Caroline Bell-Booth, director of on the challenge of being a female director:
‘‘I’ve always had the challenge of being small with a very squeaky voice. At first, people think that’s something they can trifle with. They are mistaken and increasingly more so as I become cantankerous. But every female director has the story where someone thinks they are the costume girl.’’
Jodie Whittaker (and new Doctor Who) on using her TV medical knowledge:
‘‘There’s no way I’m putting my hand up if anyone asks if there’s a doctor. I’ll be hiding in the corner.’’
creator Ben Edlund on his leading man, Peter Serafinowicz:
‘‘You can almost describe him in yoghurt terms – he’s got a lot of culture going on.’’
Anne Hegerty on whether celebrity editions are stacked in favour of the stars:
‘‘We are pretty clear that there is a general desire for the celebrity teams to win. Oh dear, I don’t know how to say this. Try to think how to be diplomatic, have a swig of coffee [she does]. So I think the thing is the celebrities have got to be willing to come on, and nobody wants to look particularly stupid. But I promise we are playing to the best of our abilities.’’
TV writer Gavin Strawhan on why he disagrees with reviewers bagging his work, and why he ignores the ‘Ponsonby 500’ of middle-class chatterers who influence trends:
‘‘I reckon it’s now more like the Grey Lynn 500. Which is where a small group of w ...... think they should dictate to the rest of the country what the rest of the country’s tastes are. And they feel really arrogant about it, and they don’t acknowledge what people actually like, because they want some dark, moody Norwegian thriller.’’
Barry van Dyke on his show
‘‘It’s the show that won’t die. It keeps popping up all over the place. I get a stack of [royalty] cheques. I think ‘oh good, some money from the show’. It will be for four dollars and 67 cents. It all adds up. But some of them are pretty funny so I hang them on the fridge: there’s one for 18 cents.’’
actor Martin Henderson on the time he was arrested and deported by LA authorities – and marched through LAX in manacles just as NZ2 arrived from Auckland:
‘‘I thought ‘this looks so bad’ and I’m asking ‘can you take these handcuffs off’, and they’re saying ‘I’m sorry sir, this is protocol’.’’
Mikey Havoc on TVNZ delaying the screening of his documentary
‘‘TVNZ sat on them for two years before they broadcast them. Two years. Two f ...... years. They showed the guy with the world’s biggest testicles twice during that time.’’
Actor KJ Apa had some trouble adjusting to American culture:
‘‘It’s a different culture over there, and you have to be careful because you can be trying to joke about something and everyone’s just like, ‘What the f... is this guy talking about?’’
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