Creating a cliffhanger
Shortland Street's Christmas cliff-hangers have become a
New Zealand television tradition.
Designed to bring the audience back after the summer
break, Christmas cliff-hanger weeks are carefully planned so that
several key storylines come to a climax in the last episode of the
year.
And the producers usually pull out a major, unexpected cliff-hanger
- an explosion, a plane crash, a boat accident - for the big
finale.
These days
Shortland Street is usually off-air
for four weeks over Christmas. But in the early years the
show was often broadcast without a Christmas break.
1992:
There was no break in Shortland Street's first year but
the events at the end of 1992 were Chris discovering that Alison
was pregnant - and the Nurses going on strike. Chris and
Alison had been engaged briefly earlier in the year but he'd
recently broken off the engagement. It would take the
estranged couple five months to get back together and plan their
wedding.
1993:
Again, there was no Christmas cliff-hanger and the show continued
to screen through the holiday period. In Ferndale, the
hospital staff faced a difficult choice when Steve, Gina, Hone and
Marj all held New Year's Eve parties - and competed for
guests. They were all disappointed when Alex McKenna invited
everyone to celebrate at the local bar, Kennedy's. Sam and TP had
just married.
1994:
The very first Shortland Street Christmas cliff-hangers
took place at the end of 1994. Jenny was shocked to discover
she was pregnant. Hone Ropata defended himself against Ant, a
dodgy (and violent) associate of Hone's nephew Manny. Ant
went down - and never got up.
In the New Year, Hone faced a manslaughter charge. Michael McKenna
announced he was taking a break from being hospital boss. And
the grand finale was Stuart Neilson's shocking interruption of
Lionel and Kirsty's (until that point) fairytale wedding. Nasty
Darryl Neilson had put Stuart up to the job. Lionel and Kirsty
reconciled in the New Year and were married on board the
Toroa.
1995:
This year had no Christmas cliff-hangers with the show
once again screening throughout the holiday period. In the
last week of 1995 a truck crashed into the hospital. Carmen was
struck on the head, but seemed fine at first.
On Christmas day Guy proposed to Carmen, minutes before she
collapsed and died leaving him and baby Tuesday alone.
In the very last episode of 1995; Johnny kissed Ramona (Nick's
girlfriend) behind Ellen's back; Ellen prepared to give Ted (the
truck driver who caused the accident) his medicine, not knowing
that her sister Carla had replaced Ted's drugs with a fatal dose of
potassium; and as she recovered from amnesia caused by the truck
accident, Kirsty told a stricken Lionel she could remember
everything except having been in love with him - their marriage was
over!
1996:
Another cliff-hanger proper. Rangi and Rachel broke up for
good and wheelchair-bound Rangi found himself in a tight corner
when he was trapped in the garage by a drunk Rachel - who then
passed out leaving the car running.
Nick discovered the truth about the garbage company he worked for
and found himself in danger. In Fiji Ellen told David she was
pregnant. And Lionel and Kirsty decided to give their marriage
another go. The year ended on their kiss.
1997:
The tradition of Christmas cliff-hangers was now firmly in place
and the last episode of 1997 set the standard for the end-of-year
epic that Shortland Street viewers have come to expect. Nick
realised Jenny's husband Ian was not to be trusted - but no one
believed him.
Donna and Rangi's passionate romance came to a sudden halt when
they discovered they were half-brother and sister! Tiffany was
rushed to hospital after a potentially fatal collapse.
Caroline was sentenced to life imprisonment for Annabel's
'murder'. And as Kirsty and Lionel rushed back to town to
support Caroline, the small plane they were traveling in
crashed!
1998:
The 1998 cliff-hanger revolved around the battle of rival villains
Oscar Henry and MacKenzie Choat.
In the last episode of the show, Oscar's bad deeds began to catch
up with him. Fergus attacked Oscar after learning he had raped
Minnie and Rachel discovered Oscar had defrauded the hospital of a
million dollars.
Lionel proposed to MacKenzie, unaware of her villainous activities.
Oscar himself was nowhere to be found - until Minnie discovered him
in Ellen and David's dining room, apparently dead.
