''Backchat'' (stylised as ''Backch@t'') is a New Zealand arts and culture show that aired from 1998 until 2000 on TV One. The show was hosted by

Bill Ralston Bill Ralston (born 1953) is a New Zealand journalist, broadcaster, and media personality, active in television, radio and print. He has worked as a political correspondent, fronted the television arts show Backch@t, and was the head of news an ...

with movie reviews by

Chris Knox Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the g ...

. It had won Best Lifestyle Programme at the

New Zealand Film and Television Awards New Zealand film and television awards have gone by many different names and have been organised by different industry groups. As of 2017, New Zealand has relaunched a standalone New Zealand Television Awards after a five-year hiatus. The film awar ...

for all the years that it aired. It also won Best Television Media Programme at the 1999

Qantas Media Awards The New Zealand Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards are annual New Zealand media awards recognising excellence in the news print media. The first awards were held in 1974 giving out awards for news photography and have expanded to include ...

Background

First aired on 22 March 1998, ''Backch@t'' looked at the arts and culture through a broad current affairs lens with each episode focusing around panel discussions, magazine-style segments, topical interviews and film, music and book reviews. Each episode was initially 90 minutes long and screened at 12:00pm on Sunday afternoons, with a repeat screening at around 10:30pm that night. Within two years, the show was reduced in duration to an hour long and screened at around 10:30pm on Sunday nights. ''Backch@t'' ended on 20 August 2000 and ran for a total of 75 episodes over its three-year run. It was produced by the Gibson Group for

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

with funding from

NZ On Air NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission oper ...

. Reporters included

Mark Crysell Mark Crysell (born 21 February 1961) is a New Zealand television presenter and journalist. He has worked on different shows with Television New Zealand. Career Television Mark Crysell is a television reporter who has been part of the team for ...

(1998-2000),

Miriama Kamo Miriama Jennet Kamo (born 19 October 1973 in Christchurch) is a New Zealand journalist, children's author and television presenter. She currently presents TVNZ's flagship current affairs programme ''Sunday'', and Māori current affairs programm ...

(1998-2000) and Jodi Ihaka (2000).

References

1998 New Zealand television series debuts 2000 New Zealand television series endings Television series about the media {{NewZealand-tv-prog-stub