If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas.

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If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of the year is always a super-sized dose of drama, devastation and death, with past cliffhangers featuring bombings, shootings, fires, kidnappings, murders and stabbings. Trucks have crashed through reception, brides have died on their wedding day, and Santas have lost their shit. If something’s going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas.

The 2024 one-hour Christmas cliffhanger screens on Monday night and this year, you can expect the final episode to be bigger and badder, with many teases that not every character will make it out alive. Who will return from the past to bring terror to the present? (Leanne, I’m counting on you). What disastrous calamity will befall the hospital and all those in it, and does it have anything to do with Chris Warner’s beard???

Given that Shortland Street is going down to three episodes a week from 2025 due to falling advertising revenue, there’s a sense that the show wants to bid goodbye to this year with a literal bang. Lucky us, right? Here’s everything you need to know about what’s been going down in Ferndale, before the iconic New Zealand soap leaves us hanging on Monday night.

I’d like to report a murder

The last few months in Ferndale have centred on the mysterious death of Louisa Gunnell, a woman Nicole met in an online grief support group but who turned out to be a freaky stalker with grand plans of kidnapping Nicole’s grandson Knox. Louisa even locked Nicole in a chest freezer inside a haunted house, but karma bit hard when, later that day, Louisa died at Nicole’s house. She bonked her head on the bench and was hit on the head with an urn, or something – but was it Nicole or Maeve’s teenage drug addict daughter-in-law Cassie who committed the crime?

In the best crossover of the year, Siale from The Traitors NZ turned up to investigate who was faithful and who should be banished to prison. Nicole went on trial for murder, and while we thought (prayed) that this storyline was over when the jury found Nicole not guilty, she then had a freaky flashback and confessed that she did actually kill Louisa. Oopsie! Where to now for Nicole and Maeve, who spend their lives lurching from one depressing crisis to another?

Harper and Drew are getting back together again

I’m worried about these two. The last few weeks have been tumultuous for Ferndale’s power couple, but they also ended last night’s episode far too happy, which means they’re likely to have a terrible time in Monday night’s cliffhanger. After Harper had a steamy affair with colleague Phil and Drew discovered his wife’s lies, he immediately demanded a divorce and everyone in Ferndale cried about it. Phil and Drew even argued while they operated on some unfortunate patient, whose insides slowly filled with the hot tears of a spurned lover and the humiliated rage of Ferndale’s moodiest alpha male.

But things shifted this week when Harper was offered a prestigious promotion in New York. Watching Harper deliver a baby in ED made Drew realise he didn’t want his cheating hornbag wife to leave Ferndale, and they reconciled. They spent Thursday’s episode in a loved-up state of marital bliss, which I hope they enjoy because you don’t have to be the ghost of Leanne to sense that this joy will not last past Monday night.

Esther is breaking all the rules

Celebrity Treasure Island star Turia Schmidt-Peke returned to Ferndale recently as Nurse Steph, and she’d barely been back for five minutes before hospital CEO Esther diagnosed her with cancer. Rude! Thankfully, Chris Warner discovered a wonder drug and Steph began a new medical trial, even though the official red tape hadn’t been sorted. Esther evidently loves a fast track project, but what bureaucratic hot water will this put her in? Esther doesn’t care, because Steph was Esther’s husband Curtis’ secret gang girlfriend from when Curtis was working as an undercover cop in Christchurch, before he was killed in the line of duty. With a classic connection like that, Esther isn’t about to let Steph cark it without a fight. “The whole system is broken!” Esther told her husband Marty, who nodded. Marty is a very good nodder.

That you, Harry Warner?

I can’t believe it’s been 12 whole months since the fruit of Chris Warner’s loins went rogue and killed sweet Dr Rahu in last year’s Christmas cliffhanger. Rahu had discovered that Harry Warner had faked his medical qualifications, and finding out about his son’s lies made Chris Warner grow much hairier than he has even been. “If I ever get the chance to bring Harry to justice, I won’t hesitate,” Dr Love told the assembled mourners at Rahu’s one-year memorial service this week. But wait, what’s with the mystery phone call that Chris received in the middle of the service? What could make Dr Love so angry that he refused Selena’s heartfelt gift of a new cap? Was Harry calling to offer Dr Love a new hat, too?

It’s Christmas and the doctors are doing some weird singing

It’s not Anchor Me, but it’ll do.

The hour-long Shortland Street cliffhanger screens on Monday, December 23 at 7pm on TVNZ2 and streams on TVNZ+.