Meanwhile, Ellen and Mike were looking for Minnie, hoping to find
her on the harbour cruise they'd planned. The boat hit a reef
and began to sink and when Mike and Ellen tried to jump to safety
Ellen hit her head. Mike frantically tried to find her
underwater...
1999:
Another mix of romance and heartache as Moira and Dean
were finally reconciled and Alesha told Frank she was pregnant - to
him!
Wave was shocked to learn that Minnie was accepting money for
loveless sex. After a fight with lover Laura, Caroline turned
to Greg for comfort. He soon became romantic and viewers were
left wondering how Caroline would react. And Donna discovered
that Rangi wasn't her brother after all.
As she tried to contact him with the good news, Rangi and
policewoman girlfriend Janet were dealing with a road crash site.
Janet was trapped under the truck when it crushed her legs. As
Rangi promised to stick by her - forever - a second car crashed
into the wreckage and everything went up in flames...
2000:
A cliff-hanger in every sense of the word, this year's finale saw
nasty Eamon begging for his life as he hung off the side of a
cliff. Would Kate Larsen (whom Eamon had raped) pull him
up?
Fergus proposed to Waverley then called off the engagement when
Wave wouldn't believe he wasn't using drugs. Later she realised her
error and proposed to him - would he accept?
Sophia met a stranger who introduced himself as the new head of
the hospital - Chris Warner had returned! Meanwhile Angela and
Nick's son Lucas had just been born. As Angela held her son
for the first time, Nick kept some terrible news to himself -
Angela's cancer was spreading!
And Frank came under fire when he treated a murderer. Later
viewers saw him in the carpark - lying in a pool of his own
blood...
2001:
Another earth-shattering Christmas week started with an attempt on
Chris Warner's life by mad Jack Hewitt, a disappointed suitor of
Rachel McKenna. It failed, but Jack had another trick up his
sleeve. He kidnapped Rachel and tried to stage a creepy mock
wedding. Would Chris get to Rachel in time?
Meanwhile Nick declared his love for Waverley and asked her to come
to the UK with him. Mihi walked in on her (then still married)
mother Te Hana kissing Geoff Greenlaw!
And Barb's Christmas party turned to tragedy when Marshall's
illegal drug lab (in the garage) exploded!
2002:
One of the very best Christmas cliff-hanger weeks saw
Toni finally dump Adam, Waverley be diagnosed with breast cancer
and Shannon announce that she was pregnant - to Tama.
Rachel and Chris's relationship was on the rocks and as her
alcoholism took control she moved into bartender Zac's place, and
nearly drowned in his pool.
Chris called it quits and decided to pursue his feelings for Donna.
As they celebrated, Rachel was on her way over. Trying to talk
to Chris on her mobile while driving drunk she had a serious car
accident!
Back at the hospital prisoner Kurt Matakuare (Victor's nemesis) had
been brought in for treatment. When everyone else was at the
staff Christmas party he overpowered his guard and headed for
Victor's office. When Adam tried to stop him, Kurt stabbed
Adam with a scalpel leaving him bleeding in the deserted corridor
too weak to cry out.
2003:
As 2003 drew to a close the question on everyone's lips was 'Who
killed Geoff Greenlaw?' and as Geoff's sister Delphi prepared to
leave Ferndale for Sydney in the company of Dominic Warner, she was
horrified to uncover new evidence suggesting Dom was the
murderer!
Chris Warner's world crumbled around him when his girlfriend Donna
discovered he'd been unfaithful, and he was arrested on trumped up
charges of sexual molestation, both thanks to Dominic.
The on-again, off-again romance between Toni Thompson and Logan
King was all on when Logan announced he'd left his wife for
Toni.
At the Christmas party, Vinnie kissed Jesse and Waverley fainted
for the best possible reason - she was pregnant! And across
town at a charity function, Anne and Tama were trapped when the
building collapsed around them.
Called to the scene, ambo officer Nelson Copeland tried frantically
to get Anne out before the building was completely
destroyed...
2004:
This year Shortland Street ran right up to Christmas and the year's
final episode was a celebratory one-hour special that screened on
Christmas Day.
The centerpiece was Tama and Shannon's romantic beach wedding,
attended by old favourites Victor, Donna and Mihi. Across
town, the hospital social club was performing A Christmas Carol
charity and back at the Emergency Department, Sarah and Andrew were
coping with the demands of the festive season.
