Dion

Oh yes, lately I've been wishing Brooke was still around.

I don't recall the show ever dealing with SARS - possibly because the outbreak was contained pretty quickly (within a year). CJD is a different story as its been more of an ongoing thing. Yeah you are right about Frank. I didn't like Daniel much either - a bit too Chris lite for me.

I guess Chris is Rachel's best romantic pairing, though part of that is due to longevity. However, Rachel's best pairing overall I think was with Nick Harrison, which was interesting because it was completely platonic except for a three week period after Rachel got struck by lightning (After being struck by lightning Rachel suddenly decided she was in love with Nick and pursued him, despite Nick trying all sorts of methods to turn her off. Nick finally caved and the two got into bed but Rachel got another electric shock and came back to her senses before they could do anything much to Nick's relief). I liked it when Rachel started mentoring Evan Cooper because Nick and Evan are a lot alike so it made sense to me.

After Chris, Rachel's best romantic pairing was probably with Rangi Heremaia. I'd go so far as to say that it was also Rachel's most passionate pairing. They were on-off for over a year back in '96, constantly breaking up and getting back together. But ultimately they were too toxic for each other. After Rangi was temporarily paralysed in an accident, Rachel felt obligated to stay with him and began drinking heavily for the first time. Rangi eventually left Rachel and she spiralled out of control, eventually resulting in Nick intervening and calling her father (also an alcoholic) in to help.

Part 2 in my series of characters that went from frontburner to footnote, this time we look at Dr Frank Malone. While not as overly dominant in storylines as Anne was, Frank was on the frontburner for most of his time on the show, even though his storylines (besides his relationship with Rachel) ultimately had no long-term consequences.

Frank joined the show in mid 1997 during an era of the show that can now be defined by the absence of one character (Chris Warner). Fulfilling the role of 'doctor with a social conscience' (a role filled by TK now) Frank was first seen running his own community clinic and was hesitant to join the private clinic that was Shortland Street then. A brief flirtation with Grace Kwan led nowhere as she soon departed (but not until after accidentally chopping her own finger off whilst on the phone with Frank - "FRAAANK I've chopped my finger off!" and having it stiched back on).

We soon learned more of Frank's past when his ex lover Bridget Hastings arrived. They had split up after Frank's sister had died (I'm a bit hazy on the details, but IIRC Frank had caused his siter's death in a drink driving accident). Frank and Bridget eventually reconciled, but split soon after as Bridget was more interested in David Kearney.

A one night stand with Donna Heka also went nowhere (beginning to sense a theme here!) but by early 1999 Frank was embroiled in a love triangle with Rachel and Daniel Buchanan. At this time, Shortland Street clinic had been defrauded of $1 million by Oscar Henry and Frank (acting CEO while David was away) brokered a deal with Central CEO John Harlan (Played by Matt Chamberlain who now plays Murray!) that almost made Shortland Street into a satellite of Central. Rachel and Frank clashed over this deal, but in the end David returned and put a stop to it meaning Shortland Street would remain a private clinic (for another two years anyway).

Daniel eventually left town and Rachel and Frank got together. Like Rachel, Frank had a drinking problem, but whereas Rachel had already admitted this to herself and been sober for about two years at that point, Frank stubbornly refused to deal with it. Eventually Rachel received a job offer in the US and decided to take it, marking the first of her exits. Frank then drunkenly hooked up with Aleesha Cook.

After learning Rachel had reconciled with Daniel and married him, Frank made plans to move to Antarctica, but these plans fell through when Aleesha turned up in the 1999 cliffhanger saying she was pregnant to him. Frank turned out not to be the father after all and a will they - won't they developed with new clinic boss Sofia Martinez, a former hotel manager who was now running the clinic on behalf of it's new owners. Frank was initially suspicious of Sofia, but was convinced she was working in the best interests of the clinic after she used her own money to buy new premises after the old clinic succumbed to liquefaction after the 2000 earthquake and had to be condemned. The two finally hooked up, but despite the writers spending months of building their relationship, they were over within weeks. During this time, Christopher Hobbs (who played Frank) was also joined on the show by his two sisters who were playing characters totally unrelated to Frank.

