Rnz: Afternoons With Jesse Mulligan

We're kicking off our 21st year of NZ Live and today I'm joined by Theia in Studio B Theia's debut album Girl in a Savage world has received rave reviews, you may remember we gave away her album last year Theia joins us ahead of a limited run of shows here in Aotearoa before she heads off for a tour across North America

Movie critic Dominic Corry joins Jesse in the Auckland studio to review: Send Help - in theatres The Wrecking Crew - Prime Video Marty Supreme - in theatres.

Freaky Friday - that time of the week where we hear your spooky, ghostly or simply unexplainable stories. If you've got one to share, get in touch on 2101 and one of our producers will be in touch.

It feels like every day there is another company going bust, or downsizing, which means lots of you are living in a state of constant change or doing more with fewer staff. Jane Ward runs an HR company called Tomorrow's People, and she wanted to know how such workplace trends affect HR professionals, when she couldn't find the research she wanted, she did it herself.

Whether you love losing yourself to dance - or dancing like no one's watching - for many dance brings joy. But it also keeps people active, provides community spaces and can help young New Zealanders find their tribe if traditional sport isn't their thing. In fact, according to our next guest, more and more kids are choosing to dance. Ash Habgood the owner of Auckland dance studio Neverland talks to Jesse.

Remember when flipping houses seemed like a sure-fire way to make a dollar? Well, it turns out those days might be behind us. New data from TradeMe shows New Zealanders are changing their habits, its survey showed 49 percent of buyers are looking for a house that already feels new, 16 percent looking to build from scratch, and 6 percent looking for a "fixer-upper". Barfoot & Thompson real estate salesperson Rawdon Christie chats to Jesse.

Time to talk Classical Cupid now, our chance to celebrate classical music and your chance to be matched with music that suits your profile. Earlier in the week we asked for you to send us a dating profile of yourself and a description of the music you like .. our friends at RNZ Concert then select the tunes they think will fit the bill and help sparks fly. Today our selector is RNZ Concert producer Anna Van Der Leij and the man looking for sparks to fly is listener Oliver.

For many of you summer might mean beach time, BBQs, camping and evening strolls. For Dr Grant Morris summer means road trips with a twist - a history road trip.

Time to solve some of the world's problems. Simon Wilson is here to help put some wrongs to right and today he's focusing on a huge issue; how we prepare ourselves better for the climate crisis.

It's time for New Zealand sports history and today Jesse is joined by our most successful male Paralympic swimmer Duane Kale. Duane won four golds, a silver and a bronze medal in the pool at the 1996 Atlanta Games - the only games he competed in. After retiring from competitive swimming, he moved into sports governance and administration, and late last year he was appointed the Chair of Sport NZ.

A lot has been happening in the world of pop culture over the last few weeks, and for my next guests, the notifications on their group chats have been going off! Jesse is joined by film critic Kate Rodger, Culture 101's Perlina Lau and Afternoons' Senior Producer Olivia Wilson.

A study out of Netherlands has shown that being a hands on grandparent is good for your brain. Researchers found that grandparents who had some childcare responsibilities scored higher on cognitive tests than those who didn't. We chat to some grandparents about what they love about spending time with their grandchildren.

It's been just over two weeks since Scott Robertson was sacked as the All Blacks Coach. We're now in prime speculation territory: what really happened, and who is going to pick up the reigns? Jesse is joined by sports journalist and author of a great Substack newsletter - The Bounce - Dylan Cleaver.

Scientists say the ocean around NZ is warming twice as fast as the global average; now a new research project out of the University of Auckland is going investigate some of the effects of that. The nine-million-dollar project aims to determine how changes in ocean temperatures drive huge shifts in our weather. Project lead Melissa Bowen joins Jesse.

We begin today in Australia, which is currently experiencing a record-setting heatwave. And it's not just the high temperatures, it's also the longevity - eight consecutive days above 40 degrees Celsius. The hottest day was recorded in the South Australian town of Ceduna, which reached 49.5 degrees on Monday, to put that in some perspective, New Zealand's highest air temperature for 2025 was 35.6 degrees in Kawerau in early December - that's 15 degrees cooler than Ceduna! It is hard to imagine how you cope in 49-degree heat, so here to share what it's like to live in such sweltering temperatures Jesse is joined by the Mayor of Ceduna Ken Maynard.

Wallace Chapman and producer Jose Barbosa preview tonight's instalment of The Panel.

The Kakapo Files podcast is back with what is set to be the biggest breeding season of all time for our favourite parrot. To listen to the full episode head here. If you're keen to watch the Kakapo Cam, which is livestreaming from the nest of Rakiura the kakapo, 24 hours a day, hit this link. The Kakapo Files and Our Changing World will be back every Wednesday here on Afternoons, but from next week, they'll be at the new time of 1:45.

Singer-songwriter Katie Waissel shot to fame on The X Factor in 2010, the same season that launched One Direction. Since then, she's spoken candidly about abuse, exploitation, and what she believes is the industry's failure to protect young artists. Now an outspoken advocate for artists' rights, she's involved in O-W-H-L, a group pushing the industry to take real responsibility for the people it profits from.

It's time for Bookmarks, and today we're joined by celebrated playwright and director Hone Kouka A special 30th anniversary production of his play 'Waiora Te Ukaipo - The Homeland' returns to the stage this March with the Auckland Theatre Company Hone Kouka joins Jesse from our Wellington studio to share his picks of what to watch, read and listen to. His picks: Books One Hundred Years of Solitude Marquez. Potiki Patricia Grace. Any novel by Haruki Murakami. Voss Patrick White. Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller Music: Geese / Cameron Winter Crusades. Bailter Space X. Taua MA. I Want Your Love Chic. Freddie Freeloader Miles Davis. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man Prince Films: One Battle After Another. Anything by Akira Kurosawa. Finding Forrester. Ngati. Wings of Desire / Paris Texas Podcasts: Economics for Rebels. Thinking Basketball. Cric info Stump Mic

Kelly Gibney is back with her first Easy Eats recipe for 2026. The recipe is here! A few shortcuts like store-bought pastry and frozen spinach make this beautiful tart come together quickly on a weeknight. Parmesan, lemon zest and plenty of fresh basil make the filling super fresh and fragrant. Serve with a big green salad and lemony olive oil dressing for a lovely dinner or bring along to shared meals and picnics. It's delicious warm or cold. Don't skip the pine nuts. They add a tasty, toasty flavour and the texture is fantastic.