Peter Hayden

Peter John Hayden (born 1948/49) is a New Zealand actor, and television series writer, producer and presenter. Hayden is known to New Zealand audiences as the writer and narrator of nature documentaries series including Wild South and Journeys Across Latitude 45. Early life Hayden grew up in Napier, and attended Marist Primary School and St John’s College. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Massey University in 1972. In 1973, Hayden graduated from the QE II Arts Council Drama School, and was an apprentice actor at Downstage Theatre for two years. He worked as a reporter/ director for TVNZ at Avalon Studios, Lower Hutt, on the programmes Today at One and Country Calendar. Documentaries Hayden joined the television production company Natural History New Zealand (subsequently NHNZ) in 1980. He is widely known for his work over the following three decades on writing, producing and presenting television documentaries. His most significant work with NHNZ includes: writing and hosting the Wild South series writing and co-hosting the Wildtrack series for children writing and presenting the series Journeys across Latitude 45 (1985) writing and presenting the series Journeys in National Parks (1987) producing and directing the series Moa's Ark (1990) with well-known presenter David Bellamy Between 1997 and 2008, Hayden worked as Executive Producer and Head of Development. He was the supervising producer of a series on evolution, Life Force, between 2008 and 2011. Hayden's work as a producer for NHNZ included the 13-part series Buggin' with Ruud featuring entomologist and broadcaster Ruud Kleinpaste.