Storylines of Shortland Street (2004)

This article details the storylines that took place on the New Zealand Soap Opera Shortland Street in the year 2004.

Storylines[edit]

Dominic Thompson (Shane Cortese) fled town, leaving Delphi Greenlaw (Anna Hutchison) to wonder whether he had really killed her brother Geoff. Meanwhile, Dr. Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) was still under suspicion of sexually abusing Tasha Heiramaia, but Shannon Te Nagaru (Amber Cureen) eventually convinced her to tell the truth and Chris was cleared. A genuinely sorry Tasha tried to reunite her guardian Donna Heka (Stephanie Tauevihi) with Chris, but by this time Donna's old feelings for Dr. Victor Kahu (Calvin Tutaeo) had been reignited.

Nurse Anne Kahu (Emmeline Hawthorne) was killed in the building collapse, and her former lover/stepson Nelson Copeland (Quinton Hita), her estranged husband Victor and Anne's mother Nurse Judy Brownlee (Donogh Rees) were devastated. Judy blamed Victor for the way that he had treated Anne while she was alive. Meanwhile, Tama Hudson (David Wikaira-Paul), who had survived the building collapsed, proposed to Shannon Te Ngaru (Amber Curreen) as the two sought to put the death of their baby son, Ngakau behind them.

Nelson pushed his on/off girlfriend Nurse Jesse George (Hannah Tolich) away after Anne's death and she ended up sleeping with Nurse Vinnie Kruse (Pua Magasiva). At that time, Nelson bought a house from a patient that both he and Dr. Li Mei Chen (Li Ming Hu) were fond of. Li Mei, Nelson, Jesse and Vinnie all moved in, and they were soon joined by Nurse Layla Cornwall (Louise Harris). Layla had recently returned to work at Shortland Street and Nelson felt sorry for her and began dating her after she claimed that her sister had died. Whenever Nelson would think of breaking up with Layla she would turn on the waterworks and make out that she was fragile. This was enough to ensure that Nelson (who felt guilty about the way he had used Anne when she was alive) stayed with Layla.

After sometime had passed, Victor also decided to move on from Anne's death and he and Donna decided to make a go of things. Meanwhile, Tasha fell into a bad crowd and started hassling nerdy Scarlett Valentine (Nicole Thomson). Eventually Tasha befriended Scarlett, but the bullying continued and Tasha was made a target as well. After Scarlett and Tasha tried to retaliate, Donna, Victor and Scarlett's father, Dr. Craig Valentine (Renato Bartolomei) were called in for a conference with Scarlett and Tasha's teachers. Craig and Victor did not get along.

Delphi had pushed Marshall away again, in the wake of Anne's death. Marshall eventually had a near death experience and moved to Melbourne to become a priest. Having done well enough in her NCEA results to leave high school a year early, Delphi decided to stay with Barb so she could go to University. Delphi eventually found herself annoyed by the attentions of Jake Valentine (Calum Gittins), a high school student who hung around at the university.

Nurse Toni Thompson (Laura Hill) broke up with her lover Dr. Logan King (Peter Muller) when she learned that he was still seeing his estranged wife and had gotten her pregnant again. Logan flipped out and ended up kidnapping Toni and her son Harry, before letting them go and departing Ferndale forever. Chris was angry over the whole situation and accused Toni of being an unfit parent. He vowed to sue for custody of their son.

When the patient that Li Mei was fond of died, Li Mei was devastated and ended up sleeping with an undertaker! The undertakers name was Norman Hansen (Jacob Tomuri) and he became a permanent fixture in Li Mei's life, much to her initial annoyance. Meanwhile, the flatmates were all fed up with Layla's antics, and Jesse eventually exposed her lies about her sister. Nelson threw her out, but she ended up coming into Shortland Street a few weeks later after a suicide attempt. Jesse accused her of faking the attempt, but got the shock of her life later on, when she found that Layla had hanged herself in a supply closet!

Tama and Shannon took over the day-to-day running of the hospital cafeteria, much to Nick and Waverley's annoyance, because Tama no longer worked at the Dogs' Day Inn, and without him the it was dangerously close to going out of business. Meanwhile, Vinnie and Shannon became friends. When Tama was offered a singing gig with his band and went away for few weeks. Unfortunately it happened to coincide with the first anniversary of Ngakau's death. Shannon became lonely, and feeling neglected by Tama, she began an affair with Vinnie! It wasn't very long before Nelson discovered what was going on.

Nelson blamed Jesse for Layla's death, and the distraught nurse eventually left Ferndale to go to the Solomon Islands. In the wake of her departure, Vinnie and Nelson continued to argue. Nelson hated Vinnie for his affair with Shannon, and Vinnie hated Nelson for the way that he had treated Jesse. Vinnie eventually made Nelson realise that he loved Jesse, so Nelson raced to the airport to meet up with Jessie and went to the Solomon Islands together. Meanwhile, Tama and Shannon's wedding was fast approaching. Nelson's sister Jessica 'Jay' Copeland (Jaime Passier-Armstrong) arrived for the wedding with her travelling companion, Nurse Maia Jeffries (Anna Jullienne). It soon became evident to viewers that Maia and Jay were more than friends. Maia got a job at the hospital, while Jay struggled to tell her father, Victor, that she was a lesbian and that Maia was her lover. The wedding of Tama and Shannon took place on the beach, with shells replacing wedding bands which had been either misplaced or lost.

Nick and Waverley Harrison (Karl Burnett and Claire Chitham) were thrilled by the news that Waverley was pregnant. In Shortland Street's 3000th episode, Waverley gave birth to a girl that she and nicknamed Tina-Anne. Meanwhile, Avril Lucich (Kate Louise Elliott) joined Waverley at reception.

