Storylines of Shortland Street (2008)

This article details the storylines of the TVNZ soap opera Shortland Street in 2008.

Highlights of the Year

• Serial killer Joey Henderson commits suicide after successfully performing an appendectomy on Alice Piper.
• Doctors fight to revive Toni Warner (but are unable) after her blood pressure drops during surgery. She dies of renal failure, resulting from a combination of norovirus and a missing kidney. It was later discovered that her death was actually caused by a faulty drug distributed by the dodgy pharmaceutical company Scott Spear who worked closely with a ruthless gang known as the whitetails.
• Wiremu races at a boy racer burnoff and hits Tane Samuels at full speed. This permanently paralyzes Tane from the waist down.
• Original series regular, Dr. Hone Ropata returns for a six-week stint in the 4000th episode.
• Nurses James "Scotty" Scott and Shanti Kumari get married in a traditional four-day Indian ceremony.
• Dr. Craig Valentine is chased through a forest by Don Lennox and whitetail thugs hired by Scott Spear, beaten to death and then torched in his car.
• Dr. Justine Jones fakes her death in a car bombing to escape from Don Lennox and whitetail thugs hired by Scott Spear, and goes into witness protection with a new identity in Australia.
• Yvonne Jeffries is diagnosed with bone cancer as the result of an infected allograft supplied by Dr. Ethan Pierce who is revealed to be the ownner of the dodgy bone harvesting company, Nesses-Bio.
• Dr. Ethan Pierce murders pensioner Betty Crawford for her body parts to supply an order through his company.
• Ethan is shot several times by an unseen assassin in the final.

Storylines by month

January

• A chapter of errors sees Joey Henderson fail to kill Tania Jeffries.
• Toni Warner, Guy Warner, Harry Warner, and Tuesday Warner are admitted to hospital following the car crash. Guy goes to Central in an induced coma; Toni loses one of her kidneys and Tuesday and Harry escaped with minor injuries.
• Dinesh Jivani arrives in Ferndale.^[1]
• Libby Jeffries and Gerald Tippett try to make the hospital fat-free, with disapproval from most of the staff.

February

• Morgan Braithwaite arrives in Ferndale.
• When Joey's planned attack on Nurse Shanti Kumari is unsuccessful, he turns his murderous eye on a woman named Heather who he had seen at the I.V. at a hen's night. This attack also fails when he was interrupted and forced to flee the scene.
• Dinesh begins to cause trouble in Shanti and James Scott's relationship.
• The arrival of Joey's mother Kath Bennett sees the unveiling of an angry and bitter side to Joey when he goes into a violent rage at Kath, witnessed by Gerald and Kieran Mitchell.
• During a night out clubbing with Tania, Morgan, Shanti and Alice Piper, Joey abducts Alice.
• Callum McKay is promoted to temporary CEO of Shortland Street Hospital in Chris Warner's absence.

March

• Joey performs a successful appendicectomy on Alice and commits suicide to avoid capture.
• Scotty proposes to Shanti; she accepts, but the wedding is later broken up by Dinesh and Shanti's brother Sunil.
• Kath is admitted to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide after Joey's funeral.
• Tane Samuels and Wiremu Potae return to Ferndale.

April

• Alice and Guy have a drunken one-night stand; Chris catches Alice leaving and confronts Alice the following day.
• Guy breaks the scandal about Chris' affair with Justine Jones.
• Wiremu loses control of his car while racing and collides with Tane, causing him to become paralysed.
• Guy and Tuesday move back to San Francisco.
• Alice discovers she's pregnant. The father's identity is yet to be revealed; what is known is that the father is either Guy or Craig Valentine.
• Wiremu, feeling guilty about paralysing Tane, drinks a full bottle of whisky and falls into a coma for several days.

May

• Maia Jeffries and Morgan return to Ferndale.
• Scotty is taken hostage by a psych patient and is stabbed, but survives the injuries.
• Toni has a one-night stand with Dinesh, who was about to return to India permanently.
• The Kumari family, with the exception of Sunil, accept Scotty.
• Gerald admits his soft spot for Morgan.

June

• Dr. Hone Ropata returns for the four-thousandth episode as a consultant to Martha Riley.
• Toni dies of heart failure, a result of being infected by the norovirus and renal failure due to her remaining kidney failing.
• Hone is granted C.E.O of Shortland Street Hospital, but rejects the offer. Callum becomes CEO.

July

• Gossip of Callum and Riley's affair spreads through Shortland Street Hospital.
• Justine forgives Callum for his affair.
• Riley leaves Shortland Street for good.
• Kieran asks Libby to marry him, but Libby is still undecided.
• Gerald discovers/thinks he's asexual.
• Hone Ropata leaves Ferndale, breaking Tania's heart.
• Hunter McKay has feelings for Morgan.
• Brooke Freeman arrives at Shortland Street.
• Scotty & Shanti marry in a four-day wedding
• Tracey Morrison, ex-cop and survivour of serial killer Joey, returns to Shortland Street Hospital as an ED nurse.