Another attraction between Frank and Dr Cassie Moore then developed, but in the meantime, Frank had become involved with a married woman (I forget all these characters names so please bare with me). Cassie found the woman's husband bludgeoned and was briefly accused of the crime, but it was the wife who was guilty. However she quickly died of CJD (commonly referred to as mad cow disease). Cassie and Frank hooked up soon after that, but he was attacked by the son of a deceased patient and left for dead in the 2000 finale.

Cassie tried to help Frank but he suffered from mood swings as a result of his brain injury and quickly cast her aside for Rachel when Rachel returned. Daniel then turned up wanting Rachel back and Rachel cast Frank aside. Frank then left town, telling Rachel never to bother her again if things didn't work out with Rachel. Rachel soon decided to dump Daniel and stayed in Ferndale, eventually growing closer to Chris...

Since it was mentioned again today, I have to ask. Is Consquences a real show and, if so, do you watch it? I want to know more.

I don't think it's a real show. It sounds like it's something along the lines of Scandal or Revenge.

Maybe it'll become a recurring reference like 'Tides of the Heart' in the 90s

I'm guessing you're not counting Mo's court appearance as they didn't actually show him in court (only in the waiting room).

But yes, the show has done several court scenes over the years:

1995 - Hone Ropata goes on trial for murder after punching his nephew's gang member friend, causing his death in the 1994 finale. He was acquitted. To be honest, Hone should have been charged with manslaughter and I think today would have definitely received a short prison term.

1997 - Caroline Buxton goes on trial for murder of her friend Annabel Lustwick. Caroline had helped MS sufferer Annabel kill herself in a euthanasia storyline, but was accused of murder and convicted in the 1997 season finale. Evidence later proved that Anabel had been planning on killing herself for some time, thus corroborating Caroline's story. She was released from prison. Like Hone, if Caroline had been charged with a lesser crime (Assisted suicide in this case), she'd have gotten approximately a year's sentence, but the crafty writers got her out of this situation by having her being accused of murder rather than euthanasia.

2004 - Victor Kahu faced his second murder charge in less than two years when accused of killing Geoff Greenlaw. Highlights of the trial included Judy Brownlee leaking his name to the press (in revenge for the way he'd treated the now dead Anne) and Li Mei Chen perjuring herself to give Victor an alibi. Victor was found guilty, but was released on CHristmas Day after it emerged Dominic had killed Geoff.

2009 - Maia had confessed to killing Ethan Pierce. However the judge decided that given Maia's recent mental instabilites, her confession was unreliable and threw it out of court. Thus the case against Maia collapsed.

I don't think we saw any court scenes while Chris was in prison, we mainly saw him in prison on remand.

Yeah that bit with Anne and her dad was a bit icky. They didn't have a full on love scene or even a kiss but having them play out a situation where their characters looked poised to hook up was really weird. I didn't realise you were familiar with OLTL - that's what I was referring to at the top of the page when I said "though I know of at least one show that has" referring of course to when Blair lost her baby by Patrick in the car accident back in 1997 when Kassie DePaiva was pregnant in real life.

Yes Li-Mei Chen was so stereotypical, she's actually disqualified from this series that I am doing as she is still infamous to this day!

Yes it seems the Coppers are becoming more and more irrelevant. I said earlier that I would expect major changes in the cast if more people were added and as we know more people are being added, maybe Murray and Wendy will go.

I think I shall do Frank Malone next.

I've been reading the 'frontburner to footnote' thread (that is when a character who once nearly dominated the show or at least was consistently on the frontburner for most of their run ends up merely being a footnote in the show's history - whether in the world of the show itself or in the minds of fans) in the 'Discuss the soaps' section and it got me thinking about times this has happened on Shortland Street.

