The Big Screen

Ross McGarva learned his craft as a young art department hand on The Lord of the Rings, where he absorbed Peter Jackson's obsession with detail. His latest project is Moss & Freud, in cinemas now, a biographical drama about the friendship between supermodel Kate Moss and painter Lucian Freud. McGarva served as production designer, recreating Freud's paint-splattered Holland Park studio by plastering walls to build up texture, then flicking paint to match the decades of accumulated colour.

The top stories and other headlines at midday

If you've been out and about lately, you may have noticed that so called 'ugly' shoes are so hot right now.

Around 350,000 years ago, New Zealand looked and sounded very different from how it looks and sounds today, but in the proverbial blink of an eye, everything changed.

The heyday of the hit factory is now being celebrated in cabaret show Simply Brill, featuring three of Australia's most acclaimed cabaret artists.

Bonnie Harrison is here guiding us through the latest weird and useful headlines from the world of science, including the benefits of honey, French fries, and the value of leaving a legacy.

BBC tech correspondent Thomas Germain says fear-mongering is a marketing approach used by AI companies that obscures what's really going on with this technology.

Next month Sir Dave Dobbyn will be performing at The Civic theatre in Auckland for one-night only show, Selected Songs Encore.

Crime coverage was heavily criticised in the past as too tabloid. Now it's got greater respect and recognition. Mediawatch asks RNZ's award-winning crime correspondent Sam Sherwood what's changed. Also: 500-up for a dogged solo Southland newshound.