Nights

A Christchurch scam-buster is breathing a little easier after the American cryptocurrency entrepreneur who was suing him for defamation dropped the case. American-based Stephen Andrew McCullah was suing Christchurch YouTuber Danny de Hek, for nearly four million dollars over videos and posted about McCullah and his schemes.

It's that time of the week where we check in with our resident film and tv expert Dan Slevin. Dan talks to Nights about two films starring Denzel Washington and a crime thriller set on the Navajo reservation in 1971.

Steven Ricks from Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom is a massive Doctor Who fan. He joins Mark Leishman on Nights to talk about how he turned his hobby of making replica costumes into a film industry career.

One of the most popular podcasts genres is advice on how to sleep better, and ones designed to help you drift off. Insomniac and podcast reviewer Lynn Freeman has been testing them out.

What did you do in lockdown? Actor and writer Peter Feeney wrote and directed a four-part series starring a wealth of recognisable New Zealand actors - and his own family. Blind Bitter Happiness is screening now on RNZ.

If you happened to be looking up at the night sky on Monday night over the top of the South Island you may have witnessed the final voyage of a 4 billion-year-old space rock crashing into the earth. According to Fireballs Aotearoa the meteorite fell through the sky above the country before landing somewhere near the Waitaki River in Otago. Only Nine confirmed meteorites have been found in New Zealand in the past 160 years. University of Otago professor of geology and founder of Fireballs Aotearoa James Scot talks to Mark Leishman about the probability of the rock being recovered and if we're seeing more of these fireballs in our night sky.

Hawke's Bay dentist Dr Kris Sweetapple says oral healthcare is too important to be inaccessible to many Kiwis.

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring. Can we finally put our raincoats away and look forward to a bit of sun? MetService meteorologist David Miller joins Nights with the weather forecast for the weekend ahead.

It's not often Southland primary school children get to play a part of a fully-fledged movie - but for Winton Primary pupils it's part of their school year. Since the start of the year, the school's 275 pupils having been acting or helping behind the camera filming The Great Sword of Ithsgul inspired by the great works of JRR Tolkien. The creative force who is bringing Middle Earth to Central Southland is the school's principal Steve Wadsworth. He talks to Mark Leishman about the driving force behind the unique project.

It was the year 2014, and the news making the headlines of British newspapers wasn't about crime or politics - it was the possibility that a crocodile was on the loose in the River Avon in the heart of the city of Bristol. A bus driver alerted the police when he saw what he was convinced was a crocodile swimming in the water. The story is now the subject of a short documentary. But driver Jolyon Rea is adamant he saw a crocodile, and he shares his story with Nights.