New arrival for Shortland Street.
Shortland Street actress Ngahuia Piripi will show it like it is when her character gives birth on screen. Kerry Harvey reports.
Ferndale’s Dr Esther Samuels will be no television yummy mummy. Ngahuia Piripi – who has played the Shortland Street medico for more than four years – wants the new mum’s journey to be as realistic as possible. “As an actor you don’t usually want to look like s*** on screen, but in the birthing scenes I was like, ‘I do, I do want to look like s***’, because that’s the reality for a lot of women,” says the actress who gave birth to her own daughter, Owairea, 10 years ago at the age of 19. “I’m pretty sure I did not look glam then so I wanted to tell the truth, whether that’s in birthing stories or not having everything being all rainbows and butterflies at home. “I want to show certain struggles that are real for any new mum and, yes, she does have those elastic waist pants – although I do feel like Esther loses weight a little bit too quickly, but maybe she’s secretly going to the gym.” Piripi has relished her on-screen pregnancy, which has been a much lighter storyline than many of the previous dramas Esther has had to go through. Since moving to Ferndale in 2015, the young doctor has been diagnosed with a terminal heart condition, divorced after an abusive marriage, undergone a heart transplant using the heart of her murdered first love and, most recently,
“I want to show certain struggles that are real for any new mum.”
– Ngahuia Piripi
been raped by co-worker Dr Ben King (Jamie Irvine).
“It’s been nice just to have a real-life storyline. A baby’s much more common than having hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – Esther’s heart condition,” she says.
However, given she lives in Ferndale, the young doctor’s pregnancy has had its ups and downs, including her on-off relationship with the baby’s father Eddie (Rawiri Jobe).
After months of keeping the ambo in suspense, a heavily pregnant Esther finally tells Eddie she loves him.
However, when he discovers she is regularly texting former boyfriend Curtis Hannah (Jayden Daniels), he starts to doubt her feelings.
Furious at being challenged by Eddie, Esther heads out for a walk in the bush, trips and sprains her ankle and ends up going into labour.
Piripi says it was her first time giving birth on screen.
“I didn’t know how I was going to do it. You never know until the day and it was very different from my real-life experience which was in a hospital,” she says.
“You can just imagine what it’s like shooting these things ... it was very different. Thank goodness we have real nursing professionals on set.”
If she needs any vindication that she is doing her job correctly, the public reaction to her character’s pregnancy should provide it.
Summer holiday trips to a public pool brought even more attention than usual from the numerous fans seeking selfies with the easy-going actress.
“The one thing everyone kept asking was, ‘Have you already had your baby? Are you not pregnant in real life?’ or saying, ‘It looked so real on TV’,” says Piripi, who is in a relationship with her former Shortland Street co-star Teone Kahu. It has also sparked awkward questions at home from daughter Owairea.
“It triggered her and now she wants siblings but I told her, ‘It’s OK, you’ve got a fake one, for now’,” she says, laughing. “Ten years is definitely a big age gap and you kind of get to the point of, ‘Do I want to do that all over again?’ ”
Meanwhile, she is relishing going to work and being paid ‘to cuddle a baby’ and hopes Esther will finally be able to move on from Curtis and find happiness with Eddie.
“Everyone always has that one what-if guy or girl and I think Curtis is definitely that for Esther, even more so than Kawe (James Rolleston). Kawe did give her his heart and Kawe was a true love, but I still think Curtis is that what-if guy for Esther,” Piripi says.
“She just can’t seem to let him go whether he’s there or not. She just can’t move on. However, I would like to see Esther actually try to commit to Eddie,” she says.
“She’s got a family now and family is very important to Esther so that’s the one thing I’m holding my breath for. We’ll see.”