With Shortland Street moving from five nights a week to three, its cast and crew are looking at ways to adapt the show while staying true to its DNA.
The drama has aired on New Zealand TV for 32 years and has seen thousands of actors, writers and crew trained and employed.
Amid ongoing revenue pressures in the media industry, including at TVNZ, its future had come into question.
On Friday it was revealed that the show would continue in 2025, moving to three nights a week from five, with NZ On Air approving a $3m injection of public media funding to secure another year of the show.
It came after the Government said it would “tweak” eligibility criteria for the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate for local shows “with strong industry and cultural value, like our longest-running drama Shortland Street”.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, the show’s producer Oliver Driver said the cast and crew plan to “maximise the opportunity” of a new schedule.
He said he was thankful the show would continue and those involved would keep their jobs.
“You’ve gotta view every change as an opportunity,” he said.
Actor Michael Galvin, who most Kiwis know as Dr Chris Warner, said it would have been “such a crime” to cancel the show.
“Hopefully, if we go to three [shows], maybe that [viewer involvement] can increase because what happens is the stories become slightly more intense.
“You’re getting the same amount of story, but you’re compressing it into three episodes.
“So maybe that sense of involvement becomes heightened because of that, who knows.”
The news was confirmed today by TVNZ and South Pacific Pictures, who makes the show.
Driver said the crew were still “processing” the changes and figuring out how they can adapt production.
“Okay, it’s different, and what’s that gonna mean for the cast, and what’s that gonna mean for the crew in terms of our employment, in terms of our family?
“But also, I think we’re going to get a bit excited now.”
He said Shortland Street would air for around 66 minutes a week, which is “kind of like the length of a Grey’s Anatomy or a Casualty or a New Amsterdam”.
“How can we adapt our storytelling? How can we change the way we do the show without throwing out any of the amazing stuff that all the fans love?
“But how can we take this and innovate and do something that’s exciting for people who used to watch the show, people who still watch the show and people who are yet to discover it.”
Shortland Street airs on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
It is the most-streamed local series on TVNZ+ with 20.1 million streams and boasts a cumulative broadcast reach of 2.2 million viewers in 2023.
