List of Shortland Street characters introduced in 2018
Shortland Street is a television soap opera from New Zealand, first broadcast on 25 May 1992. It currently airs on television network TVNZ 2.
The 26th season of Shortland Street began airing on 15 January 2018. The following is a list of characters that appeared on the show in 2018 by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the show's executive producer Maxine Fleming.
Dion Tai
Dion Tai, played by Sonny Tupu, made his first appearance on 23 January 2018.Dion arrives at the hospital as a famous rugby league star for a charity photo shoot. Upon running into the star-struck Jack, Dion openly discriminates against him for his sexuality, and flirts with Sass Warner. However, upon running into Jack again, it emerges that Dion himself is secretly gay, and attracted to Jack. The two begin a casual relationship, with Dion too afraid to come out due to his high-profile rugby league career. However, when Jack gives him an ultimatum, Dion comes out on national television and the two enter a loving committed relationship. Shortly into the relationship, Dion begins to have health problems and is diagnosed with terminal melanoma. He retires from sport and despite initial hesitation, allows Jack to nurse him; eventually dying in his arms. Alongside his cancer treatment, Dion consumes brownies laced with medicinal marijuana. Weeks after his death, Damo, who was dieting, consumes them, and experiences severe hallucinations.
Zoe Carlson
Zoe Carlson, played by Holly Shervey, made her first screen appearance on 9 April 2018.She initially stays with Vinnie and Nicole in a rented room in their house, but when she overstays her welcome, the couple try to get rid of her. Zoe leaves bad reviews of the rental, and it turns out that she is the younger sister of Kate Nathan. Dawn sets Zoe up to be Curtis' love interest, but Dawn has no idea that Zoe is Curtis' step-aunt.
Zoe is hired as a PA after Leanne was recovering from a broken wrist and Sass Warner moves to Italy to take care of Hawks. While working, she develops feelings for Chris Warner. Chris attempts to fire Zoe for her poor performance, but she emotionally blackmails Chris by falsely claiming to have cancer. Chris is hesitant to believe her, but Zoe manages to convince him by saying her cancer is Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a far more treatable form. Chris' son Finn, however, warns his father to fire her regardless, but Chris has begun to have feelings for Zoe. After taking care of a terminal patient by reading to her, Zoe's guilt finally overwhelms her after the patient passes away. On the 7th of May, when she tries to show signs of her illness after feeling threatened by Chris hiring an accountant that can double as a PA, Damo forces Zoe to confess the truth of her illness to Kate after Chris covers up for her.
When Chris and Zoe announce their relationship publicly, Zoe finds out she is pregnant while Chris is away in Shanghai as Zhilan, Chris' daughter-in-law, went into labour months early. Zoe and Kate also found out that Nicole Miller has been their half-sister all along when Neville Carlson, their father, finds Leanne and tries to reconcile. However, after Chris Warner returns, Jarryd arrives and demanded money from her, as Zoe had lied about him being abusive towards Leanne. Leanne rescinds her resignation, but Te Rongopai and Nicole see through Leanne's attempt to get her job back, so Zoe is reassigned to work alongside her on the reception desk, while a young man fills the role of PA with MBA, but soon leaves for a better job.
Zoe has an ultrasound, which shows that the baby is smaller than normal, and is later diagnosed to have high risk of Down's Syndrome. Chris suggests Zoe has an abortion, thinking she will never cope, but Zoe is deeply offended. Chris blames himself for possibly passing his genes on due to him being an older father, but later assigns some blame to Zoe. After helping Finn get reinstated as a surgeon, Zoe and Finn develop feelings for each other while realising their relationship is a bad idea. Chris walks in on the pair after the second time they kiss, ending his relationship with Zoe and disowning Finn. After being thrown out of Chris' house, Zoe is attacked by the Beechwood Beast, being raped and brutally assaulted. Being admitted to Shortland Street, Zoe is told she has miscarried her baby.
Dylan Reinhart
Dylan Reinhart, played by Ryan O'Kane, made his first appearance on 18 April 2018.Dylan is first introduced finding a weakened Erin Landry after she left Vinnie's House without her son. After a clash with Kylie in the emergency room, Dylan is introduced by the returning Julia as her husband. He was originally working as a GP in Central Hospital, having worked in the lower South Island, and previously attended university in Otago with Boyd Rolleston. He is hired as ED Consultant and GP at the Shortland Street hospital, where his terms of contract are leaked by Zoe to the staff.
At the hospital, Dylan undermines Harper Whitley's authority over treatment plans, but he is proven to be correct afterward, angering Harper while starting a rivalry with Harper's husband Drew. Dylan is chastised by his sister-in-law Kylie Brown as well as hospital CEO Chris Warner over paying for a poor patient's medical bills with his own money. After a tennis game at Dylan and Julia's mansion, Kylie miscarries the child she is carrying. Dylan and Julia subsequently agree for Julia to be Kylie and husband Frank Warner's surrogate mother. Dylan later privately confesses his lustful feelings toward Kylie.
Dylan then meets Miranda, the sister of his ex-wife Cassidy, and the two clash. Before Miranda departs, she leaves Julia with an ominous warning about Dylan. Dylan then snaps and tells Julia he hates her and was actually intending on marrying her sister. After this, he sabotages Julia's seatbelt while driving and crashes into a tree. He kills Julia by fiddling with her life support system once she is hospital.
Dylan begins to spend his insurance pay-out while showing a strange lack of grief towards the death of his wife, arousing suspicion from Frank. Dylan then begins to manipulate promiscuous nurse Dawn Robinson into sleeping with him and then to dump her boyfriend Ali Karim.