Of course, the show has had a high turnover over the years but I think many of the characters still remain fondly remembered by fans even if they were not mentioned all that much (Grace and Sam being the most recent obvious examples, and now that Grace is the mother of one of Chris' many children she'll be referenced more often).

So to begin in what may end up being a recurring topic, I'm going to discuss the character of Anne Kahu (nee Greenlaw).

Nurse Anne Greenlaw arrived in November 2001 along with her brother Geoff (who may have qualified for this topic himself had it not been for his memorable death) and within a few months half of the show seemed to centre around her (the other half centred around the much more interesting drama concerning Harry's paternity). For example, Anne's search for her biological mother resulted in (then) Director of Nursing Judy Brownlee finding out Anne was her daughter, Anne became besties with Waverley (a long-standing character and Rachel's cousin), Geoff and Anne's younger teenage sister Delphi entered the show and Anne had an (initially unrequited) crush on the much older Dr Victor Kahu which tied her into the Hudson-Kahu family - then the show's core family (Victor's sister Te Hana Hudson had also split with her husband and hooked up with Geoff at this time.

Predictably, once Victor and Anne had gotten engaged, a rival love interest for Anne's affections had arrived on the scene in the form of Nelson Copeland Victor's estranged son. Nelson was closer to Anne's age and was attracted to her, but for the time being Anne was busy dealing with the revelation that Judy was her mother and needed a kidney. Shortly after Anne donated her kidney and grew close to her biological mother, she and Victor married in a lavish ceremony, but Victor was arrested under suspicion of murder. After Victor was cleared, he and Anne began their married life. She later consoled Waverley during her breast cancer scare and was shown to be jealous whenever Nelson had a new love interest.

When Victor's teenage nephew Tama Hudson impregnated Shannon Te-Ngaru, Victor and Anne considered adopting the child. Sadly, the baby died shortly after birth and it was at this point that Anne began sleeping with Nelson. Upon, discovering the affair, Victor kicked Anne out, but later took her back to keep up appearances while he carried on an affair with Dr Li-Mei Chen. Anne, knowing full well that her marriage was now a sham, spent more and more time with Rex Traherne. The two were about to hook up when Judy and Victor put a stop to it - Judy explaining that Rex was her dad! (and to top it off, Rex was being played by the real life father of the actress who played Anne!). Anne mourned when her brother Geoff was murdered and was becoming increasingly isolated from her friends and family but became close with her new-found father. Anne attended the opening of one of Rex's new buildings but of course this was the season finale for 2003, so the building collapsed on top of her and half the cast.

Nelson (who was now in the ambulance service) tried to save her, admitting he still loved her but happily err....sadly Anne died in the first episode of 2004. While her death was mourned for a time (and Waverley named her daughter Tina-Anne partly after her) most of the characters she associated with left not too long after including Anne's sister Delphi. Even Nelson had found a new love interest and left the show within six months of Anne's death. Judy mourned for a time herself but ended up leaving in early 2006. Since then Anne has not been mentioned since and probably barely registers in the memories of fans.

Popstar party.

Yes I think they were. They had a brief two week storyline about a month after the wedding where Doreen separated from Derek and Derek ended up parking his truck in the street refusing to move it until Doreen went back to him.

. It seems like she was heavy in story even at this point, what with bringing her parents in, which was surprising for a character who had already been on for 7 years. Her mother is [!@#$%^&*] annoying. I mean ANNOYING. And she seems to have been to the John Savident Performing Arts School.

They'd actually already been introduced in 1999 during the lead up to Maxine and Ashley's wedding so bringing them back at this point was a nice touch.

Grant was actually understanding about the HIV and kept quiet about it for nearly a year after this when the rest of the square found out via other means.

