Production
The working title was The Shortland Street Project after its planned filming location in a TVNZ-owned studio at 74 Shortland Street in Auckland Central. However, the studio was found to be too small for the required sets, and the production studio was moved to a warehouse in Browns Bay. After running through many name options, the original working-title was chosen and subsequently truncated to simply Shortland Street. The name subsequently is a homage to the Shortland Street studios, which were home to New Zealand's first regular television broadcast in 1960, and were home to TVNZ and its predecessors' Auckland operations until TVNZ moved to its new purpose-built television centre on Victoria Street West in 1990.
Shortland Street is produced by South Pacific Pictures, with assistance from Fremantle and Television New Zealand. In the first few years, the production was also assisted by New Zealand On Air; since 1996, funding from the government agency ended and the show moved entirely to advertising revenue.
Today, most of the filming for Shortland Street occurs at South Pacific Pictures West Auckland studios, with Ferndale High School scenes being filmed at the nearby Waitākere College. The exterior shots of the hospital are filmed on location at the Waitakere Studios at an existing section of a building dressed up to appear as the facade of a hospital entrance. Location scenes are filmed in Auckland, but other locations, including Fiji, Mt Ruapehu, Rotorua and Rarotonga have been used.
Originally, Shortland Street was filmed at Browns Bay on the North Shore until their relocation to purpose built studios in West Auckland in 2000. The original Ferndale High School was played by a North Shore college until the studio relocated.
When cast members are hired their contracts are either 4 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 6 months or a year.
While the name Shortland Street is based on an actual street in Auckland CBD, the only place where the scenes are actually filmed in Auckland CBD is the fictitious Q Road, which is the actual Karangahape Road, better known as K' Rd.
High definition production of Shortland Street started in early 2011, with the first HD episode broadcast on 18 April 2011 on the Freeview HD and Sky platforms.
On 24 July 2018 It was announced that the show will air six nights a week starting in September 2018.
The show has had a reputation for being raunchy and controversial with the very first episode of the show featuring a sex scene between resident "Dr. Love" Chris Warner and his aerobics instructor. Another early controversy was that of a lesbian kiss between Meredith Fleming and Annie Flynn with several complaints made to the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) but it went no further. It was not until 2008 that the show received its first ever BSA warning, when it featured an oral sex scene in mid-2008 between sexually confused Gerald and a fellow man. A few months later, the show received a second warning for an episode in August 2008 depicting the brutal murder of Craig Valentine, who was beaten unconscious, then set alight in his car. Again, a few months later, the show received yet another warning about a scene in January 2009 where Tania Jeffries hit a gang leader in the head with a hammer.
Scenes aired in April 2010 sparked criticism when Leanne Miller and her daughter Nicole stated that the city of Tauranga was not "gay friendly".
The show caused controversy in August 2010 when the character of Sophie McKay was shown to be being stalked by her university lecturer who she had been dating. This upset the family of murdered girl Sophie Elliott who was killed by her university tutor, Clayton Weatherston, who she had been dating. The similarities upset the families with producer Steven Zanoski saying: "the storyline was a classic and not inspired by real events."
The show's production department received several complaints following the lesbian love storyline involving Maia Jeffries and Jennifer Mason.
A storyline aired in April 2011 which featured the Cooper Family try to go to the beach, but they get confronted by a group of Māori who demand money. This sparked criticism with some saying it was discrimination against Māori people. Maori adviser Ngamaru Raerino stated that viewers shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and should have let the storyline completely unfold which reveals the group are protesting against a corrupt camp owner who had been polluting the beach.
In September 2011, Shortland Street was identified as one of the main influences to people who self-harm, airing two storylines involving suicide attempts.
During 2017, one episode ended with a cliffhanger featuring Chris Warner confronting his son Harry with a 'dick pic' he found on his tablet computer. A video clip of the scene, including the line "Please tell me that is not your penis!", went viral worldwide, even to a point of parody on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recreated by said host and Alec Baldwin. The line was voted the New Zealand Quote of the Year in a contest held by Massey University.
In December 2023, Shortland Street started uploading episodes to YouTube, starting from the first season in 1992.
As of 2026, older seasons are still being uploaded regularly, often one season at a time.
