Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Stuart McKenzie describes his latest play as a "theological road trip". 

'After God' is the latest work of theatrical power couple Dame Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie – a verbatim play about a search for meaning and discussions with theologists. 

"I think people are kind of searching for meaning, for a sense of what makes their lives tick. There's a lot of darkness and a lot of uncertainty in the world, as there always is," McKenzie told Jack Tame. 

"I think it's more amplified at the moment, of course, but there is a feeling of wh...

Six years in the making, The Avalanches have released their fourth studio album. 

The Australian electronic group formed back in 1997, with albums releasing in 2000, 2016, 2020, and now 2026. 

Their music is created out of samples, and 'No Bad Memories' draws on old jingles, commercial branding, tech sounds, as well as music, to create a nostalgic vibe. 

Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to share his thoughts on the album. 

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An Irish advertisement promoting consent has been withdrawn due to criticism. 

It was part of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's 'We-Consent' campaign, and featured a teenager reluctant to hug their grandparents. 

The Centre says it's making a point about respecting boundaries from a young age, but the Irish Justice Minister says the ad's 'inappropriate and demeaning'. 

Kevin Milne joined Jack Tame to give his two cents on the situation. 

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Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger  

Two great loves. A world in chaos. And a life that never lands in order. Discover the long-awaited sequel to the bestselling phenomenon, The Time Traveler’s Wife. 

Alba DeTamble is a time traveler, slipping unpredictably through decades like her father before her. But the hardest thing she carries isn’t the burden of futures she can’t understand, or pasts she cannot change – it’s a secret: she is in love with two different people. 

Each of them offers a different life. Zach lives in the present a...

"Wide open spaces and serenely undulating landscapes set quite the stage for summer holiday frolics. Sprinkle that setting with a spoil of unexpected gems and experiential treats, and the Waitaki Valley delivers in spades. It’s been a long time coming, but Waitaki’s latest accolades in Lonely Planet’s annual Best in Travel list should come as no surprise. Crowning the head of the Waitaki Valley and backdropped by the Southern Alps, the junction town of Ōmārama brims with distinction. Ōmārama is Māori for ‘place of light’, a pitch-perfect description for the big skies, clarity of the light an...

This is a native organism. Firmly established in NZ, it’s origin could be from overseas (or an ancient continent like Gondwanaland), but it got here, somehow, on its own accord (flying, drifting on logs, floating in the air, etc) without assistance from humans (luggage, commercial goods, planes, boats, smuggled, imported, etc). 

It’s what we call an endemic species. 

Endemic means it naturally occurs only in New Zealand, nowhere else, unless it has been introduced there. It is therefore a Native organism that is really special as it has been part of our ecosystems for ma...

Spring has sprung, which many are taking as their cue to do a bit of deep cleaning – including Kate Hall. 

What's in my spring cleaning cupboard?  

What is tetanus and how do you get it?  

Is tetanus common?  

It was a rough week on the internet for security  

PHP, the widely used programming language that Wordpress is built on, has a severe vulnerability that was announced this week. It would effectively let an attacker take over your server. By some estimates, up to 70% of the world's websites run on PHP. The NSA advised that all applications and servers running PHP should be taken offline until they're patched.   

In addition, the US laboratory company Quest Diagnostics said patient records have been accessed, they just don't know yet how many or how widespread. So that's sen...

Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald 

This documentary traces the life and career of the stand-up and Saturday Night Live legend, from his rise as the deadpan anchor of “Weekend Update” to his enduring legacy as a comedian’s comedian — a master of absurd, dry, and unexpected humour. Built from archival footage, personal photos, and rare home videos contributed by fans and friends, the documentary lets Norm tell his own story in his own voice (Netflix). 

World's Biggest Mako  

Scientists search the waters north of New Zealand for giant mako sharks, uncovering a...

Derek vs Derek  

On a country road in Devon, intensive dairy farmer Derek Banbury is horrified at the “devastation” of his neighbour’s once productive farm. Dubbed a “maverick rewilder” by the media, Derek Gow is an unrepentant ex-sheep farmer hellbent on turning his land into an oasis for nature.   

Shot over three years the film charts the two Derek’s turbulent relationship, as tempers fray, wild animals run amok, and the land is radically transformed. 

Virginia Woolf's Night & Day  

An un-romantic comedy about a passionate astronomer Katharine Hilbery who does everythin...

BBQ season is here! Serve these with homemade chilli tomato jam and you’ll be so happy! 

Makes 4 large skewers 

Ingredients 

Method 

Last month, I woke to a message on my phone with a link to a YouTube clip.   

It was a film teaser (not to be confused with the trailer).   

In the clip were two familiar faces. One was Nathan Fielder, a Canadian comedian and TV host. The other was Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced and now jailed founder of the blood testing company, Theranos. A woman notorious globally for one of the best-known scams of the modern age. 

The teaser was brilliant in its intensity and its simplicity. The two of them sat centimetres apart...

Witi Ihimaera Smiler has published over forty written works, including novels, memoir, non-fiction, and short stories, and he's not slowing down. 

