Lock it in:

Jayden Daniels has attracted plenty of positive feedback from prisoners who have watched him as Curtis Hannah on Shortland Street transform from a criminal serving jail time to turn full circle and join the police. Kerry Harvey reports.

The Shortland Street actor who is a big hit with prisoners.

As Shortland Street’s Curtis Hannah, Jayden Daniels has scored himself a captive audience – literally. Some of his most ardent fans are serving time behind bars in New Zealand prisons. “They were all really happy when Curtis came back but I don’t know how happy they were when he became a cop,” the actor says, of the feedback he received when he returned to the show late in 2017, after taking 10 months off to check out the American acting industry. Just how those particular fans feel about Curtis’ latest exploits remains to be seen. Curtis departed the show in a police paddy wagon, headed for prison after taking the rap for a crime committed by younger brother Jack (Reuben Milner). While in prison, he studied law, discovered a loophole in his case, and used it to have his conviction overturned. He later went on to stun family and friends (and viewers) by joining Ferndale Police. Curtis got off to a rocky start in his new career, seducing his training officer’s wife and often challenging his superiors. “I’d probably follow rules better than Curtis, I think,” Daniels admits, of his character’s struggles with authority. Now, however, it looks like the young cop might have gone back to his criminal ways. Several weeks ago he was seen being bundled into the boot of a car and his prolonged disappearance – punctuated by a couple of brief but furtive reappearances – has fans divided about whether he is working undercover or has gone rogue. Matters come to a head this week when Curtis is identified as the offender in a vicious assault case.

Daniels has his fingers crossed there will be a good explanation for his character’s behaviour.

“When he was on the bad side in the past, it was always for a good reason, like his sister Pixie (Thomasin McKenzie) was dying so he needed to get money and before that his mum was in trouble so he was trying to help her,” he says, of the character who went from being one of the show’s most hated to one of its most popular.

Daniels is now one of the show’s social media heroes. More than 72,000 people follow him on Instagram – where he shares photos of his makeup artist partner Gigi Barclay and their baby son Kaewa – and his Facebook page has been liked by more than 52,000 people.

The actor believes Curtis is relatable for many Kiwis because he bases him on people he knows.

“I just pull from everyone I’ve known. I don’t make up anything,” Daniels once said, in his early days on the drama.

But now he sees the character as a heightened version of himself and admits he is a bit surprised to see where Curtis has ended up.

“I initially joined Shortland Street on a six-month contract and had no idea where that was going to go,” the now 24 year old says, of scoring the role straight after graduating from drama school.

‘The description of him that I got in the audition is way different to how he is, or how I play him, I guess. “I think at the start I was trying to put on more of a character, play a character.

“But now, the more comfortable you get the more you can just bring yourself to the role.

“Now I’m kind of just myself. I just heighten things and relive things that have happened. Just take what happens and put myself in that situation.”

That said, the decision to have Curtis join Ferndale Police was still a bit of a shock.

“But I was glad to do it. It was nice to be able to come back and do something different instead of just come back and do the same character the same way,” Daniels says.

“It’s kind of crazy. People see me on the streets and congratulate me for turning my life around. They like genuinely go, ‘You’re doing so well’.”

“People see me on the streets and congratulate me for turning my life around.” – Jayden Daniels