| Libby Jeffries | |||||||||||||||
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| Shortland Street character | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Fleur Saville | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Jason Daniel (2006) Steven Zanoski (2010) |
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| Duration | 2006–10 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 2 February 2006 episode 3405 |
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| Last appearance | 24 September 2010 episode 4590 |
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| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Personal Assistant | ||||||||||||||
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Olivia "Libby" Jeffries[1] is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. She was portrayed by Fleur Saville from 2006 to 2010.
Libby arrived to the soap as the middle daughter of hospital receptionist Yvonne Jeffries (Alison Quigan) and her husband Ian Jeffries (Jeffrey Thomas. She was the personal assistant to the CEO, working for CEO's Huia Samuels (Nicola Kawana), Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) and Callum McKay (Peter Mochrie). She also shared a close bond with her older sister Maia (Anna Jullienne) and younger sister Tania (Faye Smythe) who both work as nurses at the hospital. Libby's storyline's often dealt with her search for the perfect husband, often ending in disastrous results, including; George Barrington (Sean Lynch) who was a closet gay, Justin Salt (Heath Jones) who attempted to rape her, Kieran Mitchell (Adam Rickett) who was a criminal, Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) who left her for another women, Oliver Ritchie (Mark Warren) who kidnapped her and Isaac Worthington (Matt Minto) who was a serial womanizer. Libby finally found the perfect husband in best friend Gerald Tippett (Harry McNaughton) in September 2010 and the two left the show for America together.
Libby was primary a comedic character and thus was highly popular. She won "Best New Character" in 2006 and placed runner up in "Favourite Female Character" from 2006-2009 in the Throng Shortland Street Fan Awards. The character was also highly praised for her dress sense.
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Fleur Saville joined Shortland Street in early 2006 as the role of Libby, the middle child in the Jeffries family.[2] The role was originally a guest role, however producers loved the character so much, she was signed to a core cast role.[2] Producer Jason Daniel wanted Libby to embody the role of the Sex and the City characters, without the sex.[2] Though Saville wasn't sick of the role, she wished to portray more characters and quit.[3] 3 months later, Saville was offered to return to aid the exit of Harry McNaughton, who portrayed Gerald Tippett. Saville was told her character and Gerald were to marry and she found the storyline too good to turn down.[4] She appeared for 2 weeks before leaving once again.
Libby arrived to Shortland Street in early 2006 where she refused to attend sister - Maia Jeffries' (Anna Jullienne) civil union. She later announced that she was to marry George Barrington (Sean Lynch). However hours before the ceremony, Tania (Faye Smythe) discovered George was gay and the marriage was called off. She took up the position of personal assistant to hospital CEO, Huia Samuels (Nicola Kawana). In 2007 Libby dated Kieran Mitchell (Adam Rickitt) however they broke up following Kieran straying from the relationship. Libby became best friends with Gerald Tippett (Harry McNaughton) and developed a crush on boss, Chris Warner (Michael Galvin). In 2008 she briefly dated Sunil Monish Anand) before she got back together with Kieran. The two got engaged however Libby broke it off in 2009 following the revelation of Kieran's true criminal colours. She started to date Chris, but lost him to arch nemesis - Gabrielle Jacobs (Virginie Le Brun). She had a rebound fling with Oliver Ritchie (Mark Warren) however he ended up using her as a science experiment, nearly killing her. Increasingly bored with life in Ferndale, Libby had a brief fling with Isaac Worthington (Matt Minto) in April 2010 before she left the country to start fresh in America. She returned 4 months later, having lost her job. She married best friend Gerald, granting her a greencard in America and left once again.
Libby was a highly popular character throughout her run, winning and being nominated for many awards in the annual Throng Shortland Street fan awards. Upon her arrival in 2006, Libby landed the prize for "Best New Character" and "Funniest Moment" while winning runner up for "Favourite Female Character".[5] In 2007 Libby again placed runner up in "Favourite Female Character" but won "Best Dressed" and placed runner up both in "Funniest Moment" and "Best couple" (for her relationship with Kieran Mitchell.[6] In 2008 Libby won "Best Dressed", "Funniest Moment" and "Best Couple" (again for Kieran) and again placed runner up in "Favourite Female Character" and "Best Hair".[7] In 2009 she won "Best Dressed" and "Best Hair" and once again placed runner up in "Favourite Female Character".[8] In her final year, 2010, Libby won the award once again for "Funniest Moment" and came runner up for "Character you'd most like to bring back (non dead)", losing to husband Gerald Tippett.[9]
In the 2006 awards, one fan notably mentioned Libby saying; "Libby is brilliant, I only wish there was a whole show about her! Libby is the only member of the Jeffries family that I wouldn't be tempted to push off a life-raft...Libby is awesome she is a good laugh."[5]
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