List of original Shortland Street characters

The following is a list of the 16 original regular characters from the long running TVNZ soap opera Shortland Street.

Original Cast

Departures

1993

• No characters left in 1992 as all the cast were signed to full one year contracts.
• Tom Neilson was the first to leave as the actor did not resign his contract after the 1 year contract ended. The character was written out by the introduction of Toms wife Marjs illegitimate daughter Jane. This caused strain in the marriage and Tom fled with the family's money. The story caused a lot of interest among fans and Tom was brought back a few months later to tie off the storyline. He was revealed to have joined a cult and returned when he needed a kidney transplant. After the surgery he suffered a heart attack and died.
• Alison Raynor was the next to leave. Not signing the one year contract, Danielle Cormack's character departed with the storyline of leaving distraught after thinking Chris left her at the alter while in reality Darryl had kidnapped him. Fans desperately missed Alison and she returned in a brief guest appearance in December 1993 when she returned from an abusive husband overseas. She left again shortly after.
• Meredith Fleming was the next to leave. She finished the show after nearly a year and a half. Meredith decided to leave to Dunedin to start fresh near her son. Meredith returned in a guest appearance the following year which proved to be quite controversial as Meredith began a same-sex relationship.
• Carrie Burton left after Meredith in November 1993 with just under a year and a half on the show. She was forced to leave after getting blackmailed by criminals involved with her husband Declan.

1994

• Jaki Manu also left in 1994 with the storyline of her boyfriend Henry who appeared from 1992-1993 returned announcing his love. The two left together.
• Gina Rossi left next in 1994 after marrying Leonard, the two decided to leave Ferndale to start a family. They returned for Kirsty and Lionels wedding later in the year and departed again in 1995.
• Steve Mills left a few episodes before Gina, while driving back from Ginas leaving party, he got in a argument with Chris and accidentally drove off the road. The car exploded killing Steve and T.P Aleni.

1995

• Stuart Neilson ditched the street with no big ending in 1995 as Martin Henderson wished to pursue a Hollywood career.
• After growing bored of the show, Temuera Morrison quit and thus his character, Hone Ropata fell in love in 1995 and decided to set up a clinic in the East Coast. He left but returned for six weeks to commemorate the shows 4000th episode in 2008.
• Michael McKenna left in 1995 with his wife Alex McKenna when they purchased a lifestyle block in the country. Michael would return in 1997 and from 1998 to his death in 1999.

1996

• Chris Warner got a job in America in 1995 but later returned in 2000 and is still on the show in the present day.
• Marj Brasch ended her run on the show after becoming an MP. For her last episode as a regular character, Marj was seen starting her new job at the Beehive in Wellington and meeting Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark (who both would later become Prime Minister of New Zealand). Marj would later return in 1998 for Jenny Harrison's exit and in 2002 for Nick Harrison's wedding.
• Sam Aleni exited the show shortly after Chris and Marj after realizing that he did not like the person that he had become. Re-embracing his Christian faith (which he had renounced the year before) he moved to Samoa to sort his life out.

1997

• No original characters left in 1997, although Michael McKenna returned for a brief guest stint to help his daughter Rachel with her alcoholism.

1998

• Kirsty Knight had recently fallen in love with Damien Neilson and accompanied him to Wellington after he suffered serious burns. This was despite the fact that Kirsty had shared an awful past with Damien's twin brother Darryl (Darryl had attempted to rape Kirsty in 1992 and Kirsty witnessed his death when he had attacked her again in 1995)
• Marj returned to the show as part of the departure of Jenny Harrison who left Shortland Street to work for Marj after having become disillusioned with the health system in the wake of Nurse Tiffany Pratt's death and making her feelings known on national television.

1999

• Michael McKenna had returned to the series late in 1998 as Paul Gittins had agreed to one last brief stint before permanently retiring from the role. As a result Michael was killed off early in the new year.

2000

• Chris Warner became the only original character to return to the series as a regular when Michael Galvin agreed to return to the show as part of a revamp of the series. Chris was first seen in the last episode of 2000.

2002

• Marj Brasch and Jenny Harrison return to commemorate the shows 10th anniversary and attend Nicks wedding.

2005

• Nick Harrison was the last person to have appeared continuously from the beginning when he left in 2005. Nick left after his family was terrorised by the home invader that was plaguing Ferndale.

2008

• Hone Ropata returns to commemorate the 4000th episode. He is hired as a auditor of the hospital but after falling in love with Tania Jeffries, he leaves to Australia.

Effect

The original characters created a mould that would see future characters share similarities with certain original characters such as the single mother whose parents raised her child as they were too young to raise it (Meredith Fleming) later becoming Sarah Potts. Another character whose personality and storylines were carried on was that of nosy receptionist Marj Neilson with Yvonne Jeffries becoming a mirror image and even sharing the storyline of adopting out a child at birth. Another mold featured was that of the hard nosed Nursing manager, Carrie Burton started the tradition off with later characters such as Judy Brownlee following.