1995

### **Storylines**

Lionel Skeggins (John Leigh) and Kirsty Knight's (Angela Dotchin) wedding became a disaster after Stuart Neilson (Martin Henderson) interrupted the ceremony. However, Kirsty chose Lionel and married him in a private ceremony with Gina and Leonard Rossi Dodds (Josephine Davison and Marton Csokas) on the *Toroa*. Stuart apologised for his actions.

Stuart went away for a while and returned to the *Toroa* with teenage runaway Lulu Chatfield (Meighan Desmond). Lulu was hesitant to talk about her past, but Nurse Carmen Roberts (Theresa Healey)got her to admit that she had been abused by her father. Marj and Laurie Brasch (Elizabeth McRae and Chic Littlewood) decided to foster Lulu. Lulu quickly settled into their home and became friends with Minnie. Sometime later Lulu's father showed up. He was a respected lawyer and was the prosecutor in Dr. Hone Ropata's (Temuera Morrison) murder trial. Hone was found not guilty at his trial, and began seeing his lawyer Caitlin. However, she was married.

When Gina and Leonard once again returned to California, Carmen announced to her boyfriend Guy Warner (Craig Parker) that she had bought the *Toroa* with her lottery winnings and the two moved in together. Carmen and Guy faced a nightmare when Paul Churchill (Simon Prast) escaped from prison, took them hostage on the *Toroa* and then left them adrift out at sea, but Carmen and Guy were soon rescued.

Lionel and Kirsty's marriage was strong at first, with Kirsty supporting Lionel when he came down with tetanus and had a bad reaction to his medication. Kirsty discovered that Darryl Neilson's (Mark Ferguson) drug company had been supplying dodgy drugs to several hospitals and clinics and that this was what caused Lionel's reaction to his tetanus medication. Darryl meanwhile, had reunited with Dr. Grace Kwan (Lynette Forday) and the two made plans to run away together. On the day they were due to depart, Kirsty confronted Darryl and the two had a showdown on the *Toroa*. Kirsty escaped, but Darryl was missing.

Jenny Harrison (Maggie Harper) decided that she did not want to have another child and had an abortion, much to her son Nick Harrison (Karl Burnett) and lover Johnny Marinovich's (Stelios Yiakmis) dismay. Meanwhile, Johnny's estranged wife, Nurse Ellen Crozier (Robyn Malcolm) saved the owner of the Bernie's Bargain Bazaar chain of stores, Bernie Leach (Timothy Bartlett) from drowning and the two formed a relationship. Eventually Ellen tired of Bernie and the two broke up.

However, Guy and Carmen broke up after a condom mishap forced Guy to confess that he had slept with another woman while he had been away in Scotland. Carmen was tempted to sleep with another man, while Guy decided to leave Ferndale. However, when Carmen learned that Guy had used his trustfund to stop her father's extortion, she realised that she still loved Guy and raced to the airport stop him from leaving town. Boarding the plane, Carmen convinced Guy that she wanted to give their relationship another go.

Nick and Waverley Wilson (Claire Chitham) managed to form a close relationship, however it was not without its hitches. Waverley thought she was pregnant, and so Nick proposed. However, when Waverley discovered that she wasn't pregnant, Nick quickly retracted the proposal.

Lulu's father tried to violate Lulu's restraining order while she was home alone one day. Guy turned up just in time and Lulu's father was arrested. With Lulu's problems over for the time being, she and Minnie became closer friends.

Darryl's body was found washed up on a beach. Grace and Marj was devastated. As Stuart had unceremoniously skipped town for good and refused to return for the funeral of a brother that he detested, it was up to Laurie and Lulu to comfort Marj. Meanwhile, Kirsty couldn't remember what exactly happened and told Lionel that she might have been the one that killed Darryl.

Dr. Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) had been put in charge of the clinic while Michael was recuperating from his heart attack. He hired Tiffany Pratt (Alison James) as a nurse. The two had a spark, with Chris proposing. However, the two had an argument and with Chris almost getting Tiffany fired and vice versa, Tiffany got involved with Dr. Billy Leach (Darren Young), Bernie's adoptive brother.

