MARJORIE BRASCH

Played by Elizabeth McRae, 1992 to 1996, 1998, 2002, 2012 The hospital’s original matriarch, the matronly receptionist and incorrigible gossip spoke the show’s first-ever line: “Shortland Street Accident and Emergency Centre.” Soon afterwards, Marj’s husband Tom went to the dairy to pick up some cream and disappeared to join a cult. Elected to Parliament as an MP for Ferndale, her final scene in 1996 featured future prime ministers Helen Clark and Jenny Shipley – a meeting of three of the most powerful women in New Zealand!