The Long Read from Stuff: Recent Episodes
Stuff
The very best of Stuff's longform feature journalism, in audio form. One story, beautifully told, every week.
In 2011, a Norwegian yacht sank off the coast of Antarctica during a storm. Three of its crew were lost. A decade on, a Stuff investigation finds new revelations about why the yacht sank and New Zealand's involvement. Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Written and read by Lee Kenny Produced by Philippa Tolley Audio editing by John Ropiha Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the face of it, Sergeant Alastair Dickie had an easy choice to make: attend a suspected armed incident or process a disqualified driver sitting in front of him? But as Nadine Roberts found out, it’s never that simple, especially when the disqualified driver goes on to commit a brutal crime just hours later. WARNING: This podcast contains graphic content, strong language, and references to sexual assault. For free help, text or call 1737, 24 hours. Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Written and read by Martin Van Beynen Produced by Jen Black Audio editing by John Ropiha Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For decades, a rundown house in Christchurch secretly harboured one of New Zealand’s greatest literary treasures. This is the story of the reclusive hoarder who hid it, the woman who wrote it, and the man who rediscovered it. Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Written and read by Michael Wright Produced by Philippa Tolley Audio editing: Connor Scott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On Wednesday 16th August, the jury of eight women and four men reached a majority verdict, that Dickason was guilty on all three counts of murder. Over the four-week trial, the jury had to decide whether Dickason was or was not criminally responsible for killing her three children at their home in Timaru on the 16th of September 2021. Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Written and read by Martin Van Beynen Produced by Jen Black Audio editing by John Ropiha Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to a world where the best bodies look like bricks and $35 buys you the chance of a championship. At a Porirua guinea pig show, Virginia Fallon meets the people who know good things really do come in small packages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Cool under fire, Kiwi Sergeant Edgar "Sandy" Sanders was known for his wartime heroics as part of a clandestine British army unit, The Long Range Desert Group. The unit operated in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt and their hit-and-run tactics made them a formidable fighting force. But after the war, Sanders continued his daring exploits, this time sailing the Pacific for the fabled Treasure of Lima. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Murray and Margaret Shaw retired and started a small bird park, but not before becoming embroiled in a sprawling saga involving a late-night arrest, an early-morning raid, and a music festival called Birdstock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
One had broken ribs and two years of heartbreak to overcome. The other had been a national celebrity but never faced anything like this before. Now they were running against each other, to the death. Stuff’s Mike White and Lawrence Smith recorded the drama of the Riverhead Backyard ReLaps Ultra, the race that keeps on going until only one person is left standing. Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read and produced by Jono Willliams Audio editing: John Ropiha Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
At the top of her sport and destined to row for New Zealand at the Olympic Games, Lucy Strack suddenly forgot how to scull.
Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read by Philippa Tolley Produced by Michael Wright Audio editing: Connor Scott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Reinventing yourself after quitting your dream job can be pretty painful. Just ask All Black great Dan Carter - which is what Adam Dudding did. Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read by Adam Dudding Produced by Jono Williams Audio editing: Connor Scott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A book deal, a possible Netflix documentary and a tale of success in the face of adversity, was the life painted on social media by wannabe New Zealand lawyer Corallee Collins-Anan. In a tale that mirrors a Walter Mitty creation or a version of Inventing Anna, the reality seemed to be deceit, missing money and academic failings. In this episode of The Long Read, Steve Kilgallon sets out the life Collins-Anan painted for herself verses real life. You can read Steve's story here Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read by Philippa Tolley Audio editing: Connor Scott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Beautiful scenery good enough for Lord of The Rings, so why has 007 - James Bond - never been to New Zealand? In this episode from the archives of The Long Read, Lee Kenny charts this country's connections with Bond and the reasons why we may just be too far away. You can read Lee's story here Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read by Lee Kenny Produced by Philippa Tolley Audio editing: Connor Scott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It started off with two pekin ducks living contentedly on a pond in Southland. But a dog attack later and the fate of Duckie and Drakie has sparked a five year court saga that has made legal history. You can read Martin's story here Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read by Martin Van Beynen Produced by Philippa Tolley Audio editing: John Ropiha Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
