Michael Galvin opens up about his memorable moments on Shortland Street.

Every soap has its patriarch. Coronation Street has Ken Barlow, on Home And Away the honour goes to Alf Stewart, and for New Zealand’s Shortland Street, it’s Dr Chris Warner. At 55, Michael Galvin – who plays Ferndale’s Doctor Love – is but a baby compared with the other two but he has still spent almost half his life on the drama. Ahead of Shortland Street’s 29th birthday this week, Galvin took time out to venture down memory lane. Kerry Harvey reports.

I remember the first scene I shot, we shot in the studio.

It was a converted warehouse and we couldn’t shoot if it was raining too hard because of the tin roof. And then, at the end of the scene, they had to check the tapes for what they called drop outs because we were using second-hand videotapes. That’s how on the fly everything was.

I was absolutely terrified before shooting the first scene.

It was Chris and Michael McKenna (Paul Gittins). He was telling me off and I was absolutely terrified. I thought if I can just do the first scene, I’ll be OK for the rest of them. Everyone was watching each other’s first scene to see if they were going to mess them up, and I didn’t, thank God. Paul Gittins got me through it. He was terrific and a lot more experienced than me. I was just so relieved that I’d done it.

When I came back from London to go back on the show (he was away from the soap for more than three years in the 90s), I was so nervous and worried and anxious about what people would say, like, ‘He failed over there so now he’s crawling back to the show’. The

first scene I shot was an operating theatre one and I actually passed out because of the fake blood and the scalpel and massive pressure I was putting on myself. It was all imaginary, of course, because nobody really cared but in my head they did. I had seven scenes that day and they were like, ‘Are you sure? Do you want to go home for the day?’ and I’m like, ‘If I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it’. So I crawled back in there and I did the scene sitting on a stool in case I fainted again. That was so humiliating.

The hardest thing I’ve had to do on

Shortland Street was probably the storyline last year surrounding the death of Phoenix (Geordie Holibar).

Chris considered suicide, but he pulled back at the last minute. The writers did a terrific job of just really seeding (the storyline) when Phoenix died and then taking months and months to work it to its conclusion. That was really terrific because it just meant it was way more authentic than it might otherwise have been. It was a real challenge to me too, to slowly take Chris to that place of utter despair and darkness. But it was also difficult because I didn’t want it to be false because it’s such a serious thing, and it’s so important to do it properly.

Do you know the question that everyone asks me?

‘What’s TK like?’ First it’s, ‘Chris, oh yeah, yeah’ and then they say, ‘I don’t watch the show but my mum does’ or ‘My partner is really into that show’ and then they say, ‘What’s TK like?’ I say, ‘He’s great. He’s awesome’, because he is.

Filming Dr Love’s Guide To Shortland Street last year was really moving.

And it was so gratifying. I just felt really kind of affirmed. There are people out there who really care about what I’m doing and they just made me feel really good. It was terrific to see how into the show people are and how much they care about it. And because they care about the show, they care about the characters and so they care about us. It felt like my existence was justified. I felt useful. I just loved it and I felt really lucky.

I’ve given up wondering what will happen to Chris in the (hopefully) next 29 years.

I leave it in the hands of the writers because they do a fantastic job. It’s just like in your own life where you can have your goals but, really, you’ve just got to make the best with what life throws at you. It’s a bit like that on Shortland Street too. You can have your ideas of what your character should do, but really that’s up to the writers. I’m going to keep riding that wave and just keep doing whatever they throw at me.

“The first scene I shot was an operating theatre one and I actually passed out because of the fake blood and the scalpel and massive pressure I was putting on myself.”

– Michael Galvin