Kiwis Still Get Shorty
May 26, 2017 
6 Comments
Hot off the press release machine from TVNZ:
Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders showed their love for TVNZ’s Shortland Street last night, with a bumper audience of 630,000 watching the special feature-length episode of the nation’s favourite drama.
Last night’s 25th birthday episode featured a volcanic eruption that rocked the hospital to its very core – and saw the return of former core cast members Marj (Elizabeth McRae), Stuart (Martin Henderson), Nick and Waverley (played by Karl Burnett and Claire Chitham), along with the seeming reappearance of Lionel (John Leigh). Screening straight afterwards, the documentary Shortland Street 25 Years: A Kiwi Icon then explored the show through the eyes of the people who love it most.
“There’s a lot of love that goes into making Shortland Street and it’s wonderful to see it returned by our viewers,” says Jeff Latch, TVNZ’s director of content.
“Last night’s huge audience for Shortland Street’s 25th anniversary feature episode underlines the special place it has in the hearts of New Zealanders. Shorty is the number one drama series on New Zealand television and our number one show OnDemand, where it tops a million streams a month. The success of the show is a tribute to the hard work and talent of everyone involved in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. Long live Shorty!”
“We are overwhelmed by the extremely positive reaction we have received from the public for last night’s anniversary episode,” comments Maxine Fleming, Shortland Street producer. “The surprise eruption and the many loved faces from the past truly made the episode a celebration of the last 25 years of Shortland Street.”
- Shortland Street’s 25th anniversary feature-length episode
Total audience (All People 5+): 627,000
18-49 audience (TVNZ 2’s target demo): 318,000
- Shortland Street 25 Years: A Kiwi Icon
Total audience: 551,000
18-49 audience: 292,000
- TVNZ.co.nz has recorded over 45,000 streams of the episode since last night. The anniversary episode is available via TVNZ’s YouTube channel for another day, allowing expats to get their Ferndale fix. There’s been 8,000 views to date.
As part of the birthday celebrations this month, broadcast partner Mercury teamed up with TVNZ to offer fans up and down the country an opportunity to take a starring role in a virtual reality roadshow.
More than 10,000 people took part. Fans were able to meet their favourite characters from Ferndale and try out a one-of-a-kind virtual reality experience that put them right in the midst of the action at Shortland Street hospital. Over 1,400 fans walked away with a Mercury prize.
One fan at the Palmerston North roadshow had Ben Mitchell sign her arm. She has since made the autograph permanent with a tattoo.
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May 27, 2017 at 9:23 am
It certainly wasn’t me as I have never watched an episode of Shortland Street in my life, I prefer high quality shows 🙂
I thought it was a really good episode. I don’t watch it anymore but tuned in during the ’90s as a teenager and enjoyed it. Was a nice blast from the past. Shortland St’s production values are very good for such a quick turnaround show. I don’t have the time or inclination to watch every night but I’m glad it’s there to mirror our community and NZ life .
No Dr Ropata?
People still watch this junk?
C’mon Paul, this isn’t the early 1990s anymore, when it was fun to dunk on Shortland St and your viewing options at 7pm were Holmes, Shortland St or Home Improvement. There are plenty of worse shows on television and while I mentioned above it’s not something I watch every night or on a regular basis, I’m glad it’s there and also keeps people in our local TV industry employed.
We need to be keeping it clean with our TV shows. TVNZ can do better than this and why are we still putting repeats of shows that we do not need? Change over to some thing fresher, it’s 2017.