Storylines of Shortland Street (1993)

This article details the storylines that occurred in the New Zealand Soap Opera Shortland Street in 1993.

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Nick Harrison's (Karl Burnett) relationship with Serena Hughes (Willa O'Neill) came to an end when Rachel McKenna (Angela Bloomfield) arrived at Shortland Street. Nick developed a crush on Rachel and Serena became so jealous that she broke up with Nick. Rachel was the daughter of clinic boss Michael McKenna (Paul Gittins) and was somewhat of a troublemaker. Rachel was more interested in Stuart Neilson (Martin Henderson) and even though Nick was upset at first, he and Rachel would form a close friendship that would be one of Shortland Street's mainstays for nearly a decade. In the meantime, Rachel's disapproval helped put an end to her father's relationship with Julieanne and Rachel hoped that her father would get back with her mother Alex (Liddy Holloway).

In spite of Sam Aleni's (Rene Naufahu) Christian beliefs, he ended up having pre-marital sex when he lost his virginity to a woman who eventually left him for her ex boyfriend. Meanwhile, Steve Mills (Andrew Binns) was still devastated by the death of his girlfriend Sarah Donnely and mourned her for many months. Eventually he decided that it was time to move on with his life. At the same time, two new nurses joined the clinic, Carmen Roberts (Theresa Healey) and Jo Jordan Greer Robson) and both nurses became attracted to Steve. Steve began dating Carmen, but the relationship ended when Jo exposed Carmen's drug habit. Unfortunately for Jo though, her affections for Steve would remain unrequited and the two became close friends instead.

Tom and Marj Neilson's (Adrian Keeling and Elizabeth McRae) marriage was severely strained when Marj's daughter (Katherine McRae) continued to be a presence in their lives. Tom eventually disappeared and Marj feared the worse. Paul Holmes contacted Marj and featured Tom's disappearance on the Holmes TV programme. As the months went by Marj began to accept that Tom was gone and tentatively began dating Jewish Policeman Laurie Brasch (Chic Littlewood). Marj also sold her house and moved in with Jenny Harrison (Maggie Harper) and Nick.

Chris Warner's (Michael Galvin) reconciliation with Melanie was short-lived, and Chris would once again propose to Alison Raynor (Danielle Cormack), who had miscarried his baby. Meanwhile to Kirsty Knight's (Angela Dotchin) horror, Darryl Neilson (Mark Ferguson) had returned to Ferndale and was soon admitted to Shortland Street after suffering some health issues. Darryl quickly became obsessed with Alison and drugged Chris in order so that he would miss the wedding. Alison, thinking she had been jilted once again, fled the country.

Jaki Manu (Nancy Brunning) formed a relationship with cricket star Henry Tamariki, only to learn that he was cheating on her. Jaki broke up with Henry.

After breaking up with Hone Ropata (Temuera Morrison) once and for all, Meredith Flemming (Stephanie Wilkin) began a relationship with Guy Warner (Craig Parker), Chris' brother. The two got engaged, but Guy had secretly been sleeping with Jenny on the side.

Wacky Gina Rossi (Joesphine Davidson) developed a crush on the equally wacky Dr Leonard Dodds (Marton Csokas) and the two finally got together before he left the clinic. In Leonard's absence, Gina developed a crush on Hone and made several attempts to get him. However Leonard returned and Gina switched her affections back to Leonard. When Leonard discovered that Gina had pursued Hone, he bitterly dumped her.

Sam had to deal with his own homophobia when he discovered that Tom's replacement Jamie Forrest (Karl Urban) was gay. Sam quickly got over it and he and Jamie became friends.

Carrie Burton (Lisa Crittenden) became desperate to have a baby, and decided to get herself artificially inseminated. She asked several of her fellow staff members to be the donor, including Chris, Steve and Guy. They all donated sperm and Carrie fell pregnant. Carrie refused to say whose sperm she had actually used as she didn't want the biological father asserting his rights over her baby. ended up falling in love with Steve's father Declan Kennedy. The two married in Las Vegas. Steve was slightly horrified by these events as there was a chance that Carrie had used his sperm. Carrie later discovered that she was going to have twins. Declan meanwhile, opened up a bar which he named Kennedys and hired Stuart and Talita Pahele as his staff. Sam quickly developed an attraction towards Talita, who preferred to be known by her nickname T.P.

Stuart was devastated by Tom's disappearance and renounced his Catholic faith and his plans to become a priest. Alex and Stuart had a brief flirtation, but Alex eventually remarried Michael. Meanwhile Rachel and Stuart's relationship had progressed. Eventually though, Rachel became jealous of his friendship with Kirsty, and was stunned when she learned that Stuart had initially been more interested in her mother, Alex. Rachel dumped Stuart and developed Bulimia, though she eventually sought help and recovered.

Meredith broke up with Guy after learning that he had been two-timing her with Jenny, and it seemed that she would get together with Chris. However it was not to be and Meredith left town. Chris found love with Katherine, Meredith's replacement at the clinic.

Leonard and Gina reconciled but Gina, remembering the two failed attempts that Chris and Alison had made to marry, became convinced that engagements at Shortland Street were cursed and so sought to do everything in her power to stop Leonard from proposing to her. A bemused Michael eventually intervened and suggested that Gina propose to Leonard before he could propose to her. The plan worked. Despite Leonard's best man Lionel Skeggins (John Leigh) playing a practical joke on Leonard on the night before his wedding, the ceremony went off without a hitch! The couple decided to do the modern thing and combine their names. as a result, Leonard Dodds and Gina Rossi were now Mr and Mrs Rossi-Dodds. Gina bought a houseboat, the "Toroa", for her and Leonard to live on. Unfortunately Leonard suffered from seasickness! Eventually Leonard got used to living on the sea.

