Shortland Street
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| Shortland Street | |
|---|---|
 Logo |
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| Genre | Soap opera |
| Creator(s) | Patricia Morrison |
| Starring | Ensemble (see below for details) |
| Country of origin | New Zealand |
| No. of episodes | 3,500 as of June 13, 2006 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes (including adverts) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | TV2 (TVNZ) |
| Original run | 25 May 1992 – Current |
Shortland Street is a New Zealand soap opera set in a modern metropolitan Auckland City hospital. It is New Zealand's longest running soap opera, and began screening on 25 May 1992. The program airs on TV2, one of TVNZ's free-to-air channels, weeknights at 7:00pm, all year round (except over the Christmas/New Year period).
According to the TVNZ website, the show has an audience of 700,000 per night, which constitutes about 17.5% of the domestic population.
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 Star Wars: Episode II, III and in the 2004 DVD release of The Empire Strikes Back, and Martin Henderson, who has since starred in Bride and Prejudice, The Ring, Windtalkers and Torque.
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[edit] History
The show's famous name has been hinted at by TVNZ to be associated with the TVNZ Shortland Street Studios in Inner Auckland City in the 1960s. 2007 sees the show celebrate 15 years, with former cast members returning to the show. It is not clear on who is returning.
The first episode became infamous for having a sex scene between Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) 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. 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, being the only remaining original cast member. 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.
The producers of Shortland Street have tried to make the show reflect the current trends in New Zealand health services. As a result, the hospital featured on the show was originally under private ownership, which reflected the increasing privatisation of the New Zealand health services in the early 1990s under the National Government. After the current Labour government was elected into office in 1999, there was a renewed focus on public health services. As a result, in 2001 the producers of the show decided to have the hospital come under government ownership in order to reflect the renewed focus on public health. This change was part of the show's revamp in 2001, and coincided with the cull of 14 characters mentioned above.
In 2003–04, the show introduced its first serial killer with the Dominic Thompson (Shane Cortese) storyline. Dominic was the brother of nurse Toni Thompson (Laura Hill) 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 (Anna Hutchison) 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 (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 (Chris Warner) 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 (Jarred Blakiston), son of Dr. Sarah Potts (Amanda Billing), left Ferndale to live with his father Tim (Millen Baird) in Samoa and Dr. Andrew Solomon (Paolo Rotondo) left to settle in England with pregnant wife, Robyn Stokes (Kirstie O'Sullivan). 2005 also saw the departure of popular Norman Hanson (Jacob Tomuri), who died in a car crash.
In 2006, Nursing Manager Judy Brownlee (Donogh Rees) left for Sydney with old flame, Mitch Gillespie (John Wraight), class clown Vinnie Kruse (Pua Magasiva) departed for London with pregnant girlfriend Jemima Hampton (Leisha Ward-Knox), teen rebel Jake Valentine (Calum Gittins) departed to reside in Australia, conman Hamish Flynn (Phil Brown) was sent to jail for scamming money from the hospital and former lovebirds Tama and Shannon Hudson (David Wikaira-Paul and Amber Curreen) went their separate ways: Tama left for a few months to Australia to cater for a tour, and Shannon took their baby Rangimarie (Mia Curreen-Poko) up north, to live with new partner Whetu (Taungaroa Emile). Ice queen, Dr Li Mei Chen (Li Ming Hu) died after contracting Stryker's disease, and Scarlett Valentine's (Nicole Thomson) former flame, Eti Kawaka (Issac Bell) left for Japan on a Student Exchange. However, Eti surprised Maia and Jay by returning home suddenly from Japan. Also in 2006, Shortland Street CEO Huia Samuels (Nicola Kawana) was killed in a car-bomb explosion outside the hospital. She was carrying Craig Valentine's (Renato Bartolomei) baby. In the midst of the explosion controversy, Anthony Richards (Michael Morris), whom the car-bomb was actually meant for, left Ferndale and his partner Tania Jeffries (Faye Smythe). As of yet, it has not been revealed where Richards escaped to.
During June, 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.
Shortland Street is now the subject of New Zealand's first interactive SMS game based on a soap where participants guess plot outcomes each night. The top points scorer at the end of each round wins a walk-on part on a future episode.
