Oliver Ritchie

Dr. Oliver Ritchie
Shortland Street
Portrayed by	Mark Warren
First appearance	20 September 2009 Episode 4343
Last appearance	24 November 2009 Episode 4382
Profile
Gender	Male
Occupation	Doctor (formerly)
Relationships Spouse(s) Dated Tamara (unknown date) deceased Dated Libby Jeffries (2009)

Oliver Ritchie was a fictional character in the soap opera Shortland Street. He was portrayed by Mark Warren. He first appeared on Shortland Street in September 2009. He used illegal dengue experiments on unsuspecting human subjects in order to find a cure for dengue fever.

Character history

Before Shortland Street

Before Shortland Street, Oliver travelled around Africa with his girlfriend Tamara. When they were out in the wilderness, his girlfriend caught dengue fever and died.

Moving in with Scotty and Shanti

Oliver arrived in the Street in October 2009, Shanti fussed about his good looks and accidentally ran into him, making them fall over. Scotty and Shanti were having financial difficulties and rent out a room to him. On his first night, they made him a big meal, but he reluctantly took it into his room and ate alone. Scotty later caught him sneaking a fridge into his room late at night. They suspected he was making drugs and even attempted to break into his locked room. Shanti got in and found nothing.

Oliver explains something to Shanti.

In a off screen event, Oliver accidentally infects Shanti with dengue fever and he insisted he look after her. After a few days, the sickness had gone and Scotty thanked Oliver thoroughly, Oliver didn't accept the thanks though as he knew the truth.

Surprise death

A few days after Shanti's sickness had disappeared, she developed severe stomach pains. She was bought into hospital and surgery was performed. On October 19, Shanti Kumari died of an ectopic pregnancy, which is revealed to be masked by dengue fever, the illness that Shanti had a week earlier before her death. Oliver didn't attend the funeral and decided to move out. Later, Scotty returns to work and discovers that another patient also has dengue fever and he calls another hospital to check on Shanti's blood test as he attempts to find the actual truth behind her illness and her death. Oliver sneaks into Shanti's test result and is horrified that it comes out "Positive", though he changes it to "Negative", and prints out the document.

Moving in with Libby and Gerald

Coincidentally, Libby and Gerald were also looking for a flatmate for their new house they recently bought. Oliver decided that it was perfect for his sinister plans and took a romantic interest in Libby, although she reminds him of his deceased girlfriend who died of dengue fever. Gerald didn't get on with Oliver and suspected something, as Gerald had once been a flatmate with serial killer, Joey Henderson. Gerald would investigate Oliver's room when he was having a shower. Oliver would spend countless hours in the attic, Gerald got more and more suspicious. Meanwhile, Libby was looking for a romantic partner. She decided Oliver fit the bill. Gerald unloaded all his suspicions on Libby who got angry at him. Gerald decided to have a break and left for Europe. Oliver decided it was time to act.

The Experiment

Oliver told Libby that they should have a romantic getaway, she insisted and packed her bags. But Rachel still wants her to be present at work. Oliver then solves the problem by telling Yvonne to cover for Libby and had no choice but to pretend the place they were to go was booked so they should have a luxurious time at home instead. He insisted they didn't let anyone know where they are. Yvonne called Libby and asked for password and how the holiday was going, Oliver arrived in time to make the call and insisted Libby didn't say anything about where they were. Libby then went to have a shower and Oliver quickly hid her phone. Frustrated that she can't find her phone, Oliver distracts Libby with romance and continues to do it on the very first night where he was seen putting sedatives into Libby's drink. Oliver then reveals to Libby how he devoted his life studying infectious diseases which is revealed to be following the death of his deceased girlfriend, Tamara. Once Libby falls asleep, Oliver then infects her with dengue fever in order to find out if she can survive the virus that masked the symptoms of Shanti's ectopic pregnancy that lead to her death, and also make his plan work. On the next day, Libby started to get severe pains and Oliver diagnoses that she has the flu. After a few days later, Libby then has dengue fever and Oliver treats her with his Herbal Mixture as well as Shanti and the patient who also had dengue fever. Libby then tries to get Oliver to take her to the hospital, although he insisted she stay home and he would look after her and she needed to rest more. She got very angry at him for not letting her call her mother. Libby also asked for flat lemonade, as Yvonne always gave it to her when she was sick as a child. Oliver risked the whole thing and went out to get it. While he was out, he was spotted by Scotty and Tracey. They realised that the two were home and decided to stop in later. They knocked on the door of the house and Oliver remained very quiet. Tracey found this weird but left. While Oliver was away, Libby saw his notepad, recorded in that it was her process of recovery and her temperature dropping every hour. She found this very weird but didn't tell Oliver when he arrived back home. Libby snuck out of bed and into the hallway to see the attic was open. She went up to find a room full of tanks and small pottles . Inside the pottles were dengue infected mosquitoes. Oliver saw her up there and admitted that he had infected her with dengue fever by revealing to her that she is the experiment and that he was slowly curing her. Oliver kept Libby up in the attic as she was getting too tired to walk. Kindly, Oliver let her look at his notebook. She noticed Shanti's name was in it and she burst up crying, thinking that Oliver had murdered Shanti and was going to murder her, though she learned that he gave dengue fever to Shanti. Oliver tries to hide from Libby that he caused Shanti's death by insisting that when she had entered his room, a loose mosquito had bitten her and infected her, but the infection had not contributed to the death. However, Libby knows better (although that she doesn't know that Oliver infected Shanti with the virus by accident), but when she starts to fling accusations, Oliver becomes agitated before he feeds her a sleeping pill and left. She didn't actually eat it though and tried to climb down the attic ladder. She fell and landed on the ground. She crawled over to the phone and made a call to Yvonne. Oliver saw her and started wrestling her and turned the phone off. Yvonne, worried asked Chris and Scotty to come help Libby.

The Rescue

Scotty and Chris went to the house and knocked on the door, Oliver answered and they demanded to know where Libby was. Oliver had locked her in the bathroom, but he told them she was on a walk. The two stayed outside the house, while Oliver pulled Libby through the house to the backdoor. Scotty saw this through the window and he and Chris rushed to the back. They saved Libby and asked what happened. She told them all she could manage, including that Oliver gave Shanti dengue fever. Scotty asked Oliver if it was true, which he told him it was by revealing to him that is was an accident. But Scotty couldn't hold his anger and severely beat Oliver to a pulp while Chris tries to stop him. Scotty was then arrested for assault while Oliver wept as his experiment was ruined.

Disappearance and Arrest

The last appearance of Oliver was a shot of him crying a few seconds after Scotty attacked him. On 7 December, it was revealed that Oliver has been locked up for what he done and he is not mentioned again.

Preceded by Ethan Pierce

Shortland Street's main villain 2009

Succeeded by Jane Perry