Toni learned that Chris had begun sleeping with Harry's nanny Siobhan O'Leary (Siobhan Marshall) and got Chris to drop his suit for full custody. Chris and Siobhan's relationship soon faltered as Chris started preparing to set up a new plastic surgery unit at the clinic. Chris needed financial support and began negotiating with Lucy Swinton (Sally Stockwell) for the money required. Chris became besotted with Lucy and his infatuation clouded his better judgment. Chris ended his affair with Siobhan and prepared to tell Lucy about his feelings for her. Unfortunately, Lucy was already involved in a relationship. Her man was none other than Dominic Thompson! Chris was stunned, but even more so when Lucy informed him that she had hired Dominic to be the new manager of the plastics clinic.

Lucy refused to fire Dominic, telling Chris that he was contractually obliged to let Dominic work at the plastics unit. After Delphi told Chris about the footprint in Marshall's video, Chris informed the police, but Dominic managed to convince them that the footprint was circumstantial. Dominic then got a dying Rex Treherne (Raymond Hawthorne) to retract Victor's alibi. Victor was soon arrested and accused of the crime. Victor was certain that Li Mei could clear him, but after being prodded by Dominic, Li Mei realized that she had been asleep during the time that Geoff was murdered and Victor could have left without her knowing. When the date of Victor's trial arrived, Li Mei perjured herself and said that Victor was with her the whole night that Geoff was murdered. This action earned her the respect of Victor and Te Hana (Vanessa Rare). However it was to no avail, Victor was found guilty and sent to prison.

Chris eventually seduced Lucy, but he no longer had any feelings for her and she took off to Australia. Chris then resigned as Hospital CEO and decided to go off to Fiji to help out with sick children there, but not before telling Te Hana everything that he knew about Dominic, in the hopes that Te Hana would be able to find the evidence to free her brother. Avril was also suspicious of Dominic and eventually confronted him with evidence that she had uncovered, intending to blackmail him. Dominic seemed non plussed about the whole thing and began flattering Avril. Expecting a night of passion with Dominic, Avril made the unfortunate mistake of taking a bubble bath. As Pink Frost by The Chills played in the background, Dominic surprised Avril by suddenly grabbing her and drowning her in the bathtub!

New Hospital CEO Dr. Andrew Solomon (Paolo Rontondo) arrived and quickly got off side with the rest of the staff, particularly Craig, as its seemed that Andrew had no idea about the day to day realities of running a hospital, and only cared about financial costs. Meanwhile, Jake was involved in a traffic mishap with a flighty young woman who was on her way to a job interview. Jake told Craig about what had happened just as he and Andrew were about to interview candidates for an attending physician for the ED. During the interviews, the young woman whom Jake had run into turned out to be one of the candidates! When the young woman, Dr. Sarah Potts (Amanda Billing) revealed the cause of her lateness and complained about the other party involved in the accident, Craig put her down by revealing that the other guy was his son! It was not the best of starts for Dr. Potts, but despite Craig's reservations, Andrew decided to go ahead and hire Sarah.

Cast Members[edit]

All Year Cast Members[edit]

Michael Galvin (Dr. Chris Warner)
Karl Burnett (Nick Harrison)
Claire Chitham (Waverley Wilson)
Laura Hill (Nurse Toni Thompson)
Annie Whittle (Barb Heywood)
Donogh Rees (Nurse Judy Brownlee)
David Wikaira-Paul (Tama Hudson)
Amber Cureen (Shannon TeNgaru)
Li Ming Hu (Dr. Li Mei Chen)
Ian Hughes (Dr. Martin 'Sticky' Stickwell)
Pua Magasiva (Nurse Vinnie Kruse)

Recurring Cast Members[edit]

Daniel Sing (Dr. Marvin Ho)
Louise Harris (Nurse Layla Cornwall)
Sally Stockwell (Lucy Swinton)
Jamie Passier-Armstrong (Jay Copeland)
Jeffrey Thomas (Ian Jeffries)
Raymond Hawthorne (Rex Traherne)
Robyn Worthington (Carol Beckham)

Arrivals[edit]

Jacob Tomuri (Norman Hanson)
Nicole Thomson (Scalett Valentine)
Calum Gittins (Jake Valentine)
Renato Bartolomei (Dr. Craig Valentine)
Anna Jullienne (Nurse Maia Jeffries)
Paolo Rotondo (Dr. Andrew Solomon)
Amanda Billing (Dr. Sarah Potts)
Tim Foley (Dr. Mark Weston)
Jarred Blakiston (Daniel Potts)
Alison Quigan (Yvonne Jeffries)
Jeffrey Thomas (Ian Jeffries)
Jaime Passier-Armstrong (Jay Copeland, recurring until December, main cast afterwards)
Emily Robins (Claire Solomon, Arrives In 2004 Finale Episode)

Returning Cast Members[edit]

Vanessa Rare (Nurse Te Hana Hudson)

Departures[edit]

Emmeline Hawthorne (Nurse Anne Greenlaw)
Paul Reid (Marshall Heywood)
Peter Muller (Dr. Logan King)
Quinton Hita (Nelson Copeland)
Hannah Tolich (Nurse Jesse George)
Stephanie Tauevihi (Donna Heka)
Calvin Tutaeo (Dr. Victor Kahu)
Anna Hutchison (Delphi Greenlaw)
Shane Cortese (Dominic Thompson)
Michelle Stewart (Natasha Heremaia)

Guest Stars[edit]

Siobhan Marshall (Siobhan O'Leary)