On November 22, 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. [1]
[edit] Storylines
For information about the various storylines that have taken place on Shortland Street over the years please see the article titled Storylines of Shortland Street.
[edit] Cast
- See also: List of Shortland Street characters
[edit] Original cast members (1992)
- Paul Gittins (Dr. Michael Mckenna) (1992–1995, 1997, 1998–1999)
- Michael Galvin (Dr. Chris Warner) (1992–1996, 2000— )
- Temuera Morrison (Dr. Hone Ropata) (1992–1995)
- Stephanie Wilkin (Dr. Meredith Fleming) (1992–1993, 1994)
- Lisa Crittenden (Nurse Carrie Burton) (1992–1993)
- Nancy Brunning (Nurse Jackie Manu) (1992–1994)
- Danielle Cormack (Nurse Alison Raynor) (1992–1993)
- Andrew Binns (Nurse Steve Mills) (1992–1994)
- Rene Naufahu (Sam Aleni) (1992–1996)
- Maggie Harper (P.A. Jenny Harrison) (1992–1998, 2002)
- Karl Burnett (Nick Harrison) (1992–2005)
- Elizabeth McRae (Majorie Neilson) (1992–1996, 1998, 2002)
- Adrian Keeling (Tom Neilson) (1992–1993)
- Martin Henderson (Stuart Neilson) (1992–1995)
- Angela Marie Dotchin (Kirsty Knight) (1992–1998)
- Josephine Davison (Gina Rossi) (1992–1994, 1995)
[edit] Current cast members (2007)
| Actor | Role | Status | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Galvin | Chris Warner | 1992–1996, 2000—Present | C.E.O. at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Laura Hill | Toni Warner | 2001—present | Campaign Manager at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Renato Bartolomei | Craig Valentine | 2004—present | Head of E.D. Doctor at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Amanda Billing | Sarah Potts | 2004—present | E.D. Doctor + G.P. at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Peter Mochrie | Callum McKay | 2006—present | G.P. Doctor at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Lucy Wigmore | Justine Jones #2 | 2007—present | H.O.D. Surgeon at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Tim Foley | Mark Weston | 2004—present | E.D. Doctor at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Faye Smythe | Tania Weston | 2005—present | Nurse at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Anna Jullienne | Maia Jefferies | 2004—present | Nurse at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Jamie Passier-Armstrong | Jay Copeland | 2004—present | Manager + Barwoman at The I.V. Restaraunt & Bar |
| Emily Robins | Claire Solomon | 2005—present | Receptionist at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Adam Rickitt | Kieran Mitchell | 2007—present | Barman + Waiter at The I.V. Restauraunt & Bar |
| Fleur Saville | Libby Jefferies | 2005, 2006-present | P.A. at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Benjamin Mitchell | TK Samuels | 2006—present | E.D. Doctor + G.P. at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Toni Potter | Alice Piper | 2005—present | Nurse at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Nicole Thomson | Scarlett Valentine | 2004–2007 | Student at Ferndale High School |
| Lee Donoghue | Hunter McKay | 2006—present | Student at Ferndale High School |
| Kim Crossman | Sophie McKay | 2006—present | Student at Ferndale High School |
| Katherine McRae | Brenda Holloway | 2006—present | Nurse at Shortland Street Hospital |
| Alison Quigan | Yvonne Jefferies | 2004, 2005—Present | Receptionist at Shortland Street Hospital |
[edit] Recurring cast members (2007)
- Henry Williams (Harry Warner #2) (2006— )
- Vixen Bell (Paula Valentine) (2004—2005, 2006, 2007-)
- Elliot Christensen-Yule (Angus Phelps) (2007-)
[edit] Longstanding cast members (Served five years or more)
- Michael Galvin (Dr. Chris Warner) (1992–1996, 2000— )
- Maggie Harper (PA Jenny Harrison) (1992–1998, 2002)
- Angela Dotchin (Kirsty Knight) (1992–1998)
- Karl Burnett (Nick Harrison) (1992–2005)
- Angela Bloomfield (Rachel McKenna) (1993–1999, 2001–2003)
- Claire Chitham (Waverley Wilson/Harrison) (1994–1995, 1998–2005)
- Katrina Devine (Minnie Crozier) (1994–2001)
- John Leigh (Lionel Skeggins) (1993, 1994–1999)
- Robyn Malcolm (Nurse Ellen Crozier/Kearney) (1994–1999)
- Blair Strang (Rangi Heiramaia) (1995–2001)
- Stephanie Tauevihi (Donna Heka) (1997–2004)
- Laura Hill (Nurse Toni Thompson/Warner) (2001— )
- Donogh Rees (Nurse Judy Brownlee) (2001–2006)
- David Wikaira-Paul (Tama Hudson) (2001–2006)
[edit] Locations
Shortland Street is filmed in Auckland and produced by South Pacific Pictures at its West Auckland studios, with location scenes filmed around Auckland.