They did know Bill Treacher was leaving at this point (I recall an article in the NZ TV Guide approx Feb/March 1995 saying that Letitia Dean, Susan Tully and Bill Treacher would be leaving), though they may not have yet decided to kill him off. I think the original plan was just to leave Arthur in prison before realising that they needed a more final end for the character. IIRC, after his imprisonment at Christmas, Arthur did not make any appearances until his release in May 1996 whereupon he died.

Thanks for that. I watched the whole thing, I had forgotten how brutal Craig's death was @ 6:02. Also should point out that my friend's sister and another classmate of mine were extras in Sarah's infamous scene, appearing approx @ 3:38 and 3:45.

My mum and I were watching an old rerun of an approx 1995 episode of Shortland Street some time ago and a rare scene with Chris and Rachel (in a group) came on. My mum was like "When on earth did those two get together?" It was so weird. While Chris had plenty of scenes with Rachel's peer Nick (who saw Chris as a role-model), usually giving him (bad) love advice he never had any reason to interact with Rachel - she was merely the boss' daughter. When they both returned in 2001 that was when the character's started being together more, particularly as Chris' only ties were Nick, Waverley and Rachel (and Rangi and Minnie, but they soon left). Rachel had only been gone a year so she still had ties (unlike her 2009 return where she was in the position Chris was in 2001).

Chris and Rachel started appearing together more often as they supported Nick through the loss of his partner Ange and Rachel began working under Chris at Shortland Street during it's transition from Private clinic to public hospital.

The lyrical version of the theme is so bad it's good. I used to get a kick out of the mismatch of metaphors and faux biblical allusions all contorted to rhyme with 'Shortland Street'. I missed it when it was dropped from the end credits as the first change made during the 2001 revamp (well actually fourth change as Chris' return was first, though that happened in the last episode of 2000 - I keep saying 2001 but he did make a brief appearance in the 2000 finale, the other two changes being that the opening credits became more generic instead of having character shots and the show was also broadcast in 16:9 for the first time).

Yes and Boyd is another who is holier than thou as seen many times during his marriage to Brooke. Him and TK are not that dissimilar making their rivalry all the more interesting.

You're right about Harper and it's interesting to note the difference between her and Sarah's early years where Sarah did eat the show with triangle after triangle. Sarah's nadir came in 2006 at the conclusion of the Sarah-Craig-Huia triangle with Sarah's infamous line "You and your baby can go to hell!" mere moments before Huia (and her unborn child by Craig got blown up in the car bombing, leading to Sarah's hysterical rant at Huia's funeral (I forgive you!). It's a wonder TK and Aunty Kuini ever forgave her (Huia was TK's cousin and Kuini's daughter) but within weeks Sarah and TK were sleeping together leading to a special four-hander episode where Sarah told Toni (Harry's mum, Sarah's then best friend) about her dates with TK and Craig on the same night (shown in flashbacks) before making a final choice between the two men. After Sarah choose TK and married him the show fortunately dialled her back a bit at which point I started liking her - a good thing otherwise the storyline with Sarah's initial MS symptoms (which went on for more than 6 months) would have been unbearable.

It's funny to think about Chris' interactions with Sarah during the above period as it was clear that he (somewhat hypocritically) disliked her quite intensely because of all the triangles she kept landing herself in (Craig was his best friend). They became good friends later on though, particularly as Toni and Craig died within weeks of each other, their deaths being caused by the evil Pharmaceutical company Scott-Spear (Who also blew up Huia).

Chris and Rachel used to be able to hang out with the hoi-polloi but over the years have moved out of that social circle. Of course this is quite realistic as they have gotten older and moved into positions of power. It's also interesting to note that this break from the 'lower' social circles came after they left and came back (Chris in 2001, Rachel in 2009), all the regular characters they used to hang out with had gone and they both never fit in with the newer lower social circles that replaced them. I think this is in part why they stick to each other like glue. It's also interesting that they never really interacted with each other until they were paired up in 2001.

Lucy's apartment has been around since 2010. I remember that Rachel once owned it as an investment property but I'm not sure if she sold it or still owns it. I think she did sell it though.