While the dark days of New Zealand’s winters don’t hold a candle to Antarctica’s, there’s no doubt they can still affect our physical and mental health. So what can we learn from the experts - people who spend six months of the year in darkness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's hard to believe, but there used to be a bountry on the beak of every kea. They were accused to attacking sheep and hunters killed about 150,00 in a hundred years of slaughter. In this episode from the archives of The Long Read Charlie O'Mannin sets out the how kea have gone from being regarded as the enemy to the focus of consevation. You can read Charlie's story here Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read by Michael Wright Produced by Philippa Tolley Audio editing: Connor Scott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
One month on from the Loafers Lodge fire, the man who jumped to safety rather than burn, tells Nikki Macdonald he’s been given “a fighting chance to get the life I never had”. But he wonders why it took a fatal fire for people to care. You can read Nikki's story here Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here. GET IN TOUCH Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at thelongread@stuff.co.nz CREDITS Read by Nikki Macdonald Produced by Philippa Tolley Audio editing: John Ropiha Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Stephen Lewis trusted and cared about his partner, Dr Shelagh Dawson. It never occurred to him that she could be secretly trying to kill him.
In 2018, New Zealand police began using a controversial interviewing tactic to crack cold case killings. The public knew nothing about it until this year. However, a 12-month Stuff investigation has revealed strong concerns about police interviewing tactics were raised long before one interview led to a false confession and a collapsed murder case. Moreover, the actions of the top officer who created the technique have been questioned for many years before he retired in October. Senior Writers Mike White and Blair Ensor reported on this story together , Mike White reads the story this week on this weeks Long Read.
At an eye clinic in Fiji, blindness can be reversed with a swift, transformative surgery. But out of the corner of the medics’ eyes, a worrying new threat is looming. Podcast Director Adam Dudding tells us about the story, and reads it for The Long Read.
If you love The Long Read, why not check out True Story, a new podcast in the Stuff Podcast Network. Hosted by Adam Dudding and Eugene Bingham who created The Commune, True Story is a weekly current affairs podcast. Each episode, Adam and Eugene take their microphones on the road to bring you one true New Zealand story: sometimes quirky, sometimes serious – always surprising. This is episode 1: "My boss is a robot". If you like what you hear, go subscribe to the whole series. More info at stuff.co.nz/truestory
Who is Jo Mckenzie Mclean? What is Stuff’s new podcast Jo vs Cancer? Jo Mckenzie Mclean’s life was turned upside down after a stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosis. In Stuff's new podcast Jo Vs Cancer, the mother-of-two and Stuff journalist offers frank - and sometimes darkly funny - insights into life with an incurable illness. Reporter Nadine Roberts asks Jo why she has gone public with her diagnosis in this Long Read.
Ahead of accepting Aotearoa’s highest arts accolade, Dame Jane Campion talks about a life of creativity, and bringing women’s desires to screen. National Correspondent Michelle Duff tells us about the story, and reads it for The Long Read.
The race with no end: Mud, blood and heartbreak at running's most brutal event.It’s a race with no end. Entrants have to keep running until they simply can’t go on, until they drop, until there’s only one person left standing. Mike White wrote about the heroics and heartbreak that unfolded in the most brutal race imaginable.
In 1985, 1-year-old Penny-Tui Taputoro suffered fatal injuries while in the care of family friend, Kathleen Smith. Nearly four decades later, despite conflicting evidence, lies and an admission extracted using a controversial interviewing technique, Smith has not been charged. And Penny-Tui’s family is still searching for the truth. Listen to Reporter Blair Ensor explain What Happened to Baby Penny-Tui.
David Farrier has reported from radioactive wastelands and conspiracy rabbit holes, but his latest documentary may have taken him to the most toxic place yet.
New Zealand comedian Willy de Wit has packed a lot into his 62 years - and his new book 'Drink Smoke Snort Stroke' details the highs and lows with surprising frankness.
