Shortland Street to Resume Shooting
April 24, 2020 
4 Comments
Filming of Shortland Street will resume on April 30 after being suspended because of COVID-19 concerns.
But there’s no word on when TVNZ 2 will return to screening it five night a week or if there will be the annual ‘winter season’ of hour-long episodes.
Here’s the media release:
South Pacific Pictures has today announced it will resume pre-production for long-running serial drama Shortland Street on Tuesday, 28th April and recommence filming on Thursday, 30th April.
In consultation with TVNZ, the decision has been made to go back into production following the guidelines set out by the Government for a return to work at level three.
South Pacific Pictures have put a plan in place that aims to ensure the safety of all those who work on the show when production resumes.
Several non-studio based departments will continue to work from home, numbers of cast and crew able to film at any given time will be limited and strict hygiene regulations will continue to be utilised.
At all times, production will uphold government guidelines for the sector and evolve its response in line with best practice.
South Pacific Pictures CEO Kelly Martin comments: “Our absolute priority is to maintain the health and wellbeing of our cast and crew. We believe that by following the guidelines and regulations issued, and by maintaining our key work place practices, we have created a safe working environment.
“We’re looking forward to getting Shortland Street back up and running.”
Shortland Street continues three nights a week on TVNZ 2 for the time being.
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April 24, 2020 at 4:33 pm
Bet the first month or so of episodes will be Coronavirus.
Yes, Paul, you’d think they would reflect that. Then again, I don’t recollect Brexit ever figuring in Coronation Street.
LOL, they’d been doing a mystery flu storyline since the end of last year. I think it quietly disappeared from scripts around the time China’s deaths skyrocketed.
Thanks for the update, Rachel. I don’t keep up with Shortland Street storylines but I know the dilemma of whether or not to reflect reality in network soaps and dramas is a vexing one for programmers and producers when something like COVID-19 already saturates media coverage. US hospital drama New Amsterdam (SoHo, Prime) recently shelved an episode about a pandemic ‘flu. “The world needs a lot less fiction right now, and a lot more facts,” creator David Schulner said about the decision.