Morgan's TV show 'should be in English'

Tukoroirangi Morgan's television show made with $1.6 million of public money should be screened in English and shown on a major channel to justify its cost, says a television manager.

Mr Morgan, a former MP and director of the defunct Aotearoa Television Network (ATN), has been given the $1.6 million funding by the Maori broadcasting funding agency, Te Mangai Paho, to make a 10-part documentary series tracing the migration of Maori.

Te Mangai Paho was heavily criticised for its role in the ATN's collapse in 1997 and Mr Morgan became embroiled in controversy after it was discovered he spent $89 of ATN money on underpants. His proposed show, called Hawaiki, is due to be finished in June and is planned to be made in Maori for the new Maori television channel to be launched about the same time.

It will consist of 10 30-minute programmes, in Maori, drawing on DNA research, archaeology and interviews with Pacific historians.

Whai Ngata, general manager of Maori programmes at Television New Zealand, said there was nothing extraordinary about the cost as it seemed to be a high-quality production. But given its cost, it should be made in English and screened on one of the major channels.

"You have to reach as wide an audience as possible. My personal preference would be for it to be done two ways, in English, and then with a Maori track added."

Mr Ngata, who helped gather the $2 million required to make historian James Belich's The New Zealand Wars, said that show was screened in primetime on TV1 in English to reach the widest audience.

"In The New Zealand Wars, we were dealing with something that rated its socks off. It was a blockbuster," he said.

Other Maori television producers said Morgan's budget was fair given the size of his series and its use of animation.

"If anything the budget seems a bit lean," said Claudette Hauiti, of Front Of The Box productions.

But Opposition MPs were aghast at the size of the grant for what will amount to five hours of television.

"That is outrageously expensive television by anyone's definition," said National MP Murray McCully.

ACT leader Richard Prebble said he was aware proposals similar to Morgan's had been rejected for funding. "I'm intrigued that this one has been accepted and others haven't for actually that concept," he said.

Mr Morgan, who is the producer, will not be fronting the programmes. He and his wife are directors of Astraeus, the company making the series. He said the programmes were expensive because they included animation, which cost on average $20,000 per minute.

"A series of this magnitude has never been attempted. I see this as of the same importance and appropriateness as the Land Wars series done by Jamie Belich. This is about our cultural roots. It's about where we come from."

He said he had been working on the project for more than a year.

His funding application had been considered with 170 others by Te Mangai Paho and had been through all the processes.

Asked if he would be buying any underpants with the money, he replied: "I have very particular tastes and that is certainly not one of my priorities."

The Government announced last year a Maori television channel was to be established to promote the language and culture, with funding building to $49m a year.

Te Mangai Paho is a Government-funded body, administered by a board responsible for vetting and funding Maori broadcasting and programmes.

Te Mangai Paho chief executive Trevor Moeke said the show would screen initially in Maori on the new Maori channel. It would be shown on one of the major channels in English later.