Drew McCaskill
Script error: No such module "Draft topics".
Script error: No such module "AfC topic".
| Drew McCaskill | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shortland Street character | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Ben Barrington[1] | ||||||||||
| Duration | 2015– | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 27 July 2015 | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Simon Bennett | ||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Occupation | Plastic Surgeon Owner/Manager of the I.V. Bar 2IC of Shortland Street Hospital | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Search Drew McCaskill on Amazon.
Drew McCaskill is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. Portrayed by Ben Barrington since 2015, Drew has appeared in many high profile storylines.
Creation and casting[edit]
In 2015 producers introduced the character of Drew, Shortland Street's first plastic surgeon. Ben Barrington described the character as "a charming rogue who will cause havoc with the ladies and wind up all the men." Barrington continued, saying; "He is gleefully unrepentant and I think people are going to love him." Barrington also mentioned his intentions to stay in role for the long-run, telling the NZ Herald; "It all came about so quickly and within a few days of being asked I was trying on scrubs and learning a bunch of medical terms. I'm hoping Dr Drew settles in because I'm keen to stick around."[2]
Storylines[edit]
Drew McCaskill made his first appearance on 28 July 2015 as a new surgeon at Shortland Street. First seeming to be a shameless flirt with no respect for women, Drew would form a close friendship with Kylie Brown after Kylie was assigned his nurse in the Plastics unit at the hospital. Drew would become unsettled when his ex-wife Virginia would crash her way back into Drew's life in late 2015. After seemingly sending her packing, Virginia would start stalking Drew in September but was quickly sent packing once the two began talking and they finally split up on better terms.
Drew was shot twice during the 2015 Cliffhanger Episode by angry father Gareth Hutchins after Drew performed breast surgery of his daughter Millie. Later in the episode Drew was shot again by a mystery shooter, revealed to be Victoria Anderton in 2016.
Drew came out of his coma and was on strong pain relief early in 2016, and discharged from Shortland Street Hospital.
In March 2016 he botched Kylie's mastectomy. In June–July, 2016, he is covered Boyd Rolleston's Fentich Polymer trial and spy accusations, and in July 2016, it was revealed that he has a younger brother, Cam, a vastly experienced chef, however, given Cam's history with cocaine addiction and money laundering, Cam was demoted to a cafe staff at the IV cafe, until he had proven clean three months later. Drew would eventually be joined in the plastics unit by Chris Warner's son Finn Warner, who was also an experienced surgeon. After a long, tenuous period of tension, Drew and Harper Whitley would get together and become engaged in late 2016-early 2017.
Drew and Harper would take in Harper's wayward cousin Ashley after Ashley accidentally killed her mother in a crash in May 2017, with Drew and Ashley clashing. While they reconciled in June. Drew became the acting CEO of Shortland Street after Chris Warner is no longer capable to carry out his duties due to his leukemia treatments. Drew fell out with Harper after she aborted pregnancy while he was out on a medical conference without his knowledge, and proceeded to have an affair with Kylie. After Frank Warner found out about the affair with Kylie, Frank also set out to sabotage him. He and Boyd are both trying to keep Ezra, who came from a cult-like community led by Ezra's father, and they turned out to be TK Samuel's relatives. By the time Luke passed away, Drew reconciled with Harper after she had a scare of losing her second child by miscarriage.
After their intersex child, Billie, was born, he was unable to fight off tax fraud charges, and was forced to sell 40% off shares in IV Bar and cafe to Damo Johnson and Leanne Black. As a result, Drew had to serve 1-year home detention, pending reinstatement to resume work.
In 2019, Boyd and Drew's fitness rivalry starts up, and they begin to have tensions, but they ease off when Boyd starts dating Kelly-Anne, Damo's sister. Kylie kisses Drew and Harper suspects he is cheating on her, and when Damo teaches Drew about installing spy cameras in his house, he finds Harper and TK inside his house and then Drew accuses Harper of cheating, but he was actually surprised with a surprise birthday party. In July, Drew and Louis King start smoking marijuana, and Drew gets arrested for driving under the influence. And in September, Drew does a study of medicinal marijuana and hires Louis King and his mate River, to help him. When Harper finds out, she dumps him and she is diagnosed with Addison's disease. Drew keeps trying to win her back but then from Harper's irritation of Addison's, she tries to get custody over Billy, and the two have a blow. Harper suffers a seizure and is discovered to have a tumor. When the tumor is taken out, Drew and Harper reconcile. In December, Harper treats Drew to a Christmas holiday to Bali.
