| Justine Jones | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucy Wigmore as Justine Jones in 2009 | |||||||||
| Shortland Street character | |||||||||
| Portrayed by | Laurie Foell (2005–06) Lucy Wigmore (2007–09) |
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| Introduced by | Harriet Crampton (2005) Jason Daniel (2006) Steven Zanoski (2009) |
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| Duration | 2005, 2006–08, 2009 | ||||||||
| First appearance | 28 September 2005 episode 3333 |
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| Last appearance | 27 July 2009 episode 4291 |
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| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||
| Occupation | Head of surgery at Shortland Street (2006–08) | ||||||||
| Alternative image(s) | |||||||||
| Justine was portrayed by Laurie Foell in 2005 and 2006 | |||||||||
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Dr. Justine McKay (née Jones)1 is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who appeared in numerous stints from 2005 to 2009. She was portrayed by Laurie Foell in 2005 for a guest stint before returning in 2006 as a regular character. In 2007 the role was controversially recast, with Lucy Wigmore taking over. She played the role through to 2008 and again in a guest stint in 2009.
Originally a rival of high standing surgeon - Chris Warner (Michael Galvin), the character of Justine was soon expanded into the matriarch of a new family unit; the McKays. Husband; Callum (Peter Mochrie) and children; Hunter (Lee Donoghue) and Sophie (Kimberley Crossman) arrived in late 2006. Justine started an affair with her ex rival, Chris and ended up briefly separating from Callum she starred in a hugely high profile storyline in 2008, where Justine faked her death and entered witness protection to escape hired thugs. She returned in 2009 for a special appearance to start off the Winter season, where she testified against the thugs and separated from Callum. The characters feisty no nonsense personality saw her maintain several stable friendships with; Sarah Potts (Amanda Billing) and Luke Durville (Gerald Urquhart). She also developed notable feuds, mainly with Toni Warner (Laura Hill.
The character was largely popular, being asked to return after both her departures in 2008 and 2009. The decision to recast Justine proved largely controversial but following audiences eventual acceptance, Wigmore's performance proved hugely favourable.
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It was announced in September 2005 that Home and Away star, Laurie Foell would be arriving to the show as a rival of Chris' in a short term stint.[1] She returned the following year as part of the McKay family unit, with husband Callum McKay and children; Hunter and Sophie, arriving soon after.[2][3] In late 2006 Foell dropped out of the role and producers considered writing Justine out.[4] As the character still had many storylines, producers decided to recast the character,[4] with Lucy Wigmore assuming the role.[4][5] Lucy Wigmore quit the role in 2008 to travel overseas.[6] It was announced in July 2009 that Justine would be returning in a guest role to finish off her storyline.[7] The episodes received huge ratings, becoming the shows second highest ever ratings at that period.
Justine arrived to Shortland Street in September 2005 as a surgeon replacing Chris Warner (Michael Galvin), who was on stress leave. She instantly clashed with Dr. Li Mei Chen (Li Ming Hu) and ended up using Chris' anxiety condition to take a lucrative surgery position from underneath his nose and return to Australia. She returned the following year and started an affair with Mark Weston (Tim Foley) before she revealed new doctor, Callum McKay (Peter Mochrie), was her husband. In December 2006 her children Hunter (Lee Donoghue) and Sophie (Kimberley Crossman) arrived and Justine won the head of surgery position. As the year ended, she and Chris started a steamy affair. In 2007 Callum discovered the affair and the two separated. He soon forgave Justine and they rekindled.
In 2008 Justine joined Craig Valentine (Renato Bartolomei) in investigating dodgy pharmaceutical company, Scott Spear. They discovered shocking evidence and Craig ended up getting murdered, Justine discovered she was being hunted and faked her death, joining witness protection in Australia to wait for the trial. She returned in 2009 and the McKays decided to leave for Australia after the trial, however Justine realized Callum had fallen in love with Brooke Freeman (Beth Allen) in her absence and after she testified, left to Australia alone.
In 2010 Hunter stated that Justine was studying in Sydney and was potentially up for a Nobel Prize. In 2011 Callum acknowledged that he and Justine were divorced.
Justine was a popular character, winning runner up for "Favourite New Character" in the Throng Shortland Street Fan Awards 2006.[8] Her exit in 2008 proved satisfying for fans, winning runner up for "Best Episode"[9] and resulted in fans voting her the character they would like to most bring back[9] and her return the most wanted storyline to occur the following year.[9] In 2009 she won third place for character fans would most like to bring back.[10]