Rachel McKenna
We first met Rachel in McKenna in 1993. The daughter of
Shortland Street's CEO, Michael McKenna, she was then a
precocious 16 year old.
Rachel was clever and attractive - and she knew it. She did
well at school without much effort and was easily
bored.
She knew how to play people and get their sympathy, but also learnt
from her mother how to be ruthless.
Despite her mature appearance, in the early days, Rachel had a lot
of growing up to do.
After many years of living in Ferndale, Rachel became firmly
entrenched in life at Shortland Street, even becoming a staff
member at the clinic.
We grew to know and love Rachel over the years, but she always had
the slightly ruthless streak that meant you could never quite
predict what she would do next.
After a battle with a bottle and the collapse of her relationship
to Chris Warner, Rachel finally said farewell for good in 2002.
After leaving Ferndale, Rachel used her contacts with Marge
Neilson (MP) to secure a job in the health industry.
In her free time she picked up a few papers at Victoria University
in Wellington and passed her bachelor of Commerce and
Administration.
It is this qualification that gained her a junior business analyst
position at the Ministry of Health.
She gained a senior business analyst position and went on to study
information management.
In 2007, Rachel returned to Shortland Street briefly in her
capacity as a Ministry of Health auditor.
Having well and truly beaten her battle with the bottle, Rachel
appeared to be a much more in control of her life than when she
left.
Having turned her life around, she was now committed to the pursuit
of success.
She announced that she was engaged to someone who should have been
the man of her dreams.
There was only one problem though - she didn't love him.
Catching up with old flame
Chris Warner
brought it all the old feelings back to her, and it wasn't long
before she had coaxed him back in to bed.
Only problem was, Chris' wife Toni caught them in the act and it
wasn't long before Chris had sent Rachel packing again.
2009:
Rachel arrived back in Ferndale in 2009, as the new supervisor
at Shortland Street (appointed by the DHB).
Having separated from her husband, Rachel was on a personal mission
to win back Chris Warner, but he refused her advances.
But Rachel was also hiding another secret,
rampant alcoholism.
At Shorty's Xmas party 2009, Rachel got drunk and tried to sleep it
off in her car.
While she was out to it,
Kieran Mitchell
drove her car and killed Morgan Braithwaite.
Kieran moved her into the driver's seat. Rachel confessed to the hit and run, and faces serious charges and a prison sentence.
The only person who supported her was
Callum McKay.
After Rachel was cleared of the charges, she became Callum's 2IC
at the hospital. Then the pair began a personal relationship.
But Chris Warner is a hard man to forget - Rachel was tempted to
be with him during 2010.
At Christmas 2010, Rachel ended her relationship with Callum - she
loved Chris.
The two met at the run-down apartment block they had planned to
renovate, but a fire nearly took their lives.
Callum was badly burned in the fire, but survived and eventually
returned to his CEO position.
Rachel moved in with Chris.
Rachel was forced out of her job as hospital 2IC by Shane
Tucker.
She was working as Finance Officer for the DHB which saw her more
involved in hospital business than ever.
Rachel struggled at first with playing step-mum to Harry
but she eventually settled into family life with Chris and his two
boys.
She was devastated when she discovered that Chris had cheated on
her with his ex Gabrielle but she forgave him for the sake of their
family.
Rachel McKenna is played by Angela Bloomfield .