When Guy became clucky whilst looking after Lucy Darby, the daughter of Rachel's friend Ramona, Carmen decided that she never wanted to have children and decided to have a tubaligation. However, Guy beat her to the punch and got a vasectomy instead.

Chris and Guy were stunned when their father Sir Bruce Warner (Ken Blackburn) revealed that he was dying of cancer. Sir Bruce revealed a secret from the past that Margot was not Guy's mother and that Guy's mother was the nanny who looked after Chris.

Meanwhile, Michael and Alex decided to give their marriage another go. They announced their intentions to move away from Ferndale to operate a lifestyle block. Bruce decided to buy the clinic and Michael agreed to the sale, but cheated Bruce out of the management contract, meaning Bruce would have to own Shortland Street as a silent partner. Dr. Julia Thornton (Elizabeth Hawthorne) arrived to take over the day-to-day running of the clinic. With her, was her husband, Dr. Richard Thornton, a respected psychiatrist and her 16-year-old son James (Chris Dykzeul), who quickly attracted the attentions of Minnie and Lulu.

Tiffany learned that Billy was working extra shifts at Central, which was in violation of his contract at Shortland Street. The situation came to a head when Billy misdiagnosed Lucy Darby's symptoms of illness as merely being a case of the flu and then ditched a shift at Shortland Street to work a shift at Central, leaving the clinic understaffed. That night Rachel, Ramona and Carmen rushed a gravely ill Lucy to the clinic where Grace diagnosed Lucy with Meningitis. After learning that Lucy had almost died because of him, Billy quit his job at Central and instead took on extra shifts at Shortland Street instead.

Caitlin quickly left her husband to be with Hone. Hone decided to move back to the East Coast to open a clinic for the local community there. Caitlin went with him. Chris and Carmen also went to the East Coast temporarily to help Hone set up the clinic.

Manny Atutahi and Rebecca Frost's (Albert Belz and Luisa Burgess) relationship was short-lived, as Manny soon left her for Rachel. Rachel also formed a close friendship with newly arrived ambulance officer, Rangi Heiramaia (Blair Strang), as did Rebecca, who had returned to the ambulance service once the suspension on her driver's license was finished.

As the months passed, Lionel and Kirsty's marriage became more volatile, particularly after they bought an old broken down house called Polkinghorne. Lionel became insecure when Kirsty hired Zac Smith as a builder. Eventually Kirsty and Lionel separated for a while when Kirsty went to LA to visit Gina. Lionel took in two lodgers, Ana Fa'asolo (Mary Lose) and Harry Martin (Dean O'Gorman) while Kirsty was away. Both Harry and Ana were nurses at the clinic. When Kirsty returned, she immediately clashed with Ana, but got on well with Harry. Harry quickly developed a crush on Kirsty.

When Carmen surprisingly fell pregnant, Guy believed that he wasn't the father and accused Carmen of cheating on him. However, Guy soon found out that his vasectomy had failed. He apologised to Carmen for doubting her and the two decided to have the baby.

Rebecca's happiness at being able to return to her paramedic job was short-lived as she developed a congenital heart problem. The experience rattled Rebecca so much that after spending a few weeks away, she came back and announced that she had become a born again Christian. Rebecca's newfound beliefs wouldn't stop her, however, from getting into a relationship with married policeman Erik van der Molen (Peter Daube). Things would become further complicated when Erik's son Harvey showed up. Erik would separate from his wife to be with Rebecca, and the two began looking for a place to live. Things didn't last, as Erik would find out his wife was pregnant with their second child, and he left Rebecca to patch things up with his wife.

Ellen's sister, Carla Crozier (Elisabeth Easther) began working at Shortland Street as a nurse. The two had been estranged for many years. Tiffany was suspicious of Carla and it soon became apparent that Carla was somewhat unstable. Carla began dating Bernie, much to Ellen's surprise and the two quickly eloped and married!

Tiffany and Billy became engaged, but their happiness was short-lived when Tiffany was diagnosed with hepatitis C. Tiffany believed that she had contracted the disease when she had suffered a needle stick injury. Carla, who was acting as head nurse while Ellen was away, saw the hepatitis as a chance to get Tiffany out of the clinic. Since Tiffany hadn't reported her needle stick injury then she wasn't eligible for ACC. Carla told Tiffany that she would forge forms saying that Tiffany had reported the injury, but only if Tiffany quit. However, Ellen returned, and intervened to forge the forms herself so Tiffany could get her compensation payments.

