Much like Ponsonby Road on a sunny day, Shortland Street is heaving with celebrities. Alex Casey looks back at some of the more memorable cameos. // Guardian of Our Small Claims Galaxy Kevin Milne Talk about the merging of two iconic New Zealand television worlds! In 1996, Nick Harrison appeared on Fair Go with legendary host … Read more
The Christmas cliffhanger is Shortland Street’s most glorious moment, when the show’s silliness and ambition are deafeningly amplified. Ahead of tonight’s finale, Duncan Greive spoke with key storyliner Harry McNaughton about the cliffhanging process. // Gerald Tippett was one of my favourite characters during an extremely strong Shortland Street era. A fastidious receptionist and executive … Read more
‘Real Talk’ is a series of interviews conducted exclusively for The Spinoff’s ‘Street Week’ by David Farrier with Shortland Street‘s Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell. The seventh episode has our guys weighing in on ‘Conspiracy Theories’. “There are some things that I wouldn’t call a conspiracy,” says Mitchell. “They’re factual. Supported by archaeological evidence.” “Such as?” asks … Read more
‘Real Talk’ is a series of interviews conducted exclusively for The Spinoff’s ‘Street Week’ by David Farrier with Shortland Street‘s Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell. Episode six has Jones (an environmentalist) and Mitchell (a Holden-lovin’ petrolhead) squaring off over ‘Cyclists’. Jones and Mitchell are Shortland Street’s biggest stars and hunkiest hunks. Mitchell plays TK Samuels, the sculpted head of … Read more
Two key Spinoff writers Alex Casey and Joseph Moore share a dirty little secret: they’ve never seen any of the defining ‘important’ TV shows of our time, and are trying desperately to catch up. During this week of Ferndale appreciation, there is no more ‘important’ viewing than the first ever episode of Shortland Street. // Alex: Kia ora, … Read more
With Street Week in full swing and Christmas right around the corner, Alex Casey dredges up the very best in Shortland Street merch from the far reaches of Trademe. // Lionel’s Muffin Cook Book Lionel Skeggins was one of Shortland Street’s all-time greats. The cheery café manager played by John Leigh first appeared in a … Read more
Eli Mathewson provides in-depth analysis of Shortland Street‘s Extract 7 storyline, discovering undeniable parallels with other great cultural works of our time. // Sarah Potts died this year, and if I were Amanda Billing, I’d feel pretty bloody peeved about it. Simon Bennett, a Shortland Street producer, told stuff that the reason they had to kill her … Read more
‘Real Talk’ is a series of interviews conducted exclusively for The Spinoff’s ‘Street Week’ by David Farrier with Shortland Street‘s Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell. This fifth instalment features the dashing lads of the ED weighing in on what they look for in a woman. Jones and Mitchell are Shortland Street’s biggest stars and hunkiest hunks. … Read more
Alex Casey took a surreal trip out to the Shortland Street set, and found scoops around every corner.// When I arrived at South Pacific Pictures, I was greeted in the carpark by a giant tripod with a long brown wig balanced on the top – a sort of terrifying tribal challenge to all layman who … Read more
‘Real Talk’ is a series of interviews conducted by David Farrier featuring Shortland Street‘s Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell. They’ll give a hot take on a series of important contemporary issues. This afternoon’s lesson is on ‘The Internet’. Jones and Mitchell are Shortland Street’s biggest stars and hunkiest hunks. Mitchell plays TK Samuels, the sculpted head of the Emergency Department, … Read more
Richard Cowley had just started med school when TK Samuels arrived in Ferndale. Their uncanny resemblance has haunted him ever since. Simon Day sat down with him for a chat about his time as the real life TK. // The theatre of Ferndale has been known to imitate life. But for a young orthopaedic registrar … Read more
‘Real Talk’ is a series of interviews conducted by David Farrier featuring Shortland Street‘s Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell. They’ll give the babe actor demographic’s hot take on a series of important contemporary issues. This morning: ‘the objectification of men’. Jones and Mitchell are Shortland Street’s biggest stars and hunkiest hunks. Mitchell plays TK Samuels, the sculpted head … Read more
Aaron Hawkins remembers when acid house came to Ferndale via the Shortland Street Theme Club Mix. // “This is rock’n’roll Nurse Burton. Not that hippy dippy folk stuff or whatever it is you’re into.” At the tender age of nine, I had no idea what ‘acid’ was, let alone ‘psychedelia’ or ‘club mixes’. It seems likely … Read more
In part two (here is part one) of David Farrier’s ‘Real Talk’ interview series with Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell, Shortland Street‘s bench-pressing health warriors weigh in on the internet’s ‘culture of outrage’. Jones and Mitchell are Shortland Street’s biggest stars and hunkiest hunks. Mitchell plays TK Samuels, the sculpted head of the Emergency Department, while Jones is ripped ambo … Read more