This year alone he's already released three books – ‘Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer’, ‘The Star Path of the Whales: A Return to the Realm of The Whale Rider’, and ‘Ariā and the Monster Island’, the third children’s book in the Astromancer series. 

He broke new ground as the country's first Māori novelist and has inspired generations of writers to find and tell their own stories, shaped by Māori culture and identity. 

Ihimaera Smiler is a...

Fontaines D.C. has released their newest album. 

'Dopamine Chamber' follows on from 'Romance', continuing the alternative rock sound the band created in the 2024 album. 

Its garnered positive reviews since its release yesterday, and so Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to share his thoughts. 

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Phoenix Palm Trees are fairly common in New Zealand, but what isn't commonly known is how dangerous they are.

After hearing about Jack's experience with the trees, Ruud Kleinpaste decided to break down some of the problems with them and give a few tips around getting rid of them.

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Partita by Barbara Kingsolver  

Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request, now, to see her again stirs up ghosts she’s kept at bay for a lifetime. 

Shifting between past and present, Livia’s deci...

"Purring through the tucks and folds of South Canterbury’s crinkled hinterland, the sense of anticipation was rising. Just west of Timaru, with the vast arc of the Hunters Hills backdropping the painterly landscape, my destination was Holme Station Homestead, set back from the Pareora River in Southburn. If you share my hankering for a grand historic escape, swathed in scenic seclusion, this is quite the address. Fresh from a monumental tip-to-toe restoration, the homestead has only been hosting guests since May – but the secret is spilling out to the world. Welcome to South Canterbury’s first and only luxury...

This week is Mental Health Awareness week and the theme is Belonging – how to foster deeper connections with others. 

Strong relationships help reduce stress, increase positive emotions, strengthen our sense of purpose, and improve self-worth.  Research shows that people with stronger social connections tend to live longer and enjoy better mental and physical health  

The opposite is true for when we’re disconnected or lonely – a 2023 report from the US Surgeon General found that loneliness is worse for our physical health than smoking 15 cigarettes per day*. 

It’s not about how many people you know, he...

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday October 17, 2026, esteemed NZ author Witi Ihimaera Smiler is in studio ahead of his appearance at the Nelson Arts Festival. 

Jack has a bone to pick with the Phoenix Palm Tree. 

Dr Dougal Sutherland has the latest stats on how loneliness can affect our mental and physical wellbeing, along with some tips on how to build strong relationships. 

We visit the exquisite new luxury lodge, Holme Station Homestead in South Canterbury, with our resident tourist Mike Yardley. 

And Fontaines D.C re...

The Wine: Black Cottage Pinot Gris 2026, Marlborough RRP from $20.00  

A classic modern style of Gris with a pungent, very bright, and fruity bouquet, and core of bosc pear and apple, some white spice, sweet citrus peel and fine lees suggestions then a touch of fresh quince flesh. A just-dry expression with a tickle of sugar as the wine touches the palate adding to a satin-cream mouthfeel with acidity for contrast and freshness. Balanced, well-made, and ready for the warm days ahead. Best drinking from day of purchase through 2028.  

The Vintage 

2026 was an outstanding vin...

Elon Musk shows "flying cars are real"  

Our science-fiction (and Jetson's) dreams are coming true!  

In the first demo, the car showed its 'sucking power' by driving up a curved ramp shaped like half of a roller coaster loop to eventually be completely upside down. Then, instead of reversing back down, it launched itself off the end of the road —upside down— and then used booster units on the car to turn it back the right way and lower itself to the ground.  

Then, the Roadster accelerated towards a collection of other Tesla cars (a...

Lessons on Living with John Aiken 

This series offers practical tools for navigating life's toughest moments. Based on Nigel Latta's best-selling book, fellow clinical psychologist John Aiken steps in and presents Lessons on Living (Sky Open, Neon, ThreeNow). 

Below  

When a mysterious sea creature starts terrorizing a coastal town, a fisherman must fight to protect his family and his community's vanishing way of life (Netflix). 

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Kevin Milne thinks he's found the secret to a longer life. 

Last week he danced at a party for the first time in years, and looking back, he reckons there's a connection between whether you indulge in a little bit of a boogie and the stretch you live. 

He joined Jack Tame to chat about the idea. 

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Tenzing 

After joining a British expedition, Himalayan climber Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 

La Bola Negra  

Across three distinct eras, the intertwined lives of three men remain bound by a shared thread of desire, sexuality, enduring pain and the lasting weight of their complex legacies. 

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Yesterday, my five-year-old niece had to have surgery.  

She was bumped up the priority list at Nelson Hospital by an orthopaedics team who were a bit concerned about her condition. Her ankle hurt, and her mum reckoned it was looking swollen and feeling a bit hot, the telltale signs of infection. 

Surgery is a stressful thing for a young child, not to mention that child’s parents. But the good news is that so far at least, she seems to be doing really well. She returned home last night with a giant bandage, a pink cert...

