A Week of It

A Week of It is a New Zealand television series which ran from 1977 to 1979. A comedy sketch show, the series relied heavily on political satire, and as such was often written very shortly before it screened. Although it only ran for three years, the show was very popular, and launched the careers of many New Zealand entertainers, most notably David McPhail and Jon Gadsby. The show was screened on South Pacific Television, with the first episode airing on 4 July 1977, and was groundbreaking for New Zealand television. Despite satirical series lampooning current politics having run overseas for many years, they were a novelty in New Zealand, with only John Clarke's creation Fred Dagg having preceded A Week of It. The show's regular cast included McPhail, Gadsby, singer and comedian Annie Whittle, straight-man/introducer Ken Ellis, Chris McVeigh, and Peter Rowley. The show's main writers were A.K. Grant and McPhail, with other writing input coming from Ellis, Gadsby, McVeigh, and Peter Hawes. The show was directed by Tony Holden. Much of the satire revolved around politicians of the time, with David McPhail regularly impersonating then-prime minister Sir Robert Muldoon, and Peter Rowley appearing as the Leader of the Opposition Bill Rowling. The show featured musical numbers as well, many of them performed by Gadsby and/or Whittle.