- Ferndale
- a fictional location in Auckland, New Zealand. The actual Highschool is Waitakere College, situated on Rathgar Road in Henderson, Waitakere City (West Auckland).
- Shortland Street Hospital
- where the majority of the action takes place.
- Sugar, The I.V., Hospital Cafe
- places where staff from Shortland Street Hospital mainly take breaks at or dine. Sugar is a small cafe, located in town somewhere. The I.V. is a bar, restaurant and also has rooms to rent. It is located across the road from Shortland Street Hospital.
- Ferndale High School
- a fictional school in Ferndale where teenagers whose parents work at Shortland Street Hospital attend school. It is filmed at Waitakere College in West Auckland.
[edit] UK ITV regional scheduling
Shortland Street was shown in certain parts of the United Kingdom up until 2003 the details of which are shown below.
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ITV Region
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Programme Schedule Pattern
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Start Date
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Days Screened
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End Date
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| Anglia Television | ??? | Screened for several years in the 17.10 slot daily.??? | ??? |
| Central Television | Monday 29 March 1993 15.20 as replacement for GP which had been a disastrous replacement for The Young Doctors | Initially weekdays at 15.20, then ran 4-5 days a week at 17.10 for many years (c. 2000). All Carlton owned regions HTV Westcountry Carlton and central showed simultaneous episodes from January 2003 from where Central were at (it being the furthest ahead) initially Monday to Wednesday at 14.30 with Thursdays added from May. | Thursday 28 August 2003 14.30 |
| Border Television | As Granada | Initially as Granada then Monday–Friday was screening in the 17.30 slot during 1999 | March 2003 |
| Channel Television | As Meridian | as Meridian | as Meridian |
| Grampian Television | ??? | ??? | Ended on ???? when taken over by STV |
| Granada Television | Monday 6 December 1993 17.10 | Ran initially at 17.10 Mondays and Tuesdays. Moved to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 03.05.94 after Sons and Daughters had finished. and remained in this slot until 1996, when it was cut to two days a week until 1998 - Returned on Tuesday 28 May 2002 at 1230/1310 Mon–Fri as a summer filler showing joint episodes with YTV and TT but not from the point where they'd finished in December 98- instead showing episodes previously seen on Anglia | Friday 13 September 2002 1430 |
| HTV West & Wales | ??? | As Central from January 2003 had to skip a big chunk of the story as Central were considerably ahead. HTV Wales often skipped odd episodes to show regional programming instead along with Westcountry | As Central |
| Meridian | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Carlton Television | Early 1996 as A Country Practice episodes were running out. | As Central from January 2003 a lot of episodes skipped as Central were good few years ahead | As Central |
| Tyne Tees Television | 3 January 1995 14.50 | Monday to Thursday 14.50, Changed to Mondays and Fridays from 08/01/96. Mondays only in 1997 in hourly episodes. Axed in 1998 then returned on Tuesday 28 May 2002 initially at 12.30/ 13.10 (depending on World Cup fixtures) Then at 1430 for the first few weeks of Sept until it was axed showing joint episodes with Granada and Yorkshire with several years of the story skipped. | As Granada |
| Ulster Television | Never purchased | never screened | never screened |
| Westcountry | January 2003 from Central stage of the series | Often skipped odd episodes for regional programming | As Central |
| Yorkshire Television (YTV) | as Tyne Tees | as Tyne Tees | As Tyne Tees |
[edit] DVD releases
The first fifteen years of Shortland Street will be released in three volumes on April 26, 2007.
