and Kim.

Returning:

* One: Cold Case, Doc Martin, Coronation Street, Bad Girls.

* Two: Lost, ER, Desperate Housewives, Nip/Tuck, McLeod's Daughters, Without a Trace.