Shortland Street returns to UK screens with STV Player

The saga was New Zealand’s answer to Aussie hit The Young Doctors…

The New Zealand medical drama that has become a national institution in its native country is set to launch in the UK on free streaming service, STV Player. Shortland Street is New Zealand’s longest-running drama, having first broadcast in the country in May 1992 and aired continuously since then on state broadcaster, TVNZ.

The team behind The Young Doctors, including former ATV executive Alan Coleman, helped get the medical saga off the ground, and while it was shown by ITV in the early 1990s the series disappeared from screens. The defunct Living TV tried to give the show CPR in the UK, but it failed to draw the viewers. However, STV Player has proved a hit for classic sagas with an offering ranging from Scottish Television’s own classics such as Garnock Way and High Road to Channel 4’s Brookside which has proved a streaming sensation for the STV Player.

STV Player is the first-ever UK streaming service to air brand new episodes of Shortland Street in line with its New Zealand broadcast, meaning new UK fans can join the already well-established fan community down under and discuss all the drama and developments on social media in real time. Three new episodes of the saga will land on STV Player every Monday from 17 February.

Following its annual festive break, Shortland Street has been revamped for 2025 with a number of new characters, fresh storylines and even more heart-thumping drama – making now the perfect jumping-in point for UK viewers who haven’t seen the show before.

The series is focused on staff working at Shortland Street Hospital in the fictional Auckland suburb of Ferndale and follows all the drama they face on a daily basis – both in their professional and personal lives. You might think that spending each day treating seriously ill patients is stressful enough, but that’s nothing compared to what goes on in the complicated private lives of the Shortland Street workforce…

Michael Galvin, who is the longest-serving soap actor in New Zealand having played the character of Dr. Chris Warner in Shortland Street since its first episode is ‘thrilled’ its returning to UK screens.

“Kia ora, UK! I’m absolutely thrilled to hear that Shortland Street is coming to your shores. This little show of ours has become such a huge part of the culture here in New Zealand over the last 33 years, and to know that it’s now going to be part of the British soap landscape alongside legendary shows like Coronation Street and Emmerdale is a real honour. Strap yourselves in, because if there’s one thing I can tell you about Shorty, it’s that drama is never more than a heartbeat away…” – Michael Galvin

“Shorty” as it’s affectionately known by fans – has aired sporadically in the UK since its inception, but no current episodes have aired in the country since 2010. It’s returning to UK screens as part of STV Player’s new deal with distributor, All3Media International. An earlier deal saw STV Player become the first streaming service to relaunch much-loved British soap, Brookside, from the very start, with five classic episodes landing on the platform every Wednesday.

Shortland Street was conceived by TVNZ in the early 1990s as a response to the then lack of homegrown content airing on the channel and to try to replicate the huge success of Australian soap, Neighbours. It has since grown to become one of the country’s most culturally and economically important TV series, creating some of the all-time biggest ‘watercooler moments’ on New Zealand TV and building the infrastructure on which many other New Zealand productions are based.

The show has been a training ground for dozens of Kiwi stars who’ve gone on to enjoy major international screen success, including Martin Henderson (Grey’s Anatomy, Virgin River), KJ Apa (Riverdale), Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit, Last Night in Soho), Robyn Malcolm (After the Party, Outrageous Fortune), Karl Urban (Star Trek, The Boys) and Temuera Morrison (The Mandalorian).

And well-established international stars have jumped at the chance to pop into Shortland Street Hospital for a cameo appearance too. Ed Sheeran dropped by in 2014, while just last year, US talk show host Conan O’Brien played a visiting American doctor.

Richard Williams, Managing Director of Digital at STV:

“In New Zealand and several other international territories, Shortland Street has become a cultural phenomenon, so it’s a major coup for us to be able to make STV Player its UK home. The show is a magical blend of ‘just-one-more-episode’ drama, good-natured humour, warmth and topicality – everything we know STV Player viewers look for when choosing their next TV obsession.

“With Doctors concluding last year, there’s a gap in the telly market for a regular medical drama. We think Shortland Street has all the ingredients to not only fill that void, but also find its own distinctive place in viewers’ hearts among the British and Australian soaps they already know and love.”

Shortland Street launches on STV Player on Monday 17 February. STV Player can be found across the UK on all major platforms, including Sky Q, NOW, Virgin Media, Amazon Fire TV and Freeview Play.