Saturday Morning with Kim Hill

The British Post Office scandal been described as one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in the country's history. Between 1999 and 2015, over 900 UK subpostmasters were falsely accused of theft and fraud as the result of faulty accounting software. Some were convicted and jailed, and more lost marriages, families and their mental health. A faulty accounting system doesn't perhaps sound like the makings of gripping drama, but it's been made into a series: Mr Bates vs The Post Office, The first episode airs on Sunday 31 March on TVNZ and on TVNZ on Demand. It was written by Gwyneth Hughes, a journalist turned screenwriter.

Filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss's creative partnership spans two decades, winning them Emmy awards and several prizes at Sundance. Their latest documentary Girls State follows teenage girls from Missouri navigating a week-long immersive democratic experiment, learning how to build a government from the ground up. Girls State airs on Apple TV from April 5. It serves as a companion to their 2020 film Boys State which followed a similar experiment. They also directed The Mission, about American Christian missionary John Chau who was murdered when he tried to contact and convert one of the most remote tribes in the world on North Sentinel Island.

Irish novelist and short story writer Claire Keegan was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022 for her book Small Things Like These. It's the story of a coal merchant whose eyes are opened to the horror of the laundry run by nuns one Christmas. The Booker Prize judges described it as "both a celebration of compassion and a stern rebuke of the sins committed in the name of religion". Keegan is appearing at Wanaka's Festival of Colour next Sunday, along with Audrey McGee, talking about why Irish writers are making a big impact.

World renowned brain health expert, clinical neuroscientist and pioneer in dementia research Professor Vladimir Hachinski is the recipient of the 2024 Ryman Prize, a $250,000 grant for the world's best discovery, development, advance or achievement that enhances quality of life for older people. It's celebrating the major contribution Professor Hachinski has made to the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and the links between 'the terrible three' - stroke, dementia and coronary heart disease. Professor Hachinski advocates for prevention by promoting the idea of "holistic brain health", linking cerebral health with our ability to interact and form meaningful relationships with others. Professor Hachinski joins Susie alongside New Zealand-based dementia educator Caroline Bartle.

Clinical psychologist Dr Olive Webb is nominated in the Local Hero category of the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year awards. A strong defender of some of the most marginalised members of our community, she tirelessly advocated and revolutionised care for people with learning disabilities. Most recently she also gave evidence to the Royal Commission into the Abuse in State Care and supported others to tell their stories. Dr Webb released From Behind Closed Doors last year, a poignant reflection on her 50-year journey alongside individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Glacial geologist Jamey Stutz dates Antarctic rocks 'dropped like breadcrumbs from melting glaciers' to help determine the scale of glacial retreat. Jamey has recently joined the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center in Ohio as a research scientist in the Polar Rock Repository, having completed his Ph.D at the Antarctic Research Center at Victoria University in Wellington. Jamey says he's excited to be part of the more than 60 year exchange of Antarctic knowledge between New Zealand and America.

Dubbed "deliciously rude and darkly funny", "chick lit" author Kathy Lette has a new book out which wreaks revenge. The Revenge Club features four best friends approaching their sixties, feeling invisible and bent on vengeance. It continues the Australian-British writer's observations of the best and worst parts of being a woman, with female friendships one of the perks. Kathy Lette has written fifteen bestselling novels, and has been recognised for her advocacy of equality, human rights, physical and mental health.

Around 600 people (including around 350 children) currently live at Gloriavale – a strict Christian community on the West Coast. In TVNZ's upcoming three-part doco Escaping Utopia, former church member Rosie Overcomer talks about her experiences there, including years of childhood sexual abuse. Rosie joins Susie Ferguson with Liz Gregory, one of the people who helped her family make a new life and founder of the Gloriavale Leavers' Support Trust.

Social media content makers celebrating their role as "traditional wives" are enjoying a startling rise in popularity. Influencers such as Nara Smith, Emily Mariko and Ballerina Farm are baking, procreating and home-making their way to millions of followers. So why is their #Tradwife vision of submissive domesticity so appealing in 2024? We ask Caro Claire Burke, a cultural critic and journalist at Katie Couric Media.