After 30 years, Peter Ellis' convictions for child sexual abuse have been quashed. Listen to full story and hear reporter Martin van Beynen discuss the Supreme Court judgment.
Eighteen years ago, Chris Canham jumped off a hospital building because he thought the devil was after him. He woke three weeks later with broken legs and a smashed pelvis. But he still felt lucky.
Nearly 3000 people have been deported to New Zealand since Australia began hardline enforcement of a populist immigration policy in late 2014. More than half of them have gone on to commit crimes, but some are on the road to redemption.
Dame Ngaio Marsh is best known as a crime writer. But she devoted most of her life to turning one New Zealand city into a beacon of high culture.
The Wellington occupation was supposed to be about ending the mandates, but a new Stuff Circuit documentary investigates those behind the protest and discovers they have far bigger and more dangerous goals. Fire and Fury is a Stuff Circuit investigation into disinformation in Aotearoa New Zealand. Watch the full documentary here: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2022/08/circuit/fire-and-fury-disinformation-in-new-zealand/
It's a mystery that just won't go away: is one of Auckland's most prominent landmarks still hiding secrets?
Alan Hall spent 19 years in jail for a murder he didn't commit, but the authorities repeatedly refused to acknowledge a terrible mistake had been made. When the Supreme Court quashed Hall’s conviction, calls grew for those responsible to be held accountable.
Melanie Lynskey has always been brilliant. Why did it take till now for the world to realise? Zoe Walker Ahwa reads her NZ-exclusive interview with the Emmy-nominated actress.
The story of an aging communist with oxygenated fish tanks in his car who roamed New Zealand's countryside for decades in a bizarre crime spree that forever changed our environment.
The chase is on. The Long Read is breaking character harder than a Bradley Walsh laughing fit to discuss Stuff's data project on TV quiz show The Chase. Mike is joined by Stuff data journalist Kate Newton and Stuff to Watch pod host James Croot to dissect the project and talk about why the show is such a phenomenon in NZ.
The unsolved murder of 15-year-old Kirsty Bentley in 1998 in Ashburton is seared into the national consciousness. Now, police have announced a major move in the case.
Murder, madness, exile, redemption: For more than 100 years, Albert Moss was the only New Zealander to take all 10 wickets in an innings in first-class cricket. It was just the start of his remarkable life story.
When "Robert" first came across Bert Potter and his followers, he was all in. But after uncovering a dark secret at the Centrepoint commune, he was faced with a terrible decision – should he stay or should he go?
Sandy Graham shot dead her partner, Dale Watene, then had her best friend bury the body in a shallow grave, deep in a forest. Then she told lie after lie to hide what she’d done.
The Marist Brothers and Fathers have educated prime ministers, judges, cardinals and All Blacks. But their record of sexual abuse is horrific. Why have survivors receive pitifully small compensation payouts?
For many, the terror attacks on the Christchurch mosques seemed to come from nowhere. But not everyone was blind to the looming danger. In the series See No Evil, Stuff investigates how a group of women desperately tried to get the attention of officials – and why they failed. (Episode two of a two-episode special.)
For many, the 2019 terror attacks on the Christchurch mosques seemed to come from nowhere. But not everyone was blind to the looming danger. In the series See No Evil, Stuff investigates how a group of women desperately tried to get the attention of officials – and why they failed. (Episode one of a two-episode special.)
Sleeping rough and suffering from terminal bowel cancer, Barbara Campbell, known as Rose, was allegedly murdered in the shopfront she’d made her home. How did she come to be estranged from her family and living on the street? WARNING: One instance of strong language.
A shallow lake nestled high in the Central Otago hill country could electrify the country, and serve as the biggest public infrastructure project in nearly half a century. Will reality, and a protected wetland, stop it in its tracks?
Allegations about megachurches have prompted significant media attention. Do they signal the end of the age of the 'hype priest'?
When the anti-mandate protesters were driven off parliamentary grounds in March, many went looking for somewhere else to occupy. They set their sights on a marae in Lower Hutt.
The killing of 15-year-old schoolgirl Kylie Ann Smith left a rural community in tatters and drove a pastor into hiding.