An increasingly psychotic Carla wished harm on Tiffany, who was suffering from the acute symptoms of her disease. One night Carla had her chance when she spiked Tiffany's drink with alcohol, causing Tiffany's hepatitis symptoms to flare up. Carla watched as a sick and delirious Tiffany ended up in the middle of the road and waited for her to get hit by a car. Chris (who had recently returned from the East Coast) saw what was going on and saved Tiffany before any harm came to her. Chris didn't believe Carla's claims that she had frozen in fear and thus was unable to help. Chris later admitted to Guy that he was in love with Tiffany.

Carla, having tried to cause friction earlier between Bernie and Billy decided to start blackmailing Billy. Billy then learned that a friend of his from medical school had contracted Hepatitis C and had possibly passed it on to him as they used to do drugs together and shared needles. Billy had himself tested and learned that he had the disease. Not wanting to risk his relationship with Tiffany, Billy allowed Tiffany to think she was the one who had passed it onto him. Carla, however found out, and began blackmailing Billy into taking Tiffany away permanently, or she would tell Tiffany the full story. One night, however, Chris revealed the information instead, causing Billy to skip town for good. Tiffany was devastated and turned to Chris for support. Soon the two were sleeping together.

Sam returned to town in August and Rebecca told him of her newfound beliefs in religion. However Sam wasn't interested. Sam was no longer the kindhearted soul that everyone had once known. Instead, he had become bitter and depressed about his lot in life and had given up on religion. It was quickly revealed that Sam had worked as an escort while in England. Sam began sleeping with Ana.

Johnny grew closer to his estranged wife, Ellen, once again and soon they were having an affair behind Jenny's back, a fact that only Sam and Grace knew about at first. Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer, prompting Johnny to return to her. However Jenny eventually discovered the affair, but forgave Johnny, and wanted to get married. Johnny, however, split it off and left town for a while, only to return later. Ellen, however, decided she didn't want Johnny back either.

Nick's best friend, Rachel, convinced Nick to take part in a wedding scheme designed to alert people to the unfairness of the student-allowance system. Nick and Rachel married, and while it was a marriage of convenience, Waverley was incensed and humiliated and decided to leave for Australia. Nick tried to go after her, but was stopped when airport authorities found marijuana in his backpack. Nick was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing with drug possession and gave up on Waverley.

Soon afterwards, Rachel was then sexually harassed by her lecturer and landlord. Manny beat him up and as a result was sent to prison for assault. Rangi comforted Rachel, and the two began a relationship, which resulted in the increasingly violent Manny stabbing Rangi when Rangi visited him in prison. Rangi declined to press charges, and Rachel visited Manny again, with Manny telling her that he wanted nothing to do with her again, and with that, Manny was never heard from again. Rangi and Rachel would face their own problems, with Rangi accidentally killing a man while driving when he and Rebecca were out on a call. Rangi would be traumatized by these events, and become depressed.

Marj was elected to council for Ferndale late in the year. However, during a party, Nick would try and set off a sky rocket that Ramona Derby had modified for him. After the firework appeared to be faulty, Nick would go in for closer inspection and the firework would blow up in his face, causing him to go blind. After a transplant, however, Nick would regain his vision, and form a lukewarm relationship with Ramona. Ramona, however, was dating Nick to mask her attraction to Johnny.

During a storm, the *Toroa* was left untied to its moorings and drifted out to sea. Whilst stranded out to sea again. Carmen went into labour, adding a birth to the already long list of strange events that had happened on the boat. Carmen and Guy named their baby girl Tuesday. Guy left the clinic and began working with streetkids as part of a new programme he was working with. Rachel joined Guy, and would help him work with the group, whose most prominent members were Fergus McIntyre (Paul Ellis) and Dominique Coombes (Jay Saussey) James became involved with Dominique while Fergus would eventually become more important in coming years.

