Steve Newall: Flicks.co.nz editor ahead of Polk: The Trial of Philip Polkinghorne airing on Three

Published Apr 12, 2025, 11:57 PM

One of the country's biggest trials will be looked at from a new angle in a new series airing on Three.

The murder trial of Phillip Polkinghorne will be explored over three nights. 

The Auckland eye doctor was ultimately found not guilty of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna after an eight week trial. 

The documentary series will show interviews with Polkinghorne himself, his girlfriend Madison Ashton, Crown Solicitor Alysha McClintock and journalists who covered the case. 

Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall reveals what to expect from this new project.

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You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin from News Talks, EDB.

Entertainment Time Now and we're kicking off a little bit of Anna Cottington because she is a finalist at the Tate Music Prize, which is taking place this Tuesday, the fifteenth. Steve Neil is editor at Flex Star, Coton and Zed and joins me.

Now, good morning, good morning, very much looking forward to her getting together with the pals of the music industry for the Tate Music Prize on Tuesday.

I have forgotten how much I love that album when she released it, I think late last year when she released whenever she released it. Yeah, No, really cool little soul sort of infused number.

Absolutely and this is a this is a great, great awards to recognize this type of record that really focuses on the album still as an art form, still as an entity, a sort of purely thought out creative expression, consistent case of body of work. So Anna Connington, as he says, nominated. Darts, Delaney, Davidson, Earth, Tanngue, Phaser Days, Georgia Lines, Holly Aerosmith, Mel Parsons and Troy Kingey are among other finalists. But my hot tip, my favor for meeting the criteria of the Tait Music Prize, if not necessarily I can't pick favorites, but favorite by the rules of this prize is Moco Tron this superb album, Wide Air Awesome, Maldi Bassed record. So there you go.

That's really interesting. My producer, Libby, she picked Anna Coddington. She reckons that's the album to beat. So well, we'll be following this up next Sunday.

Let's let's make it interesting.

But look what I'm with you. Of course, we've got the Apra Silver Scroll, which celebrates songwriting and that's often one song. But what I love about the TAT is I'll then go I make it a mission to listen to the full album of each artist because it's not something we do so much these days when we're making play lists and yeah, kind of flitting through Spotify and things.

Totally. It's I think it's meeting the artist's in tension through the through the medium that they most want to communicate with us through.

Yeah, No awesome. Now tonight we have polk the Trial of Philip Polkinghorn, which is hitting three and three now.

Yeah, and I should caution this isn't really lovely to talk about this as entertainment, but it's not. This is a true crime murder documentary, but it doesn't go down the sort of lurid and kind of grubby sensationalism.

I guess like Netflix. Yeah, I'm really pleased to hear that, because I felt like we covered this trial very well and very thoroughly, and I didn't feel that the huge amount of spect we show in to the victim, and I didn't want us to be just taking the lovely, salacious parts of this story across the screen.

Again, So Pauline Hannah, the deceased in this in this case, is treated with a lot of respect by the commentary makers. It opens and closes with footage of Pauline to really kind of remind you about the person. So we learned quite a bit about her, and it just makes it all the sadder, really because she seemed like a wonderful person, and my interpretation being that she kind of gets trapped in a coercive control situation with someone that's spiraling. And yeah, it's a difficult watch, but across three episodes, there's plenty of time spent with the details, particularly the forensics, so this is sort of where so much of the crucks of the case ended up lying. Also of particular interest is that Private investigated Julia Hartley Moore filmed interview footage with Philip Pulkinghorn while he's out on bail, and she's an executive producer on this project, so presumably sort of like saw the opportunity to get the interview and save it for make it into something later on, but rather than giving him a platform, and those interviews it kind of does reveal like a lot of inconsistencies. You start to draw your own conclusions about the person that is speaking, probably a bit too freely for their own good.

Did you learn more than what we learned in the trial? Does this documentary server server purpose beyond just sort of rehashing what we saw?

I think that for me personally, I couldn't keep up with the day to day news cycle on its it was just too grim and so being able to sort of get this condensed and detailed information in like a couple of settings, it's quite a nice way to take not a nice way, but it's an appropriate way to take it.

In And do we hear from the mistress and other members of family.

Who are Madison Ashton is very prominent in this in the series, and it's sort of a voice that's been largely missing, I think, from from coverage. But yes, there's sort of lots of lots of lots of things to I guess ruminate on will definitely be once the weight of watching it lifts in the living room. There's definitely lots of chats to have about it.

I like the way you have because you've told me of there that there are a lot of revelations. I like the way you're not giving it all away here. You've been very contruled.

Yeah, and it's not it's not the jinx like there's not there's not a hot mic moment in the bathroom where a confession is obtained. But it just details accumulate, and the more that we hear people's personal accounts sort of side by side with the with the evidence, the more compelling it becomes.

This is heading tonight, isn't it?

Oh?

Yes, This is tonight on streaming first on three Now and airing of a three consecutive nights on three at eight forty pm.

I think it's going to be appointment of viewing for a lot of people.

Totally, and even if it's just a sort of feel like more complete pictures, Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, to kind of wrap it up and tuck it away. Maybe. Hey, thank you so much, Steve, appreciate that.

For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen live to News Talks A B from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.