10 Is Shortland Street star about to bow out?
Could a new Shortland Street storyline lead to the departure of one of the soap’s favourite characters, asks Kerry Harvey.
Shortland Street star Tane Williams could really be the author of his own misfortune.
Ambulance driver Ali Karim – the character Williams has played for the past three years – could be set to depart Ferndale after a life-shattering family secret turns his world upside down.
Ali’s life reaches crisis point when he discovers the man who raised him, Aziz, was not his father.
And it’s all his fault, Williams tells TV Guide, on the eve of leaving New Zealand for a trip to Britain and the United States.
“I actually pitched (the storyline) to our producer and she grabbed it,” he says. “I thought the casting of Ali’s parents was a bit strange and I wanted to justify why Ali was darker than both his parents.” The revelation comes when Ali’s widowed mum Naila (Parwaneh Sabetian) turns up in Ferndale to visit Ali, baby Lulu and girlfriend Dawn (Rebekah Palmer). It is Dawn who realises there’s a new man in Naila’s life and urges her to tell Ali. The young ambo – despite having himself moved on to a new partner after the death of his wife Lucy (Grace Palmer) – does not react well to the news. When he then learns that Naila’s ‘new’ partner Said (Graham Vincent) is actually his real
“It was an interesting journey getting into Ali’s mind for this because it would turn your whole life upside down.” – Tane Williams on his latest Shortland Street storyline.
father, Ali is devastated but, thanks to Dawn’s intervention, he starts to warm to his new dad. When Said reveals Naila will be going home to Tunisia with him, he invites Ali, Dawn and Lulu to go too – leaving Ali with a big decision to make.
“Discovering your father was not your father would be absolutely crazy,” Williams says.
“It was an interesting journey getting into Ali’s mind for this because it would turn your whole life upside down, not just because the person who you thought was your dad is not your dad, but the fact that your mum knew about it the whole time and kept it from you.
“You’d get such a mix of emotions – like anger and betrayal and confusion – so it was a real interesting journey getting into these scenes and finding a way to play them.”
The normally even-tempered Ali has had anger problems in the past – thanks to a catastrophic head injury – and his temper surfaces again.
“He has a tendency to snap when he can’t understand things or things rattle him too much so there was a lot of anger initially, especially at his mum,” Williams says.
“But then he finds out he has this whole new family, a whole new part of him that he knows nothing about, and he’s intrigued and becomes interested.”
Williams says he appreciates his character’s dark side.
“If it wasn’t there I feel like it would be a bit flat because he is so understanding most of the time. It’s cool that he’s got this kind of snap in him. I really enjoy it.”
In fact, he really enjoys everything about his Shortland Street role although even he couldn’t predict the drama the writers had in store for the show’s first Muslim character.
Ali battled family prejudices to be able to marry Lucy, only to be left literally holding the baby when she dies in the aftermath of the Ferndale eruption.
“A lot has happened to him but that’s soap opera for you,” Williams says, agreeing Ali has had not only some of the most tragic storylines but also some of the funniest.
There is a good chance, he ponders, that he’ll go down in history as the guy who vomited into his co-star’s mouth.
“I’ll be the most remembered for that,” he says.
“But comedy is probably the stuff I enjoy the most, especially with Damo (Grant Lobhan) who is just ridiculous. And Dawn, the character is just nuts and Rebekah just smashes it out of the park.
“It can be quite hard working with those two sometimes because the characters are just so crazy that it’s hard to stay in the scene and hold it together when they are cracking some of their ridiculous jokes.”