For a few weird months in 1991, Adam Dudding played piano for New Zealand’s most celebrated female impersonator. But when he went in search of memories of Diamond Lil, he found a strange, tragic tale of opera, filthy double entendres – and alleged sex crimes.
It was one meeting, in one town, about one river. But it was the flash point for a debate consuming rural New Zealand - How do we conserve our fresh water and our economy?
During WWII, Edgar 'Sandy' Sanders from Christchurch was part of an elite Allied unit operating behind enemy lines. After the war, he became a treasure hunter.
Thirty-seven years ago, Allan Woodford walked out the door of his home in the middle of the night and disappeared forever. The case has confounded his family and the police ever since. Did Woodford take his own life? Or was he murdered?
There has been a surprising emergence of competitive minigolf and putting towards representing New Zealand.
Over 16 years, Stuff reporter Nikki Macdonald has followed five families with children born before 28 weeks gestation. These are their stories.
(Two-episode special – make sure you listen to Episode One first!) When David Lyttle’s best friend disappeared, police accused Lyttle of murder, then lured him into a fantasy world to get him to confess. This is Mike White’s investigation into an undercover operation that went way too far.
When David Lyttle’s best friend disappeared, police accused Lyttle of murder, then lured him into a fantasy world to get him to confess. This is Mike White’s investigation into an undercover operation that went way too far. (Episode one of a two-episode special.)
The strange story of the man who pivoted from complaining about “bullet-hard” lentils to becoming a leading voice in New Zealand’s anti-vax movement.
Black Ferns sevens player Ruby Tui shot to international fame last year on the back of some star turns during post-match interviews at the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, she's cultivated a deeper public persona.
In February 2000, 20-year-old Lisa Blakie was murdered after she started hitchhiking towards the West Coast. The man convicted of the killing remains in jail, but some say police have the wrong man.
It’s a student rite of passage: first year in the halls, second year flatting. But in Wellington, finding a flat has never been more expensive, or the students more desperate. This is the story of five students, embarking on the annual quest.
In the early hours of August 27, 1921, Constable James Dorgan was shot while investigating a possible burglary in downtown Timaru. His death is the only unsolved murder of a police officer in New Zealand, but new evidence points to a suspect close to home.
For 236 days across 2008 and 2009, William Stewart was the most wanted man in New Zealand. In that time he became so notorious he inspired a folk song and his own T-shirt. But the reality was much darker. This is the true story of Billy the Hunted One.
In 2011, a Norwegian yacht sank off the coast of Antarctica during a storm. Three of its crew were lost. A decade on, a Stuff investigation finds new revelations about why the yacht sank and New Zealand's involvement.
From crime boss, to circus act boxer, to relentless force for good. Dave Letele's rollercoaster life is finally on the level.
A macabre killer targeting horses terrorised Christchurch at the end of the 19th century. Who was the horse fiend, whose spree spanned a decade and drew comparisons with Jack the Ripper?
It's the only known murder on Stewart Island. On December 14, 1927, 82-year-old André Jose was bludgeoned to death in a Stewart Island boarding house.
They say they were traumatised at Toi Whakaari. This is the story of a group of students who helped force New Zealand's national drama school to overhaul its sexual harassment and bullying policies.
Kāwhia, in Waikato, is the ancestral home of the Tainui tribe. 100 years ago, it battled to keep the influenza pandemic at bay. Today, it is adopting a unique way of keeping Covid-19 out.
For two years, a small team at Christchurch Airport plotted an audacious strike – to move in on their rival's territory. This is the unlikely story of the plan to build an international airport in a tiny town in Central Otago.
Covid-19 lockdowns exposed something approaching a national fixation with KFC. Why are Kiwis so obsessed with fried chicken? The Long Read examines the light and dark sides of our collective fascination.
In 1991, Noeleen Marinovich was abandoned during her pregnancy by a local priest, who left her fighting a financial battle with the Catholic Church. Twenty-seven years later, Noeleen was murdered by their son.