In 2020, Drew's mother returns, and she starts treating patients with "healing oils" and she reveals to Drew and Harper that she has stage 3 breast cancer.
Character development[edit]
Relationship with Harper Whitley[edit]
In 2016, after Drew is shot by gunman Gareth Hutchins,[3][4] she admits her love for him and supports him, determined to get to the bottom of who made an attempt on his life. The pair start a relationship and decide to get married.[5] However, Drew begins to worry when he is left waiting at the altar due to Harper questioning the marriage, but she ends up arriving on a motorbike.[5] When commenting on whats holding her back on the characters second wedding to Drew, Ria Vandervis, who plays Harper, commented; "It's not that marriage and children and those things aren't wonderful. I think she's just struggling to work out if that's what she really wants and I think lots of people can relate to that – being unsure," adding "She's a really modern woman and doesn't necessarily see the point in it. She doesn't see why you need to be defined by a piece of paper or by being connected to another person."[5] However, it is revealed after the pair wed that she aborted a pregnancy to Drew after Stuff.co.nz reported about the new 'controversial' set to air. It was said that this would "wreck the marriage" of the newlyweds.[6] It was also said that Drew would react differently from Harper, with Barrington commenting; "Drew keeps going on to Harper, 'You killed our baby'. He says to other people, 'She killed my baby'. For her it's like, 'I had the pregnancy terminated' but Drew's like, 'It was a baby. You killed it. It's like a child murdered.' "[6] Vandervis describes the termination a 'tough' choice for Harper.[6] In amongst the pregnancy, the character also was grieving after the death of her cousin, Ashley Whitley (Ruby Lyon) of whom she had become a legal guardian for.[6]
After Billie was born, Drew's selfish ways tests their relationship. Just as Harper is contemplating separation and divorce, however, she was diagnosed with Addison's Disease, which later progressed badly into an aggressive brain cancer.
Reception[edit]
Drew's character has provided many memorable moments since he arrived on the show in 2015. One that stands out was the perhaps infamous 'poo-nami' episode. After taking ownership of Nicole Miller & Vinnie Kruse's former house, Drew and Harper discovered that it had plumbing issues. 'During his and Harper's first night in their new home, Drew got up in the night, wearing only his underwear. He went to investigate the groaning sink and was sprayed in the face by dirty water. But more ominous noises were coming from the toilet, giving Barrington the chance to show off his slapstick comedy skills. The toilet was spewing out sewage. A backlog of old turds and toilet paper spilled over the hardwood floors, giving rise to Drew's line: "It's a poo-nami!" He then slipped and fell over in the flood. The last we saw of him, he was struggling to get to his feet and begging a disgusted Harper for help. The gag seems to have been a hit with viewers, with a clip having been viewed more than 70,000 times since Monday night.'[7]
In 2018, Barrington starred in the Shortland Street spinoff: Drew's Christmas Holiday, a TVNZ On Demand-only mini series. The spinoff was successful enough for TVNZ to release a second spin off about Drew and Harper's holiday to Bali, titled; "Shortland Street Summer Holiday".
References[edit]
- ↑ "Get to know Ben Barrington". Television New Zealand. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
- ↑ Blackstock, Russell (6 June 2015). "New Shortland Street doctor tangos his way into triage". NZ Herald.
- ↑ "Recap: Shortland Street's 2015 cliffhanger finale". Stuff. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
- ↑ "Shortland Street recap: Who is the mystery killer?". Now To Love. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Shortland Street: Ben Barrington shares details of his character's wedding day". Stuff. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Shortland Street's controversial storyline". Stuff. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
- ↑ "Has Shortland Street gone down the toilet? 'Poo-nami' gag gets the lols". Stuff. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
This article "Drew McCaskill" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Drew McCaskill. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
