New Zealand’s longest running drama returns for 2026, bringing with it one very familiar face.
Last year, Shortland Street signed off with an unexpected bang. At the end of the final episode of 2025, viewers were treated to a surprise 14-second teaser that showed a pair of mysterious legs, Rachel McKenna’s face, and Chris Warner yelling “we’re not finished yet!” It was a cliffhanger upon a cliffhanger, and a sign of good things to come in 2026: beautiful hair days for Chris, the return of beloved character Rachel, and the reunion of the biggest power couple in the show’s 35-year history.
It’s been a decade since Rachel McKenna left Shortland Street, and bringing her back is one of the show’s best moves in years. When Shortland Street returned to our screens this week after its summer hiatus, we learned that Rachel had been living in America but is now back in New Zealand and somehow in charge of the hospital (is there anyone in Ferndale who hasn’t been CEO of Shortland Street?). Rachel is still the sharp-tongued, ambitious woman we knew all those years ago, and it’s clear she’s not here to shag spiders. Will she shag Dr Love, however? Hard to tell.
“I thought I might recognise some old faces, but it seems the only one here is mine,” Rachel announced to her staff on her first day. She was determined that Shortland Street should “offer exemplary care that the New Zealand public deserve”, and from her CEO throne, immediately bolstered nurse numbers and introduced a new acute care department. Mostly, she walked around carrying lots of paperwork. Still, it’s nice to see at least one adequately funded and well-staffed hospital in Aotearoa, even if it is a fictional one.
Of course, everyone in Ferndale took the news of Rachel’s return calmly. Chris was busy defending his staff in the media over last year’s viral pandemic outbreak, and was apoplectic to discover his ex-wife was now his big boss. Dr Marty’s wardrobe consisted of knitted cardigans and toe shoes, Libby Jeffries said things like “abso-lootles”, and there was a fresh cohort of keen but hopeless nurse graduates. “What is this, high school work experience?” Dr Phil asked her new colleagues, but given we last saw Phil in the Christmas cliffhanger pashing the husband of her dead lover under a damp gazebo that Marj Brasch probably bought in a 70% Briscoes sale sometime during the mid 90s, maybe she should just be glad of the extra help.
Amid the salbutamol spacers and infected scrotal piercings was some typical Shortland Street drama, with plenty of simmering sexual tension, fraught friendships and a patient with the audacity to determine her own birth plan (“my vagina’s in agony…this is part of my journey”). Characters like Esther, Monique and Drew had mysteriously departed Ferndale, and Shortland Street pulled the time-jump switcheroo again, starting the new year several weeks after the events of last year’s cliffhanger. The show first pulled this time jump back in 2023 and viewers lost their shit, but there’s something reassuring about Shortland Street shaking things up again. This year, it’s not giving any answers away easily, and clearly wants to keep the viewers guessing.
As for Rachel McKenna? She’s been striding through the halls of Shortland Street since 1993, and nothing fazes her, not even a furious ex-husband with excellent hair. For this longtime Shortland Street fan, watching Chris and Rachel together again was glorious – two experienced professionals at the soap game, back in the ring once more. “I left because I needed to,” Rachel growled at Chris, refusing to apologise for deserting their marriage a decade ago. “My son died, and all I got from you was a phone call,” Chris spat back. Sparks flew, the elevator doors opened at exactly the right time, and Chris got so mad that he punched a wall, gently.
If Rachel thinks Chris Warner is grumpy now, wait until she hears about the time he grew a beard. Welcome back, queen.
Shortland Street screens Monday-Wednesdays on TVNZ2 at 7pm and streams on TVNZ+.
