Forget Shorty Street, Ahika¯ roa is a true gem of a New Zealand soap
There’s an argument about whether a country of five million can afford the luxury of a BBC or ABCtype broadcaster, devoted to good shows, series and films – and showing them without commercials.
I reckon, we do. And that maybe we could even save a few hundred million every year by only showing ads between the shows, rather than during them. That would at least let the advertisers still spend money, while we get an uninterrupted view of what we want to watch.
But, I also reckon that Whakaata Ma¯ ori – without drawing too much attention to itself – is already fulfilling many conditions of being a ‘‘national broadcaster’’ – and that shows like Ahika¯ roa are a part of that.
Ahika¯ roa has flown under most New Zealanders’ radars for years. And it’s time this show was better known. It first aired in 2018, on Whakaata Ma¯ ori and was conceived as a soap opera, set in the city and suburbs, that would travel into the lives and loves of a group of young people. It was hailed as a ‘‘ground-breaking, bilingual serial drama – following the lives of best friends and flatmates – tackling issues facing young urban Ma¯ ori in a way never before seen on TV’’.
Initially, Ahika¯ roa was broadcast as web-friendly fiveminute episodes, which could be bundled into two longer episodes each week for broadcast on
Whakaata Ma¯ ori. But after the first year, the show was expanded into more standard half-hour episodes, broadcast twice a week.
Ahika¯ roa is everything we want from a decent soap opera. There is an absence of preaching here – or no more than the more established soaps on TVNZ 2 and Three allow themselves. Ahika¯ roa is more interested in just banging out a really addictive soap experience. The characters are as funny, conflicted, fallible, loveable and flawed as any you will find on Shortland Street, or any imported show. But they are also easily recognisable as characters who might only really exist in New Zealand.
A soap should function partly as a training school for performers and technicians. That’s how broadcasters all over the world have always treated the genre. And it’s fair to say that the performances in Ahika¯ roa can be uneven. But for every slightly awkward moment, there will be another dozen that floor you with their honesty and humour.
I think sometimes that Whakaata Ma¯ ori struggles to publicise its programming outside of their own audience and social media followers. Anyone who takes the time to browse the line-up, watch a few clips and see what’s available on the Whakaata Ma¯ ori online platform quickly realises that the station is an absolute gem of programming, regularly airing the sort of shows from here and overseas that you really would hope that TVNZ 1 would have made more widely known.
Ahika¯ roa is a wee gem. The storylines are unpredictable, relevant and funny, the integration of te reo and English is seamless – I wouldn’t even call myself a learner, but I could always follow what was being said – and the settings are authentically excellent.
Give Ahika¯ roa a go. I reckon you’ll become a fan pretty fast.
Season 5 of Ahika¯ roa is scheduled to debut on MA¯ ORI+ on March 29 and on Whakaata Ma¯ ori at 9.30pm on March 30.