A three-part dramatised documentary on the days before and during the depression, written by Michael Anthony Noonan, and the executive producer was Michael Scott-Smith.
There are more than 90 speaking parts in the series. The man who conceived the series, Michael Scott-Smith, had this to say about it: “As a production, ‘The Longest Winter’ really began where ‘Richard John Seddon - Premire’ left off. The success of Seddon showed us very clearly that there was a public awareness and indeed an appetite for programmes that dramatised key moments in our history.
“It was on the basis of that that I got together with the same team to plan what would be a follow-up—if not in the time sense, then certainly in broad theme and production. “We discussed several possible themes because we wanted to ensure that the follow-up programme was both a greater challenge and also an extended programme. We wanted to capitalise and create a format that would extend logically into a short series.
“The depression as a subject gave us this—it’s a very important part of our background and indeed, as such, lies behind a Jot of our social thinking. It’s peopled by strong personalities, several of whom had a necessary element of ambivalence. It also presents a greater challenge in that it involves a total cross-section of New Zealand society at the time.
PERSONALITIES
“In terms of the programme we’ve made, it varies from Seddon in that it includes both real personalities (Forbes, Coates, Holland, and Savage) and a number of fictional characters. “The former illustrate the political aspects of the depression, the latter are used to illustrate just how the depression affected a typical family. “Our major problem was of creating a sense of period. Having got together our actors with design, costume and make-up, we were still faced with the task of being absolutely authentic.
“Whereas very few people alive today lived through the Seddon era, there are thousands who experienced the depression and naturally have vivid memories of it.
Thus we have tried very hard to be painstakingly accurate.”
THE WRITER
Michael Anthony Noonan (he uses his full name now to avoid confusion with the other Michael Noonan) was approached by Michael Scott-Smith and Tony Isaac to write one of the three episodes for The Longest Winter, He ended up writing all three.
In much the same way as Tony Isaac ended up producing the series, although that was not his intention at the beginning. A great deal of research went into the scripts and as well as Messrs Noonan and Isaac, Lawrence McDonald, Maria Hill and Tony Simpson (author of The Sugarbag Years), rendered valuable assistance.
The period covered by The Longest Winter is from just before the 1928 election to the eve of the 1935 election, so although the series does not cover the full period of the depression there! was still a mountain of work for the researchers.
Mr Noonan’s main problem when it came to writing the script was one of selectivity. In his own- words: “With such an enormous, amount happening, you just have to take a chance in a programme covering such an extensive period and hope that you include the essential facts and the essential faces.”
MEMORIES
Another problem was posed by the fact that so many people lived through that period and remember vividly the real people in the political arena. Thus the actors had to be matched as closely as humanly possible to the physical appearance and sounds of these characters.
As far as the accuracy of the series is concerned, Mr Noonan says that “what we aimed for was a fair and reasonable reconstruction of what the times were like, given the physical limitations of trying to cover the period in three one-hour programmes.” One point that surprised Mr Noonan as the research progressed was “the amount, of apathy that set in—people became reconciled with the misery and just waited for the end — after 1932 there was an extremely passive response. “I don’t think they really understood what it was all about any more than they understood how it began. It scarred them but I don’t think it changed their attitudes to life.”
With the advantage of hindsight Mr Noonan says of the politicians, “the most amazing thing was their lack of imagination, for it would appear obvious that the Government could have eliminated many of the more unpleasant aspects of the depression such as not having enough food or warm clothing.
“Of the personalities Gordon Coates is perhaps the most difficult to assess. He is in some ways less attractive than the others, but more straight-forward and more interesting for he was at least struggling with new ideas.”
LIMITATIONS
According to Mr Noonan there were no “real bad guys” but a good many insensitive! men in public life. He is of the opinion, though, that this stemmed from their limitations rather than from their callousness. “They were just ordinary people with no particular talents and found themselves facing a crisis which they could not understand, let alone control. When this crisis situation virtually destroyed the farming industry and put so many men out of work, they too became apathetic and just waited for it to disappear.”
What Mr Noonan tried; to do with his script is to cover broadly the whole occupational and social range at the time. He seeked to show what happened through the eyes of the ordinary men, their wives and their families —rather than through the eyes of the politicians. One particular family is followed through the three episodes and is inter-related with the families in other social groups to give an over all picture.
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