List of original Shortland Street characters

As part of creating the soap that was to become Shortland Street, Caterina De Nave had numerous goals she wished to achieve. These included the development of several characters that would expand the soap's demographic and relate to viewers. After viewing Australian soaps, Neighbours and Home and Away, De Nave noticed that the casts had very little ethnic diversity and decided to include characters from several ethnicities into ''Shortland Street's'' cast to represent New Zealand's culture. The producers hoped that the inclusion of warm, relatable teenagers who were involved in the community would provide relatability and role models for viewers. To entice young females, two teenage "heart throbs" were created, Stuart Neilson and Nick Harrison. Stuart was created as an articulate homosexual whilst Nick was a drug taking rebel. To explain the scripts which saw Stuart rebuff the advances of a female, producers rewrote Stuart to be heavily religious instead of gay. ==Departures==

All actors were signed to an initial one-year contract and as soon as it ended, both Adrian Keeling (Tom Neilson) and Danielle Cormack (Alison Raynor) opted not to sign an extension. Both characters were written off shortly in 1993. Cormack later stated, "After a year I just wasn't interested in staying. I felt I learned all I could from that particular format". Later in the year, both Stephanie Wilkin (Meredith Fleming) and Lisa Crittenden (Carrie Burton) resigned, with the characters leaving in July and November respectively. In 1994, Nancy Brunning quit her role as Nurse Jaki Manu. When she had agreed to appear on the show, she had made a personal decision to only stay for two years. Not only that but Brunning was finding it a "challenge" as it was hard, "to sustain this character for two years, to remember everything she had done in the past and keep it consistent in the future." A month later, after Andrew Binns completed his agreed to two years working on the show, the popular character of Steve Mills (Andrew Binns) died in a high-profile car crash storyline that stunned the nation. The storyline was leaked to the press and newspapers featured speculation as to who had died. Just days later, Gina Rossi-Dodds (Josephine Davison) departed. Throughout his time on the soap, Martin Henderson (Stuart Neilson) had begun to tire of his character and his story lines and in late 1994 he left the show to pursue a film career. Due to the character's popularity and his departure being leaked to the press, much speculation was made around his exit. Paul Gittins (Michael McKenna) also began to become exhausted by the constant workload needed to play Michael and he wanted diversity in his career. He quit the role and departed in mid 1995. By late 1995, Michael Galvin (Chris Warner) was struggling with the amount of time he was spending playing Chris and decided to quit the show. He stated, "after four years on Shortland Street there was so much of me in Dr Warner I wasn’t sure where he ended and I began." Galvin departed alongside his onscreen brother Craig Parker (Guy Warner) in an episode written by Steven Zanoski in May 1996. Originally, the characters' departure was going to lead to the series' ultimate ending. However, the continued success led to further commissions and the show survived. Producers decided to write her out in a storyline where she became a politician. They saw this as a fun and unusual write out for a deserving fan favourite character. Following Naufahu's departure, there were only three remaining members of the original cast, Angela Dotchin (Kirsty Knight), Maggie Harper (Jenny Harrison) and Karl Burnett (Nick Harrison). However, in late 1997, Dotchin quit the show and Kirsty made her last appearance in early 1998. Harper quit her role several months later, saying she was pleased with the amount of spare time she had secured, stating, "The week I finished I was on my bike cycling away and I thought, 'Oh, I have no lines to learn, how wonderful'." The character of Nick was reportedly no longer seen as an "asset" to the show. Nick made his last appearance in early 2005. ==Returns==

Adrian Keeling (Tom Neilson) had quit the soap after just one year, but his exit storyline was left hugely ambiguous and he was struggling with the public constantly confronting him. He pleaded to be rewritten into the soap to explain his exit. Tom was reintroduced several months after leaving, only to be killed off after a week. Danielle Cormack (Alison Raynor) had also departed after her initial one-year contract but returned to the show within 12 months in a several week stint. After departing in 1993, Stephanie Wilkin (Meredith Fleming) returned just several months later in what proved to be a highly controversial storyline where Meredith started a relationship with another woman. She stayed on for several episodes. Josephine Davison (Gina Rossi-Dodds) returned for several episodes alongside screen husband Marton Csokas (Leonard Rossi-Dodds) in late 1994 just 9 months after leaving. Paul Gittins (Michael McKenna) returned in a guest role in 1997 for his on screen daughter Angela Bloomfield's (Rachel McKenna) storyline. Following Maggie Harper's (Jenny Harrison (Shortland Street)) resignation in 1998, Elizabeth McRae (Marj Brasch) agreed to reprise her role for several episodes to help write out the character of Jenny. To prove he could still play the role, Galvin had to reaudition. In 2008, Temuera Morrison (Hone Ropata) reprised his role of Hone after 13 years to commemorate the show's 4000th episode for 6 weeks. In 2012, Elizabeth McRae reprised her role of Marj for a single episode to mark the show's 20th anniversary. Producers decided to bring Marj back after the return of another former receptionist Yvonne Jeffries (Alison Quigan), with producer Steven Zanoski stating: "With the return of Yvonne to the reception desk it was only a matter of course to have Marj back." However, when asked to reprise the role in 2014 he accepted after learning what pleasure it would bring his mother. Sam made his return on 18 March 2014. Naufahu hoped the role would be long running and believed he could see himself on the soap for another 10 years. To celebrate the show's 25th anniversary, several members of the original cast were asked to reprise their roles for a feature-length special. This included Karl Burnett, who returned to his role of Nick after 12 years, Elizabeth McRae, who again reprised her role as Marj, and Martin Henderson, who returned as Marj's son Stuart after 22 years. ==References==