The actor and writer looks back on a life filled with terrifying children’s TV, deliciously unforgettable ads and a newfound love for Formula One.
As a child, Michelle Langstone was so enamoured with television that she used to memorise the entire schedule. “Mum would go, ‘what’s on tonight?’ and I’d list all the things,” Langstone says. “I just thought TV was the most amazing thing.”
That early love of TV sparked a long and impressive acting career. Langstone’s first major television role was in early 2000s New Zealand drama The Strip, followed by memorable roles in international hit series Power Rangers S.P.D. and McLeod’s Daughters. She then went on to appear in a variety of esteemed New Zealand dramas, from The Almighty Johnsons, Go Girls and 800 Words, to Westside, One Lane Bridge and The Brokenwood Mysteries. As well as acting, Langstone has established herself as an award-winning writer, and her 2021 memoir Times Like These: On Grief, Hope, and Remarkable Love was met with critical acclaim.
Langstone’s latest TV role is something a little different: she’s currently cast adrift on Celebrity Treasure Island. Langstone fell in love with the “joyful, funny, powerful” reality series shortly after her son was born, and devoured several seasons during the haze of newborn feeding and sleeping. Her enthusiasm for the show has carried over into castaway life, with Langstone playing the game with a mischievous energy. She’s thriving in the outdoors, she took great delight in arranging secret meetings with other players, and this week we saw her acting talents shine when she masterminded a dramatic performance to put her celebrity rivals off their game.
Just one day before an excited Langstone landed on CTI’s beach of hopes and dreams, we set her her first tricky challenge: to answer these questions about her life in television.
My earliest TV memory is… Fraggle Rock. We were allowed to get up and watch it on Saturday morning. On Sunday it was Praise Be – God help us, literally – and then afterwards it was Fat Albert and then The Muppet Show. I loved all the Muppets, and Fraggle Rock ruled.
The TV show I rushed home from school to watch was… Star Wars on videotape. When I started school, my brother was three and I would run home and he would wait and we were allowed to watch Star Wars. We watched it every single day after school, and I knew all of the lines. We’d go to my friend’s house and play on the jungle gym and pretend that it was the Death Star or the Millennium Falcon.
The TV moment that haunts me is… There are two, and they happened at the same period in my childhood. One was Children of The Dog Star. Jesus Christ, that thing on the side of the building that went “Saaaarah” and turned and made noises? I can still do that to my sister and she goes “stop it!” I have left her voice messages. Horrifying. Also, the original Under The Mountain. I remember standing behind our couch in our first house, at the moment where Wilberforce is dressed as the policeman. He tries to get into the house and they won’t let him in. He pushes his hand through, and it turns into the Wilberforce hand. I can see every single frame.
My earliest TV crush was… Harrison Ford, from the Indiana Jones movies. He’s just divine. Always quite curmudgeonly and grumpy. I appreciate that. It’s a relatable trait. He’s so laconic.
The TV ad I can’t stop thinking about is… The Cadbury’s Creme Egg ad. When I was at drama school, a rumour went around that a girl in the year ahead of us was a girl from the ad. I still haven’t figured out whether she was or not. I loved the way that they shot the broken egg, and that cap that was full of eggs. It was all soft focus and it looked so delicious and chocolatey.
My favorite TV moment from my own career is… The Almighty Johnsons was ridiculously fun. In the first episode, my character had to go and shoot Odin with an arrow, but she messes it up. We were shooting in the middle of the night in this little weird forest and I was wearing this ridiculous cupid dress. They had taken me out for archery practice with a proper bow and arrow, but when I got there, they gave me a tiny toy bow and arrow. I had to run away fast and I’d taken the skin off my knees and I was bleeding. I just remember standing there in the dark, with this tiny bow and arrow and blood trickling down my legs, going “this is the most ridiculous job, I am so lucky”.
My TV guilty pleasure is… I don’t really believe in guilt as a concept with TV, because I think that all TV is subjectively awesome, depending on who you are. What I did watch that felt out of character for me and what I got addicted to, was At Home With The Furys. What a show. I love Paris Fury. I love Tyson Fury. I’ve got such a soft spot for their whole way of life and I just found it super moving. Really compelling TV.
The TV show that I wish I’d been involved with is… Probably one of the Merchant Ivory shows. I would just love to do a proper, luscious period drama/comedy. The original Pride and Prejudice by the BBC is still crushingly good. I love a corset, I love a romp around, I love a tight pin curl. Get me in there.
My favourite CTI moment is… I found everything that Susan Devoy did simultaneously mystifying and hysterical. She was such mischief, she was real trouble. I just found it completely delightful, because I would not have expected that from her. I love it when people flip your expectation of them, and she did that so well.
The show I’ll never watch, no matter how many people tell me to is… I have one, but then I watched it and it completely changed my mind. Does that count? The banging on about Drive to Survive, people saying “you have to watch it”. I was like, have you met me? Formula One? I would rather die. Then I got Covid last year, and I was really bored. I watched the entire thing in 10 days, every single episode. I stayed up all night. It was one of the most emotionally affecting things I’ve ever seen. It just flipped me, man. I was just like, “yes, shut up everybody.” It’s outstanding.
The last thing I watched on television was… Celebrity Treasure Island. I was waiting for the taxi to come and pick me up [to go to the island], and I was like, should we just watch an episode of CTI from some random season? We started watching Sam Wallace’s season, which I hadn’t seen before. We only got three minutes in, but I felt like I might as well get in the game.
Celebrity Treasure Island screens on Monday-Wednesday on TVNZ2 at 7.30pm and streams on TVNZ+.