Dominique's father Ted, a truck driver, soon turned up and began hassling Dominique. Carla, feeling sympathy for the girl, decided to help her out by getting Ted arrested for drink driving. Ted was pulled by the police, but drove away. In his drunken state he drove straight into the main entrance of clinic!

The clinic was a mess after the truck crash. Ted was in critical condition and James was mortified when another dead body fell on top of him. Carmen suffered what seemed to be a minor injury and was sent home. She and Guy agreed that they would never get married and made personal vows of commitment to each other. Carmen then collapsed. Guy rang the ambulance but she was pronounced dead at the clinic. Guy blamed Chris for Carmen's death as the only reason he and Carmen had been at the clinic during the truck crash was to confront Chris about Sir Bruce's will. After Carmen's funeral, Guy took Tuesday and left for Parts Unknown.

Kirsty had also been injured and when she regained consciousness, she had lost her memory of the past two years and woke up assuming that she had just been in the car accident with Chris, Steve and T.P. Kirsty was shocked to learn that Steve and T.P had died, it was now two years later, she was now married to Lionel and on top of that Carmen was dead too! Greg Feeney, who had returned for Carmen's funeral, took advantage of Kirsty's state and after Kirsty regained her memory she told Lionel that she still couldn't remember ever loving him. Harry too, would attempt to use Kirsty's confused state of mind to his advantage, having returned from England to try and win Kirsty's heart earlier in the month.

During the crash Rebecca had finally undergone heart-valve replacement to correct her heart problem and seemingly made a full recovery. Rachel and Ramona visited her, and Ramona admitted her attraction to Johnny. After Nick misplaced Lucy, Ramona used it as an excuse to dump Nick and finally get together with Johnny, horrifying Nick and their friends.

### **Cast members**

#### **All Year Cast Members**

* Michael Galvin (Dr. Chris Warner)
* Rene Naufahu (Sam Aleni)
* Maggie Harper (P.A. Jenny Harrison)
* Karl Burnett (Nick Harrison)
* Elizabeth McRae (Marjorie Neilson)
* Angela Marie Dotchin (Kirsty Knight)
* Angela Bloomfield (Rachel McKenna)
* Craig Parker (Guy Warner)
* Chic Littlewood (Laurie Brasch)
* Lynette Forday (Dr. Grace Kwan)
* Robyn Malcolm (Nurse Ellen Crozier)
* Katrina Devine (Minnie Crozier)
* John Leigh (Lionel Skeggins)
* Stelios Yiakmis (Johnny Marinovich)
* Luisa Burgess (Nurse Rebecca Frost)

#### **Recurring Cast Members**

* Ken Blackburn (Sir Bruce Warner)
* Mark Ferguson (Darryl Neilson)
* Glynis McNicoll (Lady Margot Warner)
* Simon Prast (Paul Churchill)
* Nicola Cliff (Charlotte Olsen)
* Tim Balme (Greg Feeney)
* Ashleigh Seagar (Ramona Derby)
* Albert Belz (Manny Atutahi)
* Timothy Bartlett (Bernie Leach)
* Sheila Summers (Glenys Crozier)
* Darren Young (Billy Leach)
* Robert Hearte (Ryan Birch)
* James Heyward (Richard Thornton)

#### **Arrivals**

* Meighan Desmond (Lulu Chatfield)
* Alison James (Nurse Tiffany Pratt)
* Blair Strang (Rangi Heremaia)
* Elisabeth Easther (Nurse Carla Crozier)
* Elizabeth Hawthorne (Dr. Julia Thornton)
* Chris Dykzeul (James Thornton)
* Mary Lose (Nurse Ana Fa'asolo])
* Dean O'Gorman (Nurse Harry Martin)
* Peter McCauley (Dr. Finlay Keats)
* Michaela Rooney (Dr. Emily Devine)

#### **Departures**

* Martin Henderson (Stuart Neilson)
* Temuera Morrison (Dr. Hone Ropata)
* Liddy Holloway (Alex McKenna)
* Paul Gittins (Dr. Michael McKenna)
* Claire Chitham (Waverley Wilson)
* Theresa Healey (Nurse Carmen Roberts)

#### **Guest Stars**

* Marton Csokas (Dr. Leonard Dodds)
* Josephine Davison (Gina Rossi)