Shortland Street is back with a bang as lives hang in the balance.
As Shortland Street returns, lives hang in the balance following the mayhem wrought on the hospital by villainous ambo Tim Myers (James Wells). However, among the death and destruction, the Warner family are celebrating the return of triplet Frank (Luke Patrick, above) and the birth of a baby daughter for Phoenix (Geordie Holibar) and Tess (Becky McEwen).
It’s the family reunion no one saw coming when Frank Warner comes back just as all hell breaks loose in Ferndale.
It is, however, just what diehard Shortland Street fans have been demanding ever since the Warner triplet, played by Luke Patrick, absconded more than a year ago, leaving his soulmate Kylie at the mercy of the murderous doctor Dylan Reinhart (Ryan O’Kane).
“I knew Frank had a massive following when I was on the show but I didn’t really perceive it to its full capacity until months after I left,” says Patrick, who returned to his hometown of Adelaide after quitting the show.
“I went back to Aussie for about a month and then I went down to Rotorua and that’s where it kicked off. (People) were following me back to my mate’s house.
“There was this thing for a while on social media like, ‘If anyone sees
Frank, we’ve got to ring up and tell Shortland Street’.”
Not Where’s Wally? but Where’s Frank?, I suggest.
“Exactly,” says Patrick, who is relishing both his return to Shortland Street and getting to know Frank’s brother Phoenix (Geordie Holibar), who has just become a father after his own surprise return to the show in December.
Patrick is tight-lipped on what the writers have in store for Frank but believes he has changed in his time away from Ferndale.
“Of course he wants to reconcile with Kylie, and maybe sit down and have a chat with her about why he left and how he’s grown, but the main reason he’s back is to see his dad, Chris (Michael Galvin),” he says, adding he doesn’t believe Frank will try to lure the woman he married bigamously away from TK.
“Knowing Frank, he’ll be happy
because she’s happy and that’s all he’s ever wanted, whether that’s with him or without him.”
Meanwhile, Frank will be putting his newfound wisdom to good use helping Phoenix who, on the run from German moneylenders, is struggling with his role as a family man.
“The adult Phoenix is flawed,” says Holibar, who quit the show in 2013 after three years in the role.
“I spent many years when I was first on the show being very nice and that gets boring really quickly.
“I was angsty and angry and I yelled a lot but, mostly quite nice, so it’s great to have a bit of an edge.
“(Phoenix) is thinking more of himself than his partner and his child. He’s my age – 24 – and I don’t feel like I’m ready for a child so I think it’s a big life shift for someone who has been thinking about himself for so long. He’s still adjusting to having something more important to prioritise.”
As partner Tess – played by Filthy Rich’s Becky McEwen who is, in real life, married to Jay Kiriona who plays Prince Kimiora – revels in new motherhood, Phoenix is looking for ways (possibly illegal) to raise the funds he needs to get back to Europe to pursue his art career. “It’s not looking very promising (for them),” McEwen admits. “They’ve been on and off for two years so it’s not very serious. Phoenix was very charming at the start. “He had a lot of money but she’s seen his true character now he has no money.” Like Tess, the actress is rapt with the newest Warner baby and enjoyed every moment of the dramatic birth scenes. “I have a really weird fascination with birth – I know that sounds really bad – but I would like to be a midwife if I wasn’t an actor. I watch birth blogs on YouTube quite often just for entertainment and series like One Born Every Minute so, yeah, I’ve watched women in labour a lot. I just based what I did on what I had seen and I found it really fun,” she says adding, just like Tess, she loves her scenes with the baby. “(Tess) really does have a very positive outlook on her situation and I think she’s trying to stick with (Phoenix) for her baby’s sake but she has a strong backbone as well.”
“I knew Frank had a massive following when I was on the show but I didn’t really perceive it to its full capacity until months after I left.” – Luke Patrick