Women still take most of the responsibility for contraception, but a long anticipated "male pill" could soon become a reality. Several non-hormonal male contraceptive pills that work by slowing sperm are under development, with one entering human trials. Head of the Reproductive Medicine Group at the University of Dundee Professor Chris Barratt has dedicated his career to understanding male infertility, human spermatozoa and sperm-egg interaction. He joins us to explain how these new pills work and why it's taken so long to get to this point.

Ann Patchett is one of the world's most acclaimed, prize-winning novelists and non-fiction writers. She was named one of Time magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World' and is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine. She also famously co-owns indie bookstore Parnassus Books in Nashville with her husband. Her collection of essays These Precious Days was chosen by Barack Obama as one of his books of the year in 2021. Ann is appearing at the Auckland Writer's Festival in May, where she'll be talking about her latest novel, Tom Lake.

Traditional systems of wealth measurement don't include nature's contributions. Faculty Director of Stanford University's Natural Capital Project Professor Gretchen Daily thinks putting a dollar value on a mangrove, or a creek, or a honeybee is a vital paradigm shift. Gretchen and her team help governments, international banks, and NGOs determine their gross ecosystem product, or GEP - a parallel concept to GDP.

Concerns about the rising practice of "freebirth" escalated last month, following the death of premature twins in Byron Bay. Freebirthing, also known as unassisted birthing, is when women choose to give birth without medical assistance, rejecting both hospital care and midwife supported homebirth. It's increasingly a movement that NZ midwives are running into too. So what is motivating women to choose this path? And how risky is it? Joining Susie, Australian Professor of Midwifery Hannah Dahlen and NZ College of Midwives CE Alison Eddy.

The plumes of ash that can accompany volcanic eruptions are spectacular, but often damaging, in multiple and surprising ways. Most people think what comes out is like fire ash, but volcanic ash is something quite different. GNS principal scientist Graham Leonard join us to talk about exactly what ash is, how it can affect the health of both humans and animals, and all the ways it can disrupt everyday life.

Multi Grammy award winning Beninese musician Angélique Kidjo has been named one of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. Her career spans four decades and her music is a fusion of West African with American R&B, funk and jazz, dancehall and European and Latin American influences. Angélique serves as a UNICEF and OXFAM ambassador. She founded Batonga to support the education of young African girls. She also won last years Polar Music Prize, seen on a par with Nobel awards. Angélique Kidjo is playing in Auckland on Saturday night.

Why is the idea of a four-day working week seen as radical? What did the pandemic teach us about the role of science in politics and the reality of human interdependence?
English thinkers Geoff Mulgan and James Plunkett are currently in Aotearoa as Australia & New Zealand School of Government visiting fellows. They join Susie Ferguson to discuss some of the big challenges and opportunities for governments in the next decades.

Film director Lee Tamahori and producer Robin Scholes have a long history of collaboration, beginning with 1994's Once Were Warriors, which launched both their careers. Their latest offering, The Convert, starring Guy Pearce, opens in cinemas next week. A loose adaptation of Wulf by New Zealand author Hamish Clayton, The Convert features a largely Maori cast and follows the story of Munro, a war veteran-cum-preacher who comes to Aotearoa in 1830.

Lawyer, linguist and teacher Aliya Danzeisen converted to Islam as an adult four months before 9/11. Today, Aliya is the national co-ordinator and spokesperson for the Islamic Women's Council, and a standard bearer for the contribution Muslim women are making in New Zealand. Danzeisen prepared the Islamic Women's Council's response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch mosque attacks. A week out from the 5th anniversary of the massacre, she joins Susie to reflect on the gains made for Muslim New Zealanders, and ongoing barriers and prejudice.

For the past 200 years blankets have formed part of Aotearoa's history, part of our early trade, providing warmth and comfort during the New Zealand Wars and for our soldiers fighting overseas during two world wars. For Whakaawa and Josh Te Kani, the history of wool in this country is integral to the stories they weave into their blankets and their work will feature in a new exhibition, Paraikete Threads, which opened yesterday at the Pataka Art Museum in Porirua.