Dylan goes on a fishing excursion with Frank at Kylie's behest, having fantasies about murdering Frank the entire time. However, on 31 August, Frank pays ex-gang member Skinny to scare off Dylan, but Skinny goes too far and almost kills Dylan. Dylan threatens to sue Frank over the incident, and Frank attacks him, nearly choking him to death. This turns out to be part of Dylan's plan, as the incident leads to Kylie dumping Frank for Dylan. In December, he becomes engaged to Kylie, but the reappearance of his twin brother, Daniel, digs up the incident that led to their staying separate. Daniel dated Dylan's ex-wife, Stephanie, who Dylan killed via a car accident, in a similar way he killed Julia.
In the lead-up to the 2018 Christmas cliffhanger, Dylan and Kylie embark on their honeymoon where partway through the drive, Kylie receives text messages from Harper, warning her about how Dylan killed his two previous wives. Kylie realises that Dylan will try to kill her for insurance money, and ends up killing him on the final episode of 2018 by asphyxiation.
Dylan made sporadic returns in 2019 as Kylie's evil conscience before and after she married Dan.
[|Becky] Reid
Becky Reid, played by Awhimai Fraser, first appeared on 24 April 2018.Becky first appeared at a hen's night in the IV Bar, engaging in a slanging contest with and then eventually ending up in bed with police officer Curtis Hannah. It is then revealed that Becky is the bride, with her husband being Curtis' police trainer, Tank Reid. Panicking at first, the smitten Curtis continues pursuing the married Becky, who becomes a nurse at Shortland Street. Upon reflection, Becky realises she was more in love with Curtis than her husband, separating from Tank and entering a relationship with the Curtis.
Tank Reid
Thomas "Tank" Reid, played by Jack Barry, made his first appearance on 3 May 2018.Tank is introduced to Curtis Hannah as his colleague and trainer for the Ferndale Policeforce. Initially hitting it off, the two soon developed a rivalry with Curtis' athleticism winning some friendly training drills. Curtis was later shocked when he discovered the bride he had slept with the night before her wedding Becky was Tank's new wife. When Tank realised Curtis was the other-man, he amplified the punishments involved in training and even allowed Curtis to injure himself during a fall. Eventually passing Curtis into the Policeforce, he was devastated when Becky ended their marriage. Scared of Tank due to his anger and volatility, Curtis and Becky isolated themselves from him and noticed he had begun problem-drinking.
Tank's father [|Ian] was later admitted to the hospital, with Tank sporadically visiting him and running into Becky and Curtis. Still reeling from losing his wife to a former prisoner, Tank provoked Curtis into a fight and was prescribed medication to deal with his anxiety - which he would mix with alcohol. Throughout the year, Curtis had been investigating a serial rapist in the area nicknamed "The Beechwood Beast" and was shocked when Tank was identified within the vicinity of an attack and later seen to be hiding a disguise the rapist had used. Eventually gathering enough DNA to arrest Tank, Becky soon realised the DNA was actually a closer match to Tank's father Ian. Ian was charged with his sex offences, and Tank released from the policeforce for perverting justice. Opting to start life anew, Tank reunited with Becky and the two departed Ferndale.
Te Rongopai Rameka
Te Rongopai Rameka, played by Kim Garrett, first appeared on 13 June 2018.Te Rongopai is appointed as the acting CEO of Shortland Street in the absence of Chris Warner by the DHB, to the annoyance of Drew McCaskill. Te Rongopai begins to reverse decisions she believes have been done as results of white privilege and nepotism, such as terminating the employment of Chris's son Frank Warner while favouring Māori members of staff.
Te Rongopai gives Esther a paid working study programme to further her skills as an emergency surgeon, while giving her time to heal her injuries inflicted upon her by her ex-husband Finn, another of Chris' sons and disgraced former surgeon. She also introduces a free Māori Language tuition program. Te Rongopai's husband, Pita was the Māori Minister of Health, with much of his work happening in Wellington. Their daughter Rangimarie is a part-time activist.
Upon Chris's return, Te Rongopai remains a permanent second-in-charge of Shortland Street Hospital as Chief Operating Officer. Soon after the return of Chris, Te Rongopai finds that her husband is having an affair with his secretary, so she ends the marriage. Taking charge of the hospital again in Chris' absence, Te Rongopai gets into a relationship with Dr Boyd Rolleston, but it does not last long when she briefly gets back with Pita to keep Rangimarie happy. In December, 2018, her feelings with TK return, and she breaks up with Pita for good.
Professionally, due to her manipulating the donor's list to use Kawe's deceased heart to save Esther Samuels, she is stood down from holding high managerial and clinical positions, and can only work as an administrative advisor. However, with Drew's home detention due to tax fraud, Te Rongopai becomes a non-clinical 2IC of Shortland Street.
In 2019, when Chris being injured in a plane accident, Te Rongopai resumes her role as acting CEO, where she meets Hawks Logan for the first time. She tries to link him up with Ester, without knowing that he is already in a relationship with Sass.
On 5 May 2019, after breaking up with TK when he cheats on her to be with Kylie, she is stabbed in the abdomen by Charlie, who was in a meth-induced hallucination and rage. After coronal bypass surgery, she is in a drug-induced coma overnight. Shortly after awaking from her coma, she experiences ventricular tachycardia, which worsens to ventricular fibrillation. About to be pronounced dead, extended CPR by TK saves her life. Despite this, TK decides not to return to dating Te Rongopai, and she becomes determined to investigate the rumour that he killed Hayden to save Kylie.
She returned to the show in 2022, working in the DHB to promote Māori heath, and she keeps pushing TK to work in Wellington with her. However, upon hearing of his prostate cancer diagnosis, Zoe Carlson's lawsuit against Chris Warner, and Warner's racist video against Chris Warner, she manoeuvres TK into the role of CEO, while also having an affair with him.