I wasn't sure if you got the version with the promo or the version with the actual end credits (I should have guessed that it was with the version with the promo as you usually up to date whereas the version with the end credits is the repeat the following day) so that's good to know.

I hope TK suffers lol - while he usually has a point, he does get carried away with his holier than thou attitude. I remember a storyline where TK and his then boss Callum McKay got sent off to a Maori cultural sensitivity course and TK called out Callum for constantly challenging the kaiako (teacher) but then the kaiako called out TK as IIRC she recognised that Callum was actually trying to understand the principles she was talking about whereas TK was merely blindly following them.

Its interesting how Pania has isolated TK from nearly all his friends in only six months.

The TV Guide edition is for July 11 - 17 so maybe that week? They are on the cover. The last Shortland Street TV Guide cover was Bella on the week she found out she was pregnant. Ben may look a bit tired for his few weeks on the show as hes' been doing both Dancing with the Stars and Shortland Street at the same time (and still hasn't been voted off). Luckily for him they're both done in the same studio despite screening on rival networks.

I finally remembered how to do spoiler tags

Anyway,judging by next weeks previews:

Caleb will soon turn on Pania in a big way. How this will go is anyone's guess but looks like Caleb will be trashing a hospital office room in a fit of rage.

Also in the latest NZ Tv guide some casting news:

The Hannah mum has been cast.

Debbie Newby-Ward will be playing Margaret Hannah.

Also, a new doctor Drew McCaskill played by Ben Barrington from the Almighty Johnsons and currently on NZ's Dancing with the Stars along with Siobhan Marshall (Ava Eriksen) and formerly Teuila Blakely (Vasa Levi) who got voted out last week.

Yeah I'm surprised at myself for forgetting Wendy's abortion as I do remember the other five times a major or recurring character has had one.

I still want Murray and Wendy to stay on the show, but you are right about their relationship woes feeling a bit forced. I've always thought they introduced discord into their marriage a bit too early - first with Murray's attraction to Vasa and later with him leaving Wendy for Kat.

Regarding the living arrangements, whatever happens I hope TK's house remains on the show (Looks like Pania will be living there) as it's the only place thats been there since the beginning - even the hospital shifted premises at one point. Sam Aleni lived in TK's house for the first four years of the show (but I don't recall him mentioning that during his return stint last year),

I forgot Wendy had an abortion, even though it was only two years ago.

I'm still of the thinking that somehow Nicole is being scammed because I think if she did have schizophrenia like her brother, we'd have seen her go to the ATM and take out that money and forget about it, but I could be wrong.

Yes I think Victoria is heading for a breakdown, she's clearly a bit unhinged, but at some point i'm sure she and Mo will hook up.

Caleb - wouldn't be surprised if they killed him off or he leaves, characters in his position (being the husband of a newly introduced major female character) never seem to last more than a year unless they are a doctor or nurse, Murray possibly being the only exception. (Granted Caleb is working at the hospital but Mo performs the same job and has a whole family of his own to boot).

Charity and Cain are cousins...the show has never specified how distant.

According to a family tree I've seen of the Dingles albeit 10 years old, Cain and Charity are second cousins, Charity being the daughter of Zak's first cousin.

http://emmerdale.org/emmerdale/tree/10june05/Dingle/Dingle.png

"The world's longest-running dramatic serial..."

Ugh.

Yes that's always irked me too. Imagine my surprise when after years of Coronation Street being referred to as the world's longest running serial/soap opera/drama/whatever in every magazine article or TV programme about Corrie, I suddenly find out that ATWT started in 1956 (and an even bigger surprise when the GL 60th anniversary edition of SOD came out in 1997, with GL having started on radio in 1937 switching to TV in 1952).

Oh I'll post it here:

The Shorty Street curse strikes again!

