Tonight, a Shortland Street cameo three decades in the making
Last year, we published a Godfather-style trilogy of stories about the hunt for The Shortland Street baby. Appearing in the very first episode of the beloved soap in 1992, in which Stuart Neilson (Martin Henderson) crashed his car while trying to get his pregnant girlfriend to hospital, the baby stole the show (not an easy feat among many show-stealing moments, including a Chris Warner shag-a-thon and Dr Ropata not being in Guatemala anymore).
'Reminiscing on the first ever episode of Shortland Street, actors Michael Galvin and Ngahuia Piripi wondered where the extra, who played the first baby, was now,' explained Kristina Hard, publicity manager at South Pacific Pictures. 'By our calculations they will be the same age as the show, having grown up on the same timeline.' So began a dramatic worldwide hunt for a 31-year-old former baby, possibly a Pisces, possibly born in Auckland, and possibly with brown hair.
Soon, the leads came flowing in like a poonami down Dr Drew's hallway. One source revealed that their son was Baby Lucas, son of Nick and Waverley in 2000 – not the baby of interest but a baby of interest nonetheless. Then the midwife from the episode, who was also the midwife of The Shortland Street Baby in real life, got in touch with this delicious morsel: 'I remember her and her mum as delightful and very patient on the day.'
We thought it couldn't get any better, but soon we were on Zoom with that same delightful and patient baby after she got sent a 'weird looking link' to The Spinoff. Bronte Bell, now living in London, was just a few days old when she was thrust into what would become our country's most enduring soap opera. 'Watching the scene where I was 'born' actually made me really emotional' she said. 'You see pictures of yourself as a baby, but actually seeing video was crazy.'
Would she ever return to the show? She was reluctant. 'It would be so trippy and weird,' she said. 'Sometimes your acting career peaks at just a few days old, and that's OK.'
Over a year later, that trippy and weird idea has come to life as Bronte Bell, the original Shortland Street baby, returns to Ferndale tonight. In a scene-stealing turn where she brings a patient in on a gurney, Bell says it was 'really interesting' to return to the very same place her showbiz career began (and ended). 'The crew was super welcoming, and I ended up chatting with a few of the extras and even met some of the cast, including Dr Chris Warner himself,' she says.
Taking on the show-stopping role of 'anonymous healthcare assistant', Bell says her character had a set of complex motivations and goals to untangle. 'Walking with purpose, pretending to look busy in the background, wheeling patients and handing off notes, a spot of mopping,' she explains. 'The main challenge was trying not to overthink how I was walking. There were a few accidental near-collisions, but the crew said it added to the realism, so it wasn't too bad.'
All in all, Bell is grateful to have been welcomed back into the Shortland Street spotlight, if only for a brief cameo before she flew back to her life in London. 'It was a fun experience and a cool little full-circle moment,' she says. 'Mum was stoked.'
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