Declan's shady dealings eventually destroyed his marriage to Carrie and he went to prison. Carrie and Steve grow closer in the aftermath as Steve took over as Carrie's birth coach. Carrie went into labour at Meredith's leaving party and gave birth to her twins, only to find out that she was actually having triplets! The youngest triplet, whom Carrie named Sarah after Steve's late girlfriend, had some health problems and this only served to bond Steve and Carrie closer together as Steve convinced himself that he was the biological father of the triplets. Eventually though, Declan's criminal associates began threatening Carrie and she decided to flee to Australia to live with her sister. Steve and Carrie shared a kiss at Gina and Leonard's wedding before Carrie and the triplets left. Carrie signed over her ownership in Kennedys to Alex McKenna.

Rivalries between Samoan and Tongan gangs reared their ugly head in Ferndale. In the midst of this, Sam and T.P grew closer, despite the fact that their families opposed the relationship as Sam was Samoan and T.P was Tongan. Sam and T.P eventually married, but their families practically disowned both of them. The only relative sympathetic to their situation was Nate, Sam's younger brother, whom Sam had rescued from the Samoan gang.

Darryl was secretly transporting illegal drugs using his pharmaceutical company as a cover. Laurie became suspicious and managed to prevent Marj from unwittingly smuggling a suitcase of drugs over to Australia to Darryl. Darryl claimed innocence, but Laurie and Stuart weren't convinced. Just as Laurie and Marj were becoming more suspicious, Tom turned up and revealed that he needed a kidney transplant. Marj decided that she had to reconcile with her husband. Darryl donated his kidney, but Tom ended up dying of a heart attack. Darryl was devastated and blamed Katherine for Tom's death.

Carmen Roberts returned after having recovered from her drug problem, but didn't reunite with Steve, although she did move in with him, Sam and T.P. Instead, Carmen began a love hate relationship with Guy. The two refused to admit that they were strongly attracted to each other, and Guy went out with Jaki's HIV positive friend Deborah (Lisa Chappell) for a while.

Alex and Michael's son Jonathan (Kieren Hutchinson) came to town and was a constant thorn in Rachel's side. rachel suspected something else was going on and was shocked when her older brother revealed to her that he was gay and interested in Jamie. Jonathan pursued Jamie and tried to keep it a secret from Alex and Michael.

Carrie's replacement was a man named Paul Chruchill, who shared a past with Carmen back in the days when Carmen had been a prostitute. Paul began making advances towards Jo and made it clear that if she didn't sleep with him then she would lose her job. Steve and Carmen eventually found out what was going on and convinced Jo to press charges for Sexual Harassment. Paul was fired, much to everyone's relief.

Jo ended up in a relationship with Stuart. Confessing to Carmen that she must be the 'oldest virgin in the world', Jo was reluctant to sleep with Stuart at first, but he reassured her that he was willing to wait. Stuart became jealous of Jo's friendship with Steve, knowing that she had previously had a crush in him. Eventually, Jo told Stuart that she was over Steve and the two slept together for the first time.

Jaki went away for several weeks after Alison contacted her and informed her that she was marrying a man named Jean-Luc Mafart (Pierre Foret). Jean Luc turned out to be abusive and Alison fled back to New Zealand, seeking the help of Chris and Michael McKenna. Jean-Luc eventually found Alison and the two had a fight at Alison's family's farm in Te Kuiti on Christmas Day. Jean Luc fell to his death and was killed, Darryl helped Alison cover up the crime and Alison once again left the country.

Nick and Stuart realised that Marj was lonely after Tom's death. They arranged for Laurie to visit Marj on New Years Eve. The two shared a passionate embrace.

Cast Members

All Year Cast Members

* Paul Gittins (Dr. Michael Mckenna)
* Michael Galvin (Dr. Chris Warner)
* Temuera Morrison (Dr. Hone Ropata)
* Nancy Brunning (Nurse Jaki Manu)
* Andrew Binns (Nurse Steve Mills)
* Rene Naufahu (Sam Aleni)
* Maggie Harper (P.A. Jenny Harrison)
* Karl Burnett (Nick Harrison)
* Elizabeth McRae (Majorie Neilson)
* Martin Henderson (Stuart Neilson)
* Angela Marie Dotchin (Kirsty Knight)
* Josephine Davidson (Gina Rossi)

Recurring Cast Members

*Ken Blackburn (Sir Bruce Warner)
*Mark Ferguson (Darryl Neilson)
*Glynis McNicoll (Lady Margot Warner)
*Tamati Rice (Henry Tamariki)
*Ezra Woods (Andrew Flemming)
*Karl Urban (Jamie Forrest)
*Kieren Hutchinson (Jonathan McKenna)
*Simon Prast (Paul Churchill)
*Kevin J Wilson (Declan Kennedy)

Arrivals

*Marton Csokas (Dr. Leonard Dodds)
*Angela Bloomfield (Rachel McKenna}
*Craig Parker (Guy Warner)
*Liddy Holloway (Alex McKenna)
*Theresa Healey (Nurse Carmen Roberts)
*Greer Robson (Nurse Jo Jordan)
*Chic Littlewood (Laurie Brasch)

Departures

* Adrian Keeling (Tom Neilson)
* Danielle Cormack (Nurse Alison Raynor)
* Stephanie Wilkin (Dr. Meredith Fleming)
* Lisa Crittenden (Nurse Carrie Burton)

Guest Stars

*Lisa Chappell (Deborah)
*Katherine McRae (Marj's illegitimate daughter)

Celebrity Appearances

*Dipak Patel
*Annie Crummer
* Paul Holmes