Courtesy TVNZ http://tvnz.co.nz/shortland-street/shorty-street-curse-strikes-again-3417939

Cue the spooky music....

Over the years, real-life events have coincided in an uncanny way with Shortland Street storylines.

Life imitating art? Or simply testament to how good Shortland Street is at picking up on the concerns of New Zealanders?

What makes the coincidence even more amazing is that the storylines for each episode are decided over four months before it is broadcast - and unless theres a major calamity like an actor's illness, they don't change.

The phenomenon has become known as the Shortland Street curse.

Memorable examples include the nurses strike of 1992, students marrying for bigger loans, neo-Nazis lurking in the suburbs, Maia and Jay's civil union (complete with Serenity Church protestors), and last years' stories about txt and pxt bullying.

It's a result of writers looking at trends in the news and asking, if this is happening now, what will be next?

There have been one or two spooky occurrences.

In 2003 we ran a one hour episode where the hospital's back up generators failed during a power cut, leading to much drama.

There was some debate over how likely this was in a major hospital, but within a fortnight, Starship had a power cut and their back-up generator failed.

If that wasn't enough, South Pacific Pictures' studios came to a standstill the Friday before the episode went to air, due to an area-wide power cut.

There was also the time a small earthquake occurred in the Hawke's Bay the same night as Shortland Street's quake.


The latest example of this is the staging on Shortland Street of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring your Ferndale faves - and with a special guest appearance by Paul Holmes as Lady Bracknell.

From March 11th - April 3rd, the Auckland Theatre Company ATC is putting on its own production of... The Importance of Being Earnest.

Coincidence? Or is some greater force at work in the universe? - You decide!

Some notes for further context:

*Starship is New Zealand's largest children's hospital

* In 1995, Rachel married her best friend Nick (an original cast member that I still miss even though he was unfortunately axed in 2005, at the time he was the longest running cast member as Chris had left for four years) as a protest against the student allowance system.

* The Neo-Nazis storyline was in 1997 around the same time some such organizations were making the news.

*Serenity CHurch was inspired by the real life Destiny Church who protested against the Civil Union bill.

Thankfully there were no car bombings in 2006 or serial killers in 2007.

Yes with the Pixie storyline the Shortland Street curse has struck again!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11465013

http://tvnz.co.nz/shortland-street/shorty-street-curse-strikes-again-3417939 (an old article from 2010 with some info on the curse)

What did you think of him?

He was a stabilising force for the show. He was very fortunate in that by the time he arrived, the newer characters introduced under Park had bedded in. I think his most significant plots were Sally and Greg, Breaking up Mike and Alma and revealing Fred as Ashley's biological father.

While we're on that topic, I'd settle for a nice little terrace near Shepherd's Bush Green myself (Just a bit further down from Notting Hill and Bayswater), handy to the Overground, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Central lines as well as markets, shops and Westfield .

I do wish EastEnders would shoot more on location in London though. I actually prefer London location shoots to when the show films abroad.

Whose work do you think holds up better from that period - Brian Parks or Jane McNaughton (isn't she the one who replaced him and did all the social issue stories, or did someone else have a role in-between)?

I wonder if part of it is whoever was running ITV's soaps at the time. Sadly these days they just seem to be run into the ground.

David Hanson had a year long stint in between Park and McNaughton.

I think the baby will be fine as I don't think the show would have a pregnant actress or an actress with a newborn play out such a storyline (though I know of at least one show that has).

(EDIT - forgot to mention all the uneasiness that occurred when the show planned a SIDS storyline back in the 90s, two storyliners fell pregnant and the baby in question itself was played by the newborn daughter of one of the the show's medical advisors, which meant the storyline was delayed until the producers felt comfortable to go through it).

I do wonder how they'll handle everything though. This I think is only about the third time they've had to write an actress' pregnancy into the script and both of those last two that I recall were off-screen births. My prediction is Bella will leave for a little bit while Amelia is on maternity leave and come back full term ready to pop for an on-screen birth.