Catherine Chidgey is incredibly talented. 

The Kiwi author is highly acclaimed, having won the Prize in Modern Letters, the Katherine Mansfield Award, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship, the Janet Frame Fiction Prize, and the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction twice. 

A theme Chidgey explores in some of her novels is that of "ordinary people who do terrible things", and it's one she explores in her most recent work, 'The Starving Bride'.  

The novel is based off a 1930s sideshow act, resurrected in the future, in which a young woman dressed as a bride wou...

A pioneer in the Kiwi music scene is taking his largest tour around the country. 

Che Fu is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his 2001 album 'The Navigator', touring New Zealand alongside his band The Kratez and a few special guests. 

Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to discuss the tour. 

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Thursday was a special day for Kevin Milne. 

His wife Linda loves pigs and won't eat pork, which naturally means Kevin also doesn't eat pork at home. 

But Linda was away on Thursday, which means Kevin cooked his annual pork chop. 

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Tell Me Something True by Michael Robotham  

Arlo Hackett doesn’t expect mercy when he emerges from a twelve-year prison sentence and makes his way back to his home town, Yulara, a waypoint on Australia’s Great Southern Road. The last time Arlo was home, his brother Luke was charged with a terrible crime and Arlo was found guilty by association. 

His return to the goldrush town is like cracking open a time capsule full of hatred and violence, along with memories of the people he loved – the ones he couldn’t save. 

The town wa...

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday October 10, 2026, Kiwi author Catherine Chidgey has a new novel on the shelves, so she joined us to tell us all about 'The Starving Bride'. 

Jack recently found out a product he thought was left in the nineties has come back into vogue.  

Claude is now banning rude and abusive behaviour from users; our tech expert Paul Stenhouse weighs in on why. 

Ruud Kleinpaste has all the details on how you can spot the stunning Australian two-spined spider in your backyard this spr...

"If you’re sizing up a great foray on Queensland’s holiday highway, the Pacific Coast Way, it’s not just the mainland that serves up so many temptations. On my recent road-trip between Cairns and Rockhampton, I mixed and matched some overnight stops in Mission Beach, Townsville, Cape Hillsborough, and Yeppoon with some quick and easy jaunts to the Great Barrier Reef.

"The Pacific Coast Way straddles the full length of the Great Barrier Reef, so hopping off the highway for some island time presents a glittering necklace of options. Comprising roughly a 1000 islands and coral cays...

When people begin to make the shift to more sustainable choices, shopping second-hand becomes a default, but is it always the right option? 

Kate Hall looks at the different factors involved in deciding whether or not you should buy something new, second-hand, or if you should buy it at all. 

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Spring and summer time is spider time.   

If you take the time to look around your garden from now on, you'll find that these useful little helpers are everywhere, taking advantage of the abundance of prey that comes with the warmer days.  

Some hunt on foot while others construct a web or a snare; the technology of silk and spatial spider memory is being studied, and they're slowly revealing the most surprising facts.  

There are spiders that recycle the protein of their silk, simply by eating it. A good example is the Australian two...

As political parties consider various wealth taxes, it raises a question: who exactly is in the top 10%? 

Ed McKnight runs through how much money you need to have to be considered within the top 10%, both for New Zealand in general, and for your specific age group. 

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Starlink is making moves to be a full mobile provider  

They've got two big pieces of their puzzle underway this week. The FCC has approved the launch of 15,000 satellites optimized for high-speed internet from space. And now they've announced they're going to acquire frequencies from a company that will allow them to use the frequencies that can penetrate walls, like traditional satellite carriers. That acquisition is expected to cost them $8 billion. Most standard smartphones already have the 800 MHz band built into their internal modems, so they'd instantly be able to connect to this network. Together the satellite c...

Big Girls Don't Cry  

Over one transformative summer, 14 year-old Sid Bookman discovers desire, identity and the internet, as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by. 

Sense and Sensibility 

A fresh adaptation of Jane Austen's 1811 novel, centring on the Dashwood sisters as they face sudden poverty and navigate romance, class expectations, and heartbreak. 

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Carrie  

After her father's sudden, untimely death thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem of public high school, Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social‑media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence (Prime Video). 

Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars  

Experience thrilling highs and crushing lows as the world's best chefs pursue the ultimate accolade: a Michelin Star. These anonymous inspectors have never let anyone in on their mysterious ways, until n...

On a recent trip to Italy, I can hand on heart say that my consumption of tiramisu was impressive! It was almost a daily occurrence, usurped only by the frequency of my gelato eating.

Serves 2-4  

Ingredients  

Method 

I don’t know about you, but before we had screens in our pockets to distract us from the screens in our living rooms, I used to find TV infomercials absolutely absorbing.   

Actually, I’d go beyond that – some infomercials had a kind of hypnotic quality. You’d change the channel just for a second and then find you’d lost 15 minutes of your life to the Ab King Pro.  

I had a couple of favourites. Do you remember the Bodyblade? It was basically a long piece of plastic that you whipped back and forth, apparently st...