Carolina Lewis had her whole life ahead of her, then she was gone. For two years, her family kept her story close, hoping for justice. But their pleas for a better investigation into Carolina’s death are yet to be answered.
Stuff journalist Charlie Mitchell reports once more from deep in the alternate universe of Covid-19 conspiracies. This time, the confounding case of a small group of doctors opposed to vaccination and other public health measures.
A Stuff reporter was alarmed to discover his car's dashcam had been recording trips for years, long before he bought it. How far is too far for surveillance?
A mysterious group called the Flying Phoenix Trust spared no expense building a large compound on farmland near Waihi. A decade on, the $50m complex is mainly used for school camps and the odd retreat. Who's behind it?
The Antipodean albatross will be functionally extinct in 30 years. This is the story of how US supermarkets are unwittingly helping to kill New Zealand's most endangered bird.
In 60 years of saving the world, 007 has visited more than 50 countries but never been to New Zealand. Why not? Despite our natural beauty and burgeoning film industry, is Aotearoa too bland for Bond?
The untold story of Major David Foote – the New Zealand army nurse who wrote a goodbye letter to his daughter, then risked his life to save others in Afghanistan.
When two historians set out to learn more about the first coach of the Silver Ferns, they did't even know her first name. Their journey took them from the netball courts of Wellington to the Central Otago goldfields, revealing a story of immigrant labour, poverty and marginalisation.
Three sisters, Mei, Charmaine and Francess Whaanga, were children when their whānau moved from the East Coast to the city. Now in their 60s, they, like so many children of the great Māori urban migration, are without homes of their own.
For decades, a rundown house in Christchurch secretly harboured one of New Zealand’s greatest literary treasures. This is the story of the reclusive hoarder who hid it, the woman who wrote it, and the man who rediscovered it.
One intrepid reporter dives headlong into the world of Covid-19 conspiracies and emerges to tell the tale.
Plunket's founder is widely acknowledged as a white supremacist who established the society to help preserve the "master race". More than 100 years on, can Plunket shake its racist past?
Olivia Shivas joins Michael Wright to talk about Stuff's latest podcast What's Wrong with You? – about life with a disability –and share the most inappropriate question she's ever been asked about using a wheelchair. Listen to the first episode of WWWY and, if you like what you hear, subscribe to the series: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2021/08/whats-wrong-with-you-podcast/.
From refugee to Fulbright scholar. Abbas Nazari was seven years old when he fled the Taliban and was rescued from a sinking boat by the cargo ship Tampa.
Forty years on, protesters recall the heart-stopping moments and enduring consequences of the 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand.
The terrible truth about why 385 passengers and crew were held hostage by Saddam Hussein; and the New Zealand journalist who refused to let the story go.
More and more of us call our home New Zealand Aotearoa, but as its popularity rises, so does the noise around it. Why is New Zealand also called Aotearoa?
Seven years since Te Urewera was officially recognised as a legal person, her people – Ngāi Tūhoe – are facing up to the wounds of colonisation and a Crown partnership haunted by the past.
Willi Huber, the pioneer behind Canterbury's Mt Hutt ski field, hid a dark past on his immigration forms. Now, the woman who was closest to him is breaking her silence.
Nearly 180 years ago, at a central Auckland intersection, a Māori teenager was hanged before hundreds of settlers, changing the course of history.
Moko kauae is resurging in New Zealand. One woman's journey to receiving the traditional Māori chin tattoo, and a reporter grappling with her own identity.
New Zealand’s braided rivers have been systematically strangled, and in some case, left behind zombie rivers. Now, academics and scientists are re-imagining what it means to live with rivers.
How chemical weapons, economic theory and the internet combined to squeeze ten barbershops into one Auckland suburb.
Thousands of people have strived to represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games. Just 1371 have succeeded. This is the story of Joseph Millar's decade-long quest to be one of them.
One public health expert still believes New Zealand’s widely-lauded response to Covid-19 has been a disaster. But how did Dr Simon Thornley become the 'extreme outlier' in his profession and a hero to anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists?