Mum's the word

Target is one of TV3's most talked-about - and top-rating - shows. So why is the presenter taking time out? Leanne Malcolm explains to LOUISA CLEAVE.

Leanne Malcolm is facing up to the fact she is going to have to call it quits soon.

Almost five months pregnant with her first child, the 36-year-old Target presenter knows there will soon come a day when she won't be able to jump on a plane from her Auckland home to Wellington to film the consumer affairs show.

"With your first child you don't know what to expect. So basically I've been up front with Target and TV3 and said this is the situation: `I don't know how I'm going to hold out but I'd like to keep going as much as I can'," says Malcolm, speaking for the first time about her pregnancy.

She and husband Philip Smith, an independent television producer, are feeling "really happy and quite fortunate" to be expecting their first child.

While she feels energetic and is carrying on with work as usual, she is not sure what to expect.

"I don't really know when I'll have a cut-off point but I won't be a superhero like the women who are at work the day before they give birth."

In just over eight weeks she will not be able to fly, putting her in a tough position with Target. The show's executive producer, Vincent Burke, says they will be able to work in with the pregnancy. Obvious fill-in: Greg Boyed. Malcolm has been inspired by the return of Hilary Barry, fronting and producing TV3's Dateline, who recently had her first child.

"I've had a pretty selfish, career-oriented life so it's a big change but I feel it's the right time," Malcolm says. "I still see myself as a bit of journo and a news person and that's something that could happen in the future. I could return to those roots, I think. Just wait and see."

The second year of Target has seen exposes into the quality of food bought from lunch bars, an on-going investigation into budgeting for a wedding and fire safety in the home.

Malcolm believes many New Zealanders have benefited from the trades cleaning up their act after the first series exposed some shocking exploits in private homes.

"Target had a period of bedding in for a year. It was pretty radical. It is a big talking-point because of its content," she says.

"This year I see it spreading its wings a lot more and covering more subjects. I think people are going to see it as more and more valuable in terms of the advice it offers. The subjects we're doing are quite different. I can't really go into great detail about some of the things coming up - it's kind of like spoiling the plot on Coro Street."

Target is set to send shockwaves through the trades yet again with more hidden camera revelations, this time in the provinces. Burke says the behaviour of tradespeople in smaller towns has proved far worse than that seen in Auckland and Wellington. Be warned: the sexual antics proved so shocking the show has had to treat the stories carefully.

For Malcolm, who spent four years presenting Nightline, the consumer show has been a "Godsend" - not only by turning out to be a top-rating show for TV3, but giving her freedom to concentrate on her personal life. Whenever possible, she and Smith retreat to their rural property near Queenstown. They spent winter there last year and have a long-term dream to live in the area where they were married.

"It's really rustic, but it's in a beautiful spot and surrounded by mountains," she says of the property they ended up buying. "It's like The Waltons.

"At the moment it's just an old tiny woolshed, but it's so relaxing. It's a great escape and people [in the area] are really nice and friendly."

Fond of her workmates, Malcolm gives credit for Target's success to the team behind the scenes and her screen co-hosts, reporter Boyed and technical expert Ian Orchard.

The presenter is close to her blue-coated sidekick and respects his wealth of knowledge.

"He's so funny. I'll go in there in the morning and he'll say, `Why does it take you so long to get ready?' There's the make-up and there's always this drama of, `What are you going to wear today, Leanne?'

"Ian turns up - blue coat, white shirt, blue tie every time. He said to me, `Why don't you just get a blue coat made for you?' Could you imagine me in a blue coat? A Karen Walker one, perhaps?" she laughs.

Watching brief


The presenter:Leanne Malcolm

The show: Target

The time and place: TV3, 7 pm Sunday