WHAT TO WATCH
Better on TV really Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park TVNZ 2, Sunday, 6pm What is there left to say about the yearly bunfight that is Christmas in the Park, except that it’s easier to stay parked in your driveway than it is to find parking near the Domain. Hosted by Jason Gunn, the world’s oldest pre-pubescent, this year’s event features a fairly mixed bunch of entertainers including Stan Walker, Tami Neilson, Lavina Williams and Vince Harder. At 23 years old, Christmas in the Park has lasted nearly as long as
Shortland Street, and had far fewer fatalities.
Violence, progress, women Woman Viceland, Sunday, 8.30pm A new weekly show on New Zealand’s newest channel, which is part of the Sky basic package, hosted by icon Gloria Steinem and presented by a team of female journalists who travel the world to explore the way violence against women is driving global instability. Or, as Viceland publicity says: “At the intersection of violence and stability, of progress and oppression, are women.”
The end of the road Shortland Street season finale TVNZ 2, Monday, 7pm The Shortland Street Christmas cliffhanger is the New Zealand equivalent of the Queen’s Christmas message: a stake in the ground, a marker by which to measure the passing of time. The show’s writers have mapped their path to a year-end episode that will leave viewers “on the edge of their seats” and “see many lives in Ferndale changed forever”. As the show prepares for its 25th anniversary next year, this year’s cliffhanger will no doubt be as cliffy as ever, if not cliffier.
Nigella goes to Kansas Simply Nigella Christmas Special Prime, Monday, 7.30pm Lambasted last year for the excessive simplicity of some of her recipes, Nigella Lawson has bounded on, unaffected, and possibly even enhanced by the criticism. Her Christmas special this year will be all about stress-free Christmas cooking, possibly with lashings of innuendo. It’s inspired, for reasons to be revealed, by the sparkling Christmas lights of Kansas City. Greg Bruce