Shortland Street: A love affair
By Kathryn Stewart
I'm sitting in a small office at the South Pacific Pictures studios
next to a man that I used to watch on telly when I was in high
school.
He's actor Michael Galvin, Shortland Street's Dr Chris Warner, also known as the womanising Dr Loooove.
The home-grown drama is approaching its 18th birthday and Galvin was there from the start, on May 25 1992, as an excited 26-year-old in his first major television role.
"Everyone was really pumped up for it and we knew that we would go from nobody knowing who we were to lots of people knowing who we were," he says.
The marketing machine had been in full swing before the show launched, and in the first 10 minutes of it going to air the ratings looked great.
"Then (the ratings) just trailed off into nothing as people turned on and went 'oh God, this is terrible' and changed channel," Galvin says.
Galvin wasn't the only one on Shortland Street who thought his new-found job may only last a few months. But, he says the show's producer at the time, Caterina De Nave, stayed upbeat about the show's prospects and kept cast and crew buoyed.
Sure enough, about six months later, viewers got behind the show and it has gone on to become New Zealand's longest running, locally made drama series.
The Shortland Street factor
When asked to pin down the appeal of the show, Galvin says Shortland Street goes to great lengths to be relevant and portray New Zealand culture as honestly as possible.
"It's got a good energy to it. It's not a drab soap, there's always humour in the writing," says Galvin.
Story editor Paul Hagan, who started on the show in 1993, says it is also a case of keeping viewers interested with fast moving storylines.
Creatively, this keeps the writers on their toes though Hagan admits it can be a challenge to come up with fresh storylines after nearly two decades.
After a seven-year break, he returned to the show in 2007 when its first serial killer plot was unfolding - an exciting time to be writing on Shortland Street.
"Those stories stand out as being the most fun to work on because they take more working out and more deviousness than the rest," he says.
Mostly though, Shortland Street is all about doctors and nurses falling in and out of love, particularly in the case of Dr Warner who has had umpteen love interests over the years.
That's not to say the show's writers haven't put Dr Warner's fate through the wringer. A few years ago, the evil Dominic Thompson (played by Shane Cortese) lured Dr Warner to a barn, strung him up and threatened to burn the whole lot down.
Galvin, with a burst of laughter, recalls this as something of a standout moment for him on Shortland Street.
"I was hanging from a rope in a barn with Shane Cortese waving a flame at my nipples. That was pretty memorable."
The rise and rise of Shorty
The show now has a strong following compared with its tepid start. Just last week it pulled almost 1.5 million viewers, according to AGB Nielson, and has an active fan base.
"What we have now that wasn't the case in the 90s, is the strong online fan situation where there are websites where fans can get together and discuss and speculate and fill in the gaps that they might've missed," says Hagan.
Galvin says Shortland Street's cast and crew have also become more experienced, making for a slicker production, and he considers the show an important platform for new talent.
"It's become kind of a foundation of our TV and film industry...we have so many people from here who go onto other things. Because it is so solid and secure it's a good training ground," says Galvin.
When Shortland Street turns 18 on May 25, it will clock up its 4,491st episode.
Not bad going for a hospital drama that some thought might not
pull through.
