Saturday Morning

New Zealand Bartender of the Year 15.08.2026 12min

For the first time in its history the winner of New Zealand Bartender of the Year has been awarded to a woman. Melanie Walker is known for her tinctures and syrups.

Budget busters in the garden 15.08.2026 18min

Gardening is proven to be good for the mind, body, and environment. But can it be good for your wallet too?

'The Fox' - Sam Neill as a foul mouthed magpie 15.08.2026 15min

New film 'The Fox' is a magic realism-style comic fable featuring one of the last on-screen appearances of Sir Sam Neill.

Kiri Nathan on New Zealand Fashion Week 15.08.2026 26min

Iconic Kiwi fashion designer Kiri Nathan will be bringing indigenous fashion to this years New Zealand Fashion Week.

Love, loneliness and literary obsession: Meg Mason's new novel 15.08.2026 21min

New Zealand-born writer Meg Mason shot to acclaim in the middle of the pandemic with her novel Sorrow and Bliss. Now she's back with a book about a lonely woman who lives on the periphery of the spotlight in the world of the literary festival.

Bringing AI to Pacific communities 15.08.2026 26min

Curious about AI but not sure where to start? Time to cut through the hype of AI with some practical tips and insights with Julia Pahina and Eteroa Lafaele.

Doing business in the world of Trump's tariffs 15.08.2026 17min

Lately, economic uncertainty feels like the only thing you can really feel certain about. University of Auckland professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart has made a career of looking at the ups and downs of global trade.

How Finland tackles homelessness 15.08.2026 22min

In 2017 the number of homeless in Finland was around 2000. However, since those record lows the number has spiked. We look at what worked, what went wrong - and what we can learn from it.

The zoo you can visit from your couch 15.08.2026 23min

Maya Higa has taken her love of animals and online content - combining them to create a digital wildlife sanctuary.

'Uncle' with Ryan Alexander Lloyd & Rihari Te Are 08.08.2026 19min

Made outside of traditional funding structures, 'Uncle' is a true number 8 wire story. The debut feature from Ryan Alexander-Lloyd was realised with the support of friends, whanau and community. The film follows a man who unexpectedly becomes the caregiver for his best friend's young son after an accident. It aims to platform a side to Maori men that isn't often portrayed on screen. At the heart of the film is the screen debut from three-year-old RJ Lloyd (the director's son), who had no idea a film was being made, let alone that he was in one. Uncle is currently screening as part of the NZIFF. Writer and director Ryan Alexander-Lloyd and lead actor Rihari Te Are speak with Kate and Mihi.

Nam Le: poetry is truth 08.08.2026 19min

After a 16 year hiatus, Vietnamese-Australian writer Nam Le returned to the literary scene with his award-winning poetry collection '36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem'. An unapologetic interrogation of what it means to be a part of a diaspora, Le took the much-coveted Book of the Year prize at last year's New South Wales Literary Awards Le's parents left Vietnam by boat as refugees when he was one year old, eventually settling in Melbourne - an experience he grappled with in the title story of his previous short story collection, 'The Boat'. He spoke to Kate about his upcoming trip to NZ to perform poetry as a part of WORD Christcurch early next month.

Women making farming safer 08.08.2026 25min

Farming is one of New Zealand's proudest industries, built on resilience, hard work and getting the job done. But it's also one of our deadliest workplaces. Now two women are determined to change that, one is helping reshape the culture of farm safety from the top down, the other is living it every day on the land, sharing the realities of farming with thousands online. Mihi spoke to Chloe Butcher-Herries and Lindy Nelson to find out how they did it.

Beavers solving flooding in London 08.08.2026 16min

Beavers are back on the scene in the West London suburb of Ealing. The semi-aquatic rodents were reintroduced to a local park by conservationists three years ago - the first time they'd had the privilege of dam and lodge-building in the area in 400 years. In the time since then, the wetland and dam construction have helped with flooding in an area previously assaulted by flooding on a regular basis.

Auckland's first CRL station opens to the public 08.08.2026 5min

The City Rail Link is about three and a half kilometres of tunnels and will be the country's largest transport infrastructure project to date. It's set to speed up public transport in the city, creating more connections and modernise So have all the road cones been worth it? Mihi checked in with Joel Rowan who's Auckland Transports, communications manager for the City Rail Link.

Dr David White - turning ideas into inventions 08.08.2026 13min

Dr David White is a serial entrepreneur, behind medical technology like nosebuds that enhance airflow through the power of humming - and a wearable device that tracks stress and recovery. Well this week he's been revealed as a finalist in this year's Kiwinet Awards, vying for the coveted BNZ Researcher Entrepreneur award. He popped into the Auckland studio to talk to Mihi.

'Be Merry' - Navigating bipolar in the 80s 08.08.2026 25min

Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Gwen Isaac ('Ms. Information', 'Where There is Life') has turned the lens to her own life, exploring growing up with a bipolar mother in small town New Zealand. Gwen's mother, Merrilyn Isaac, nicknamed "Mad Merry", was a gifted painter living with bipolar disorder in the 80's - a time when little was understood about the condition. Her life became that of local folklore. 'Be Merry' marks Gwen's most personal documentary to date, documenting her return to her Far North hometown to untangle fact from family legend, and motherhood from mental illness. She speaks with Kate Rodger ahead of the upcoming Christchurch and Wellington NZIFF screenings.

Vikas Swarup, the diplomat behind Slumdog Millionaire 08.08.2026 23min

Vikas Swarup is a man of myriad talents - he's juggled the lives of both international diplomat and globally-acclaimed writer. His debut novel Q&A went on to form the basis for the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Oscars and put India on the world pop cultural stage in a way like never before. Swarup is back with another tale of an underdog up against astronomical odds to try and survive and prosper with his latest novel, The Girl with the Seven Lives. He told Kate it's Slumdog Millionaire meets Arabian Nights, following the story of a 25-year-old woman named Devi who has been kidnapped and must tell her life story to her captor while searching for a way to escape.

The unsettled afterlife of Captain Cook 08.08.2026 20min

Even 250 years on from the sea voyages that made his name and set our colonial history in motion, Captain Cook remains a much-discussed figure here in Aotearoa. He's one of the most controversial figures in our country's history, conscripted into the 'culture wars' - a symbol of colonial sins to some, a hero and pioneer to others. Historian Tony Ballantyne has taken on the mammoth task of unweaving the tangled web of Cook's legacy in his new book, 'Captain Cook and Unsettled Afterlives', he told Mihi about how he's sorted the legacy of Cook into three eras that have all come to define his reception in modern New Zealand.

Jono Kenyon: Battle of the sexes rages on 01.08.2026 19min

Defending the Caveman is the longest running comedy on Broadway ever, seen around the world by more than eight million people - and it's coming to Auckland.

NZ's first feature stop motion animation 01.08.2026 25min

Harry Sinclair has made New Zealand's first stop-motion Claymation feature film Kiri and Lou go Raaa!