A beloved Kiwi television show is being made into a movie – the 1970s and 80s classic A Dog’s Show will begin production later this year.
And the film’s main character will be played by Hobbit and Outlander actor Graham McTavish.
The show aired in the primetime Sunday night spot for 15 years and featured sheepdog trials from around the country with commentary by John Gordon. It ran from 1977 to 1992.
NZ On Screen, a government-funded film and television archive, called the original TV show “an unlikely formula for Kiwi TV gold”.
In 2014, Spinoff pop culture writer Jose Barbosa called A Dog’s Show “the best New Zealand television programme ever made”, hailing its pure and unadulterated competition on display.
“For 16 years every Sunday night, we had a half-hour show that elevated the everyday business of gruelling farm work into an art form.
“It concerned itself with the craft of making television and storytelling, it trusted the essence of competition rather than inanities and, best of all, it wasn’t boring.”
Now it is set to be made into a feature-length film: NZ On Screen said production will begin in November.
The film will be set in rural 1970s New Zealand.
McTavish is set to play a disillusioned former sheepdog triallist who is coaxed out of retirement by his spirited granddaughter and their dogs in an effort to save the family farm.
It will be written, directed and produced by Alex Galvin. Celia Jaspers will join him in producing, alongside Mark Westerby.
Timothy White will be the executive producer and the distributor will be Transmission Films.
Filming will be done across Wellington and will involve “authentic dog trial sequences choreographed by Aotearoa’s top experts in the sport, using local farms, sheep and fully trained dogs”, the Directors’ and Editors’ Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand said.
Galvin said watching A Dog’s Show on television was among the fondest memories from his childhood.
“With this film, I want to honour that simplicity and charm, while telling a story full of warmth, humour and heart. I know that audiences – whether they know the original series or not – will fall in love with it,” Galvin said.
Jaspers said: “We’re taking a much-loved part of Kiwi culture and celebrating New Zealand’s rural identity while delivering a cinematic experience for modern family audiences,” NZ Media & Advertising News Daily reported.
McTavish said the film’s script was a “thoroughly engaging, funny, gripping and entertaining read with so much heart and warmth”, the outlet reported.
He said he had been looking for the right script for a Kiwi film since he made New Zealand his home in 2011.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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