Now in its 33rd year, Shortland Street has become a staple not only of New Zealand television, but of the invisible industrial world of New Zealand television production.
In a famously fickle industry, it has provided stable and long term employment not just for actors but writers, directors and camera operators.
But even Shortland Street is not immune to the vagaries of advertising, viewership and plain old economics, with news that the show was consulting on its contracts after production had slowed from five episodes a week to three.
Which raises the questions - where would the local industry be without it? And if this has happened to Shortland Street, how hard is it for everyone else?
Irene Gardiner is President of SPADA, the Screen Production and Development Association, and she speaks to Emile Donovan.
The title screen for Shortland Street, which first aired in 1992. Photo: Shortland Street YouTube
