Polkinghorne documentary confirmed by director Mark McNeill

There was likely a mix of big emotions in an Auckland courtroom on Monday at the conclusion of the Polkinghorne case.

No doubt, there were those who believed justice did not do right by Pauline Hanna. Her 2021 death was framed as suicide by defence attorneys representing her husband, the eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne, who was accused of her murder.

The trial, which lasted eight weeks, brought wave after wave of salacious detail: That Polkinghorne had a methamphetamine habit, hired a sex worker and made sex tapes. One thing is for certain, Hanna was found dead at their home in a moneyed Auckland suburb.

A jury ultimately found Polkinghorne not guilty. He walked out of court a free man, telling a scrum of waiting reporters to "let Pauline rest in peace". But his trial in the court of public opinion will continue, fuelled by a planned coronial inquest and at least one documentary that is in the works.

It is part of the true-crime rush with documentarians, screenwriters and podcasters competing to tell the story of cases as they unfold or bring a new lens to old ones. It's work that can seem opportunistic to some, but filmmakers argue that there is a public good in taking an extended look at crimes.

Veteran documentary maker Mark McNeill was at the trial from the early stages, RNZ's Finn Blackwell, who covered the trial, said.

"Every day I was there he was there."

If McNeill wasn't taking notes next to his cameraman in Court Room 11, he was interviewing those in the public gallery or chasing subjects outside court with the rest of the media pack.

"It was a bit of a scramble to get to the subjects," Blackwell said.

McNeill confirmed to RNZ that he was creating a three-episode documentary series on the trial for ThreeNow and Warner Bros, Discovery.

"The series starts with the charges being laid and follows the case through court to the concluding verdict," he wrote in a text message to RNZ.

He declined to comment further on who he had secured as subjects or the project's timeline.

The project received $228,000 in funding from NZ on Air, which was first reported in the New Zealand Herald's Media Insider column. In his column, NZME Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie questioned the value of using government funds for a documentary that will rehash much of what we have already learned from daily news coverage.

But Megan Jones, a true-crime documentary director who isn't chasing a Polkinghorne project, argued that "documentary can provide layers of context and character that aren't able to be conveyed as well in daily news coverage", she wrote in an email to RNZ.

"True crime is not necessarily motivated by voyeurism," wrote Jones, who co-directed Black Coast Vanishings, a documentary series that examined the disappearances of six people on Auckland's west coast. "People want to understand the villains in our world, and to try to make sense of senseless crimes."

True-crime director David Stubbs, has kept on top of the Polkinghorne case through news coverage and his own inside sources.

"I am sure every other New Zealand film and TV maker is thinking this would be a very interesting one to pursue as a TV project," he said.

Stubbs, who directed the drama series on the Bain family murders called Black Hands, said it typically takes a few years following a court case or a crime to turn it into a TV show or movie.

While a US-based true-crime drama series or movie can go from a verdict to screen in months, New Zealand typically has a slower pipeline due to funding. Funders, such as NZ on Air, prefer filmmakers to have the support of victim families, and that could take years, Stubbs said.

"I think in New Zealand we are a lot less mercenary than some other countries perhaps."

But why would families want to revisit such a painful chapter in their lives?

"I think if they believe the victim would have wanted [their story told] or that people in a similar situation might be helped by the telling of the story," Stubbs said.

Even if filmmakers secure exclusive interviews or the support of the deceased's family, they have a few laws to navigate along with weaving together a good yarn.

Defamation is a constant issue filmmakers should be concerned with along with staying hush on details a court has permanently suppressed, Professor Ursula Cheer, a media law expert from the University of Canterbury, said. The jurors can not discuss the case including revealing their discussion while deliberating a verdict.

However, witnesses and even Polkinghorne are free to tell their story in a book or interview or whatever - and even make money from it, Cheer said.

Regarding a potential market for a Polkinghorne memoir, Cheer said "some people might regard it as deeply insensitive... but that's a choice for them."