Celebrating 25 years of Shortland Street

The homegrown serial drama that captured Kiwis’ hearts to become the most popular program on television is marking the birthday with an explosive feature-length special on TVNZ 2 on May 25. Familiar faces from the past are expected to return, with Claire Chitham (Waverly) and Karl Burnett (Nick Harrison) confirmed but surprises being kept top secret to the special episode.

This week, Woman’s Day kicks of the celebrations of the iconic Kiwi drama series, with a Shortland Street cover and 32-page bonus booklet jam packed with nostalgia. As well as all the weddings, bad girls, hot hunks and a cliffhanger quiz, Woman’s Day has picked its 25 best characters of all time.

Top of the list is the show’s longest serving character, Chris Warner, played by Michael Galvin, 50, who talks to Woman’s Day about playing Dr Love. Reminiscing about his first days on set back in 1992, he says, “I was very nervous. No-one in New Zealand had attempted to do five episodes a week of drama and wasn’t sure if it could actually be done. A the end of the first week, we were so far behind in the shooting schedule, we had to come back and work most of Saturday. But after a few weeks we realised we could do it.”

Angela Bloomfield, 44, graces the cover of Woman’s Day with an exclusive tell-all about her time on the show, revealing what it was like to come of age playing Rachel McKenna.

“I realised people were judging me based on what they were seeing on TV, rather than on what I was really like, so I became wary and didn’t engage with strangers the way I do now.”

But at the same time, Angela felt like the luckiest person in the world, learning to act from great talents and being paid for it. She left the show last year and today Angela spends most of her time on the other side of the camera as a director, but she admits to Woman’s Day that she’d be up for it if she was asked back.

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