Middlemore Hospital obesity ward gets reality TV treatment

Middlemore Hospital in south Auckland. Photo / File

As many Kiwis struggle with weight gain, a new reality TV show will go behind the scenes of Middlemore Hospital's obesity ward.

Full details about the The Big Ward, plus other shows in TVNZ's new-season launch, will be revealed on Wednesday.

But a brief description of the show on TVNZ's website states the series will follow "the diagnosis and treatment of six morbidly obese Kiwis as they seek help for obesity-related diseases in Auckland's Manuaku Surgery Centre - a hospital with dedicated obesity wards."

The production, the brainchild of Greenstone TV, will be a 10-part series and was last August granted $433,996 in funding from NZ on Air.

At the time, the agency said: "It will follow a number of obese people on the rollercoaster of confronting their health problem, and making drastic decisions to get control of their lives."

Other local shows include Filthy Rich, a drama about three illegitimate children who discover they have a claim to the fortune of one of New Zealand's wealthiest men. The drama is created by Rachel Lang and Gavin Strawhan (Go Girls).

A six-part TV series on Sir Edmund Hillary's life, written by Tom Scott, is expected to air early next year. Simply titled Hillary, it was granted $6.4m in NZ on Air funding in July last year.