Tara Ward watches a local television classic return to our screens to tackle a very different housing market to the one it left behind.
In 2001, Helen Clark was the prime minister of New Zealand, the median house price was $177,000, and a new television show called My House My Castle started on TV2. Hosted by the enigmatic Rob Harte, My House My Castle was a cross between Fair Go, Neighbours at War and The Block, offering information and advice about housing in New Zealand. From the A-to-Z of home ownership to kitchen makeovers to confronting dubious tradies, My Home My Castle sought to improve the lives of ordinary owners and renters, and became such a popular show that it ran for 11 seasons.
A quarter of a century later, the median house price is now $802,617 and My House My Castle is back on our screens. A reboot of the local series started on Three last night, returning with the same jaunty theme music but a new presenter in broadcaster Hayley Sproull. “This show is property, culture and cash, keeping your finger on the pulse of houses in modern Aotearoa,” Sproull promises, and while there’s a nod to Harte in the show’s opening moments, Sproull makes it clear that we’re in new territory. “Hey! Hey! This is my show now!” she yells.
Episode one covers the decline of the quarter-acre dream, a concept that defined New Zealand home-owning aspirations for generations. We begin by meeting three siblings preparing to sell their family home on the banks of the Tāmaki estuary in Auckland. They have fond memories of playing in the big back garden behind their three-bedroom weatherboard house, which their parents bought in 1970 for $17,000. Their 87-year-old neighbour Ngaire still lives in the same home she and her husband built in 1962 for $12,000. That’s approximately the same amount that you’ll pay to fill your car with petrol right now, but it’s fine. We’re all fine.
Architect Ken Crossan pops by to explain that the quarter-acre dream has disappeared in modern urban New Zealand because it’s simply too expensive. “To maintain a city with rate levels that are reasonable, we need to achieve a certain density of population and housing,” he says. Crossan takes us to an ex-Kainga Ora site in Auckland’s Mt Roskill where he designed a series of terraced townhouses, which he believes are examples of housing density done well. Good urban townhouses need features like colourful front doors, planting margins out the front and a sense of privacy, he says, otherwise it’s like ”a caged poultry farm”.
One of the buyers of these townhouses just happens to be Crossan’s daughter, who’s made her first step on the property ladder for just over $800,000. Apart from the steep stairs, she’s thrilled with her low-maintenance purchase. The rest of the episode offers a makeover of a tiny townhouse garden and a glimpse inside an award-winning Manawatū home which was built for under $500,000. The builder reckons the quarter-acre dream still exists in the provinces, if you know where to look, although the show doesn’t speak to anyone else living in the provinces to find out.
My House My Castle has had a makeover of its own, but in the first episode at least, it’s not clear who this updated version of the show is for. The original My House My Castle fought for the underdog, standing up for homeowners stuck with leaky houses or renters dealing with dodgy landlords. It had a distinct point of view and a strong, quirky voice, but most importantly, it was on our side.
The housing market has changed, and so too has My House My Castle. This reboot is easy to watch and looks great, but it’s an odd mix of documentary, lifestyle and history that doesn’t have time to really scratch below the surface. Between more serious interviews, Sproull keeps it light by lurking behind trees and mowing the lawn, though her enthusiastic antics will make more sense if you remember Harte’s original offbeat energy.
But in an era where it’s harder than ever for New Zealanders to own a home, the My House My Castle reboot has missed a trick. We already have plenty of nice television shows about nice houses, like Grand Designs NZ, NZ’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer or Find My Country House NZ. What we don’t have are shows that speak directly to the generations of New Zealanders who watched house prices quadruple in 25 years and encountered declining affordability and housing shortages, and who still deserve a fair go at living in their own castle – however weird and wonderful that might be.
Upcoming episodes of My House My Castle promise to look at what happened to the classic New Zealand bach and the rebirth of Christchurch’s housing market. Viewers who fondly recall the original show will likely check this easy, breezy reboot out – but will they stay? Like a quarter-acre section now jammed full of townhouses, perhaps this new version of My House My Castle is trying to pack a little too much in.
My House My Castle streams on ThreeNow and screens on Wednesdays at 7.30pm on Three.