Welcome to the centrepiece of Street Week: ‘Real Talk’, an eight part interview by David Farrier featuring Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell. The pair are Shortland Street’s biggest stars and hunkiest hunks. Mitchell plays TK Samuels, the sculpted head of the Emergency Department, while Jones is ripped ambo Dallas Adams. The Herald has published two dynamite interviews with Mitchell, while Jones has … Read more
Want to know why we’re dedicating a week to a mostly-maligned soap? Duncan Greive makes the case for Shortland Street as New Zealand’s most underrated piece of pop culture. // A few years ago, while working on a story for Metro magazine*, I had lunch with Shortland Street’s publicists in Ponsonby on a sunny day in autumn. They were great … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Murray goes underpants crazy, Leanne pulls a fast one out of her own handbag and Chris Warner congratulates himself (once again) for being the underwhelming parent of the year: Old scuzzbucket Murray gathered the family … Read more
This coming Monday The Spinoff launches ‘Street Week’, dedicated to honouring New Zealand’s greatest ever TV show, Shortland Street. We’ve been scheming on this for a couple of months, and pulled together the most ambitious set of heroic nonsense in the site’s short life. The motivation was a sense that many New Zealanders, particularly those who generally consider … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Harper goes bizarre for old pizza, Dallas invents a cool colleague called Fridge and we find out what Santa does for 364 days of the year: This week, Harper found herself eating pizza alone in … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? We meet our darling Clementine, Chris forgets how to parent and Wendy cockblocks the night away: It’s always exciting to have a new addition to the Street – this week saw the arrival of Clementine. … Read more
The Spinoff editor Duncan Greive went along to TVNZ’s new season launch and left with ringing ears, an LED lanyard and dreams of a reality juggernaut. // Six million people are stalked every year in the United States. 3.5m New Zealanders view TVNZ weekly. 18,000 paid their condolences to non-existent person Sarah Potts. Kleenex quadrupled … Read more
For TV Autopsies The Spinoff ventures deep into the TV universe to check in with New Zealand’s fallen stars, away from the spotlight’s glare. In this debut instalment Alex Casey went to Manurewa to meet four-octave powerhouse and Harry Warner hater, Wayne Anderson. // Wayne Anderson, the greatest singer in Manurewa, first bellowed his way onto our screens in the 2005 series … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Kronos the cat gets karmic with Dallas and we revisit Harry before he got a major facelift/attitude problem: Kronos the cat is definitely a weird addition to the Shortland Street world. It’s not often that … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? It’s all tensions and flying soccer boots at Warner HQ: Harry has finally got some direction in his life. No longer just a snotty brat – he’s going to be an All White. After confessing … Read more
Today, the NZ Herald published a gem of an interview with Shortland Street actor Ben Mitchell, wherein he restated his bizarre, unpleasant views about contemporary gender roles. I say restated because this is not the first time he has strongly voiced his proudly misogynist opinions. Shortland St occupies a unique place in this country’s self-image, due to both its age … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, revisiting the past week of Ferndale funny business. It has obviously been a hard week for Harry, the dude is having a mayonnaise crisis, a playlist crisis and was told to go away by nasty Rachel. He’s obviously picking up some of this stress from Chris, who slept … Read more
Shortland St. Two words which make TVNZ’s ad sales warriors 50% stronger while TV3’s equivalents suppress waves of nausea at the very mention. For 22 long years it has had a monopoly on the New Zealand soap scene, but news broke Wednesday that from 2015 it will finally have competition. TV3 have announced plans for a five-nights-a-weeker … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, revisiting the past week of Ferndale funny business. This week seemed very genital-heavy. Grace had a rather distressing birth in Fiji and Nicole’s unborn baby had his weiner put under the microscope. Dallas and Bella decided to stop sleeping together until their wedding night, which lasted about … Read more
This week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal is jam-packed with equally sexy and hilarious moments from Ferndale. Harry outdoes himself on the insult front by tell a small defenceless child that he has a lead role in Night of the Living Dorks. Garret and Kylie handcuff themselves to the bed in some sort of 50 Shades … Read more