Shortland Street's History

Shortland Street is a long running New Zealand soap opera. It debuted on 25 May 1992.

The show's famous name has been hinted at by TVNZ to be associated with the former Shortland Street television studios in the Auckland City CBD, a mainstay for TVNZ in Auckland until the end of the 1980's.

Many New Zealand actors' careers have been launched by, or included a role on Shortland Street, including Marton Csokas (Dr. Leonard Rossi-Dodds), who has since starred in xXx, The Bourne Supremacy, and Æon Flux; Temuera Morrison (Dr. Hone Ropata), who has since had roles in Once Were Warriors, Speed 2, and and and the 2004 DVD release of The Empire Strikes Back, Katrina Devine who appeared in two series of the Power Rangers franchise and , Rene Naufahu starred in , Josephine Davison was cast in and and Martin Henderson, who has since starred in Bride and Prejudice, The Ring, Windtalkers and Torque and the ABC pilot Mr and Mrs Smith.

Initial season

The first episode became infamous for having a sex scene between Doctor Chris Warner and an aerobics instructor, Jill (Suzy Aiken). The first episode also included the line, "You're not in Guatemala now, Dr. Ropata" which has since become one of the most widely recognised lines in New Zealand television.

While the show was initially criticised for bad acting and poor storylines, it was praised for its sensitive portrayal of a teenage suicide storyline later on in its first year. Ratings were initially high, but within weeks they had fallen considerably. However, the show was saved from cancellation by the fact that TVNZ had pre-ordered a years worth of episodes.

1990s

By May 1993, the show was rating high enough that it was renewed, and later became the highest rating programme in the country for a brief period in August 1994. Since then, ratings have fallen somewhat, but the show remains in the overall top 20 highest rated New Zealand television shows, and still regularly rates number one in the 18-49 demographic, the target audience that advertisers most desire.

During this time it was well known amongst Shortland Street cast and crew of a young keen fan of the show who would send the cast Christmas cards and Birthday cards each year who was affectionately known around the cast and crew as 'country girl Claire', even going on to using her surname for a character who appeared on the show, as a kind of secret message of personal thanks for her unique support.

Over the years there have been a number of cast changes, with Michael Galvin, who plays Chris Warner, was the only remaining original cast member but Craig Parker, who played Guy Warner from 1992-1996 returned in 2007 and therefore is another member of the original cast.

2000s

In 2001, the show received much media attention in New Zealand when 14 cast members were either let go from their contracts or decided to leave. This was part of the revamp on the show which saw many new characters introduced, most notably the Hudson family, who were Maori. While Maori characters had always been featured on the show, the Hudsons were the first Maori family introduced into the show.

In 2003–04, the show introduced its first double-killer with the Dominic Thompson storyline. Dominic was the brother of nurse Toni Thompson and was believed to be the illegitimate half-brother of Dr. Chris Warner, but after this was revealed as a lie, the pair became bitter enemies. Dominic's love affair with 17-year-old Delphi Greenlaw also created controversy and eventually saw the teenager leave town to escape him. He also killed two characters, Delphi's brother, Dr. Geoff Greenlaw (froze to death in chiller) and PA Avril Lucich (drowned in a bathtub) who had threatened to get in his way, before being killed off himself in an explosion after trying to kill Chris in an attempted murder-suicide. The storyline created immense popularity that saw the show ranked once again in the top ten highest rated shows in New Zealand.

2005 saw the departure of the show's longest-serving cast member, Karl Burnett, who played Nick Harrison, after almost 13 years. Burnett was the only cast member who had been with the show since its inception (although the character and the actor did take a sabbatical from the show in 2002). Burnett still has links with Shortland Street, however he is now behind the scenes as a sound operator.

While Michael Galvin has also been on the show since the beginning, his character left for four years, from 1996 to 2000.

Of late, Shortland Street has seen even more long-term cast members leave. In 2005, Daniel Potts, son of Dr. Sarah Samuels, left Ferndale to live with his father Tim in Samoa (although he returned for a series of visits in 2007) and Dr. Andrew Solomon who had married Dr Potts left his wife of two minutes returned to England with a pregnant Robyn Stokes. 2005 also saw the departure of popular Norman Hanson, who died following a car crash.

In 2006, Nursing Manager Judy Brownlee left for Sydney with old flame, Mitch Gillespie, class clown Vinnie Kruse departed for London with pregnant girlfriend Jemima Hampton, teen rebel Jake Valentine departed to reside in Australia, conman Hamish Flynn was sent to jail for scamming money from the hospital and former lovebirds Tama and Shannon Hudson went their separate ways: Tama left for a few months to Australia to cater for a tour, and Shannon took their baby Rangimarie up north, to live with new partner Whetu. Ice queen, Dr Li Mei Chen died after contracting Stryker's disease, and Scarlett Valentine's former flame, Eti Kawaka left for Japan on a Student Exchange. However, Eti surprised Maia and Jay by returning home suddenly from Japan for Christmas. Also in 2006, Shortland Street CEO Huia Samuels was killed in a car-bomb explosion outside the hospital. She was carrying Craig Valentine's baby. In the midst of the explosion controversy, Anthony Richards, whom the car-bomb was actually meant for, left Ferndale and his partner Tania Jeffries. As of yet, it has not been revealed where Richards escaped to.

During June 2006, Shortland Street celebrated its 14th birthday and 3,500 episodes. In November 2005, Shortland Street was the winner of Woman's Day TV Choice Award for Favourite New Zealand show at the 2005 Qantas TV Awards. They won the same award again in the 2006 Qantas TV Awards.

On 22 November 2006 it was announced that actress Laurie Foell had decided to leave the show and that her character Justine Jones would be recast with Lucy Wigmore. This marked the first instance of multiple actors playing the same role in the programme, excluding child characters such as Lucas Harrison and Harry Warner. Another character recasted was Dame Margot Warner who was first played by Glynis McNicoll during 1992-1997, then Dinah Priestly assumed the role of Dame Margot for the character's death in 2003.

Shortland Street celebrated its 15th birthday in May 2007. As a result there were many changes that have occurred such as a refurbished hospital, new uniforms, and a new logo. A television special celebrating 15 years was screened on 13 May 2007, and on Shortland Street's actual 15th birthday (25 May 2007), the episode featured photos of previous characters and settings, which "were found in the renovations", and a reworded edition of the infamous line from the first Shortland Street episode: "You're not in Hyderabad now, Nurse Kumari." (referring to Nurse Shanti Kumari's Hindu origins and reluctance to drink alcohol).

By October 2007, five major cast members have been written out. Baxter Cormack left in March to pursue a career as a faith-healer, Scarlett Valentine left her dad, Craig, to join her mum and brother in Australia in April after she was bullied by Sophie and Hunter McKay and after attempting to run Hunter over for the bullying, and Claire Solomon, Jay Copeland and Brenda Holloway were found murdered near or in the hospital, three of the five in a series of murders. This latest storyline has seen a ratings rise. The killer was revealed to be male nurse Joey Henderson this was revealed as he was about to kill Tania Jeffries

Deaths