August

• Sophie McKay has a one-night stand with Tane.
• It is revealed that Toni's renal failure was actually caused by a faulty drug distributed by the dodgy pharmaceutical company Scott Spear.
• Craig is headhunted by the dodgy pharmaceutical company to join their corrupt research and development team.

September

• Craig is chased by thugs who are members of a ruthless gang known as the whitetails and were hired by Scott Spear (whom they work closely with) through a forest, then beaten to death and set alight in his car.
• It is revealed that the dodgy Scott-Spear drug company were responsible for the murder of Huia Samuels but the bomb was meant for Anthony "Ant" Ritchards.
• Alice returns from staying with her mother.
• Alice went into premature labour and gave birth to a baby girl who she names, with the help of TK and Kip, Kelly.
• Justine Jones decides to fake her death after discovering a bomb attached to a mobile phone in her car boot. She disarms the bomb and swaps the SIM card with her own then blows up the car herself from a safe distance. The family are informed by Detective Gardiner that Justine is dead but a call from someone asks them to go to a secret address where they discover her alive. Justine asks that she be declared dead and given a new identity then sails to Australia.
• Kieran overhears Don Lennox talking to one of the whitetails about his attempt to murder Justine Jones
• Kieran tells Chris what he overheard.
• Alice discovers her mother Fran hasn't taken her pills for 3 months and Fran has a mental breakdown.
• Chris goes to visit Donald asking for a car repair and finds out about notorious hitman Don Lennox, who is also a whitetail gang member and Craig Valentine's killer.
• Kingi breaks up with Tania for good.
• A whitetail gang member shoots Morgan and Ethan in a theater room but they survive.

October

• Luke Durville returns.
• Tracey and Kip form a "casual" relationship.
• Ethan Pierce is granted H.O.D of Surgery
• Kelly Piper died due to Renal Failure. Alice didn't attend the funeral and instead had drinks with Ethan Pierce.

November

• Yvonne and Frazer start an affair.
• Maia gets a sexual harassment warning from Callum for supposedly favoring young attractive women.
• Libby says Yes to Kierans proposal.
• Scotty and Shanti move into a run down house that was the scene of a murder/suicide.
• Kingi hits Tania.

December

• The Shortland Street pharmacy is robbed.
• Kingi reveals to Tania he is a police informant.
• Sarah Potts gets pregnant and her multiple sclerosis starts to play up again.
• Yvonne is diagnosed with Bone Cancer after ending her affair with Frasier after she got a H.I.V shock.
• Maia strangles Ethan and is suspended.
• Ethan murders Betty Crawford, an elderly patient dumped at Christmas at the hospital for her bones.
• Yvonne takes Fraser back after a period where she didn't want to see him.
• Tania and Kingi are kidnapped by Kane and the whitetails in the final.
• Ethan is shot repeatedly by an unseen assassin.
• Shortland Street ends for 2008.

Characters

New Characters

• Nurse Morgan Braithwaite - Theatre nurse and former friend of Joey Henderson^[2]
• Dr Dinesh Jivani - Shanti's betrothed fianće^[2]
• Dr Brooke Freeman - New PCC Nurse replacing Toni
• Kingi Te Wake - Become a member of the whitetails but is actually a police informant.
• Dr Ethan Pierce - New surgeon who is revealed to be the owner of the dodgy bone harvesting company known as Nessess Bio
• Mona McKay - Callum's mother.
• Xavier Moyo - Zimbabwean surgeon who learns new skills from Dr. Chris Warner.
• Don Lennox - Hit man for the dodgy pharmaceutical company Scott Spear but also a member of a ruthless gang known as the whitetails. Killed Craig and tried to Kill Justine. Now hired to kill Ethan by Kieran.
• Fraser Mackenzie - A lawyer and love interest for Yvonne.
• Tupac Evans - Former whitetail member who was being trained and influenced by Kingi in 2008. Saved Kingi and Tania from being buried alive. Tupac returned mid-2009 as a recurring character.

Departures

• Nurse Joey Henderson - Committed suicide by jumping off a building to avoid capture when being cornered by Lara Wade and the police
• Detective Lara Wade - Decided to study psychology after being criticised for not identifying the Ferndale Strangler sooner
• Guy Warner - Returned to America
• Tuesday Warner-Roberts - Returned to America
• Dr Dinesh Jivani - Returned to India
• Nurse Toni Warner - Died of renal failure due a faulty drug distributed by the dodgy pharmaceutical company Scott Spear
• Craig Valentine - Beaten to death before being torched by Don Lennox and whitetail thugs hired by the dodgy drug company Scott Spear
• Dr Justine Jones - Hiding in Australia after faking her own death to escape from Don Lennox and whitetail thugs hired by the dodgy drug company Scott Spear

Returned Characters

• Maia Jeffries (after six-month hiatus)
• Hone Ropata Returned for six weeks
• Tracey Morrison
• Scarlett Valentine
• Anthony "Ant" Richards
• Luke Durville (after brief hiatus)

References

1. ↑ "Dinesh Arrives to surprise Shanti/Shortland Street/Press Releases/Throng". 
2. 1 2 "Then Ferndale Serial Killer will be revealed this week!/Shortland Street/Press Releases/Throng". 

See also