Award-winner says TVNZ killing top local shows

Robyn Malcolm in a scene from 'Serial Killers'.

Commercial fear and a gutless Government funding agency are behind the dearth of major local productions on TVNZ, says actor Robyn Malcolm.

She won the best female performance award at the New Zealand Screen Awards last month for her part in Serial Killers, a show she claimed was effectively killed by the state broadcaster.

The comedy had screened on TVOne at 9.30pm on Fridays until it was axed in March last year.

"[NZ On Air] paid all this money and then watched as [TVNZ] killed it," said Malcolm. "If you put that much time and money into a piece of work, why not place it in a slot at the pinnacle? Surely you want it to succeed?"

The former Shortland Street stalwart said the broadcaster was more interested in maintaining revenue than helping to build a local production industry.

"It's always cheaper to buy [a US comedy like] Friends than to fund another series of Serial Killers."

Malcolm was equally critical of the support offered to the drama Mercy Peak, another show that features on her acting CV.

"It went off air last year after three series and I thought that was a terrible shame. The third series was getting extremely good, it should have been something [TVNZ] should have shown confidence in. But it was like the better it got, the worse the timeslot it was given."

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said the actor had "the wrong end of the stick".

She said Serial Killers had been specifically commissioned for a 9.30 slot on Fridays to allow its producers greater freedom of expression.

"We think it's better to run a programme so that it is true to its creators' idea, rather than chop it around so that it can fit a slot and an audience it was never intended for."

Ms Richards said Mercy Peak was moved because its original slot clashed with another NZ On Air-funded show on TV3.

"[But] it did not perform as well as hoped, and was shifted to a more protected slot on Fridays where it stayed for a considerable period. Viewership did not alter, which we took to mean it had found its market."

She said placing local shows in prime time offered no guarantee of success as they would then be competing against high-rating imports such as Desperate Housewives.

Malcolm is now appearing in the locally made comedy-drama Outrageous Fortune on TV3.