BEST SHORTY GOODIES & BADDIES

These top 25 characters have hooked us into their crazy lives and secured a place in soap opera history

CHRIS WARNER

Played by Michael Galvin, 1992 to 1996, 2000 to now The backbone and patriarch of New Zealand’s favourite drama,

ShortlandStreet’s current CEO has walked the hospital’s corridors since the very first episode, where we saw him cheating on his future fiancée with an aerobics instructor. Since then, the serial love rat has been married four times, enjoyed innumerable affairs and had half a dozen children, including Ferndale’s favourite triplets, Finn, Frank and Sass Connelly, but perhaps his most memorable storyline was the time he missed his own wedding after being drugged and locked in a barn. He’s also been addicted to painkillers and spent time behind bars after being framed for murder. Most recently, Chris became a worldwide viral sensation after confronting son Harry over his sexting with the immortal line, “Please tell me that is not your penis!”

RACHEL McKENNA

Played by Angela Bloomfield, 1993 to 1999, 2001 to 2003, 2007, 2009 to 2016 Originally introduced as a love interest for heart-throb Stuart Neilson, the Shorty bombshell blossomed from a bratty schoolgirl into a sharp-tongued career woman at the head of the hospital. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing, with Rachel battling bulimia, being hit by lightning, getting kidnapped and working her way through an army of men along the way. However, it was her struggles with alcoholism that defined Rachel and eventually saw her leave Shortland Street having drunkenly made several major managerial mistakes and ruined Lucy Rickman’s wedding.