''Back Benches'' was a New Zealand political interview show, presented by Wallace Chapman and Damian Christie. It was primarily filmed at the Backbencher pub, across the street from Parliament Buildings in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. The show was cancelled on TVNZ 7 in July 2012 when the station was shut down, being replaced with TV ONE +1, a timeshift of TV ONE. The final three episodes were filmed at the Shepherd's Arms Hotel after an after-hours kitchen fire at the Backbencher pub rendered it unusable. In August 2012, Prime TV expressed interest in reviving the series with a similar format. On 13 September 2012, it was confirmed that Prime would be bringing the show back in February 2013 by one of the show's hosts, Wallace Chapman. On 27 March 2013, the start date for the new series was confirmed as 10 April 2013 by Wallace Chapman and Damian Christie. On 28 September 2017, it was announced by the producer Caroline Brunner on Twitter that ''Back Benches'' had aired its final show. The public agency that funds media,

New Zealand On Air NZ On Air (NZOA; ), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for providing funding for broadcasting and creative works. The commission operates largely separa ...

, did not renew funding for ''Back Benches''.

Format

Each episode a panel of about three to five people are present on the show. The panel members are usually sitting MPs There is usually one from each of the National and Labour parties, and one from each of two other parties with seats (that is,

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

, Māori,

Mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

, ACT, United Future and New Zealand First, parties). There is also a summary of political news during the preceding week (from both New Zealand and internationally), a small (10 person) poll of a current issue or controversy, and a 'Who am I?' game where customers present at the pub can guess which sitting MP clues read out are about.

External links

* (No longer active)

References

{{New Zealand television news 2008 New Zealand television series debuts 2012 New Zealand television series endings 2013 New Zealand television series debuts 2017 New Zealand television series endings New Zealand television news shows Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television shows set in Wellington TVNZ 7 original programming Prime (New Zealand TV channel) original programming

Format

See also

External links

References