The year ended with a combined wedding reception and A Christmas
Carol wrap party at Coltrane, the romantic reunion of Barb and
Sticky and the start of Sarah and Andrew's ill-fated
relationship.
2005
:
The final episode of 2005 saw Craig, Sarah, Judy and Maia form a
band to entertain their colleagues at the hospital Christmas party
it was all to raise money for a good cause, and even though Sarah
was dating Hamish and Craig was with Huia, their chemistry was
clear as they sang the Dance Exponents hit 'Why Does Love Do This
To Me?'
2006:
The staff of Shortland Street headed to the beach for the
end of year Christmas party. Tania Jeffries (Faye Smythe) continues
to struggle with issues of self-doubt as well as her mistrust of
Mark Weston (Tim Foley) and Baxter Cormack (Tom Hern) gets in a
little bit over his head when he accepts LSD from an already high
Alice Piper (Toni Potter).
A friendly volleyball game turns personal when tensions between
Craig Valentine (Renato Bartolomei) and TK Samuels (Benjamin
Mitchell) over Sarah Pott's (Amanda Billing) indecisiveness can no
longer be contained. This was the night that Sarah makes her
decision after months of conflict about who she really
wanted.
2007:
2007 was perhaps one of the biggest Christmas Cliffhangers that
Shortland Street viewers have ever seen in the show's 15 year
history.
After six months of murder and mayhem, the Ferndale Serial Killer
was finally revealed as likeable nurse Joey Henderson. Viewers were
left to wonder if Tania Jeffries would be going the same way as
Claire, Meg, Jay, Beth and Brenda as Joey cornered Tania and
prepared to strangle her with an IV line.
Meanwhile, Chris finally tracked down his wife Toni who, along with
their son Harry and Chris' brother Guy and his daughter Tuesday had
disappeared several months before after Toni caught Chris in bed
with old flame, Rachel McKenna.
However, as Chris prepared to take everybody back to town,
drug-addicted Guy panicked and bolted with Toni and the kids in
Chris' car.
Intent on escaping Chris once again, Guy's driving was erratic and
far too fast. Swerving to avoid a truck, his escape attempt ended
with Chris' twisted and mangled car lying on the side of the road
and Chris uncertain as to whether any of his family had
survived...
2008:
Since his arrival as Shortland Street's new Head of Surgery, Doctor
Ethan Pierce had made few friends and collected many enemies.
2008's final week saw the escalation of Ethan's dastardly deeds as
his connection with dodgy medical supplies company Nessus-Bio was
revealed. Ethan was its owner (and predominant shareholder) and had
been creaming money off hospitals world-wide, while supplying them
with infected and diseased body parts.
When an unseen gunman confronted Ethan in his apartment as he
hurriedly packed his bags to leave town, 2008's final moments saw
Ethan shot three times and fallen, bleeding on the ground.
Meanwhile popular nurse Tania Jeffries and gang member boyfriend
Kingi TeWake were abducted by Kane, the ruthless leader of the
Whitetails gang, and spirited away to face an unknown fate.
2009:
In 2009, audiences watched in horror as bar owner Kieran
Mitchell framed a drunken Rachel McKenna for murder after he
accidentally struck and killed Morgan Braithwaite
with Rachel's car.
Meanwhile, his girlfriend Sophie slept peacefully at the IV whilst
Kieran's misguided brother, Sid attempted to set fire to the
building.
2010
A fiery 2010 cliffhanger saw several lives in danger with
Rachel McKenna, Chris Warner, Callum McKay and Evan Cooper trapped
in a burning apartment building.
Evan Cooper accidentally started a fire at the apartment building after running away from home.
Rachel was visiting Callum at his apartment to break the news that she had chosen her true love Chris over him. As the fire spread, a broken hearted Callum still risked his life to protect Rachel and Chris as an LPG tank exploded in front of them.
Meanwhile, post traumatic stress disorder caused James "Scotty"
Scott to believe his fiancée Tracey Morrison had been
replaced with a imposter. An angry and confused Scotty attacked
Tracey, strangling her...
What will happen in 2011 ? Stay
tuned.
