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Mark Albiston and Amelia Bardsley

Unconventional TV arts show The Living Room is a showcase for alternative Kiwi talent. And it’s not surprising to find its creators - Mark Albiston and Amelia Bardsley – are exactly that.

The creation of Mark and Amelia’s production company Sticky Pictures, and TV show The Living Room, is more than a classic Kiwi story of ingenuity and survival against the odds. It’s the story of two people who realised New Zealand held opportunities unmatched anywhere else in the world.

Mark and Amelia moved to London in 1998, returning to New Zealand in 2000 for the birth of their first child. While living and working in London presented some challenges, Mark eventually broke into the UK market and began producing and directing Channel 4 series Mountain Bike Britain and later Tri 2000, and Amelia found work as a commercial lawyer. However, taking their dreams to the next level necessitated a move back to New Zealand.

It’s the couple’s return home which gave them the opportunity to establish production company Sticky Pictures and create The Living Room, born out of Mark’s dream to create a TV series featuring New Zealand artists. Mark maintains he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to produce a show like The Living Room in the UK, and finally feels like he’s taking creative control: “I’m making the kind of TV I like.”

The Living Room provides colourful yet intimate insights into the lives of a diverse range of talented New Zealanders, focussing on what’s special to them. It’s a no-frills, reality show based on the premise that anyone’s story can make good viewing – if it’s shot in the right way.

It’s got the thumbs-up from critics, who have described the show as ‘cool’ and ‘culturally hip’, and initial funding from New Zealand on Air has been extended for The Living Room’s third series. As Mark says, the show is about what really exists: “I wanted it to be about real things.”

And the raft of media and television awards they and Sticky Pictures has received is testimony to the fact that New Zealand appreciates having this unique Kiwi talent home.

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