List of Shortland Street characters introduced in 2022

The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street in 2022, by order of first appearance.

Rahu Parata featured as a regular character from 2022 until the characters death in late 2023. His corpse appeared on-screen in 2024. He was introduced during the show's 30th anniversary as a potential love interest for established character Esther Samuels (Ngahuia Piripi).^[1][2]

Rahu arrived to Ferndale to attend cousin Desi's (Kura Forrester) wedding to Damo (Grant Lobban). Instantly sparking a connection with Esther, he departed only to return over the Matariki weekend and after being rejected at the airport due to parking ticket fines, end up winning a job at the hospital. Rahu soon emerged as a womaniser and shortly after romancing Ngaio Wira (Trae Te Wiki), started dating her niece Gia Te Atakura (Awa Puna). However after some hesitations in the relationship due to Rahu's reluctance at Gia being transgender, she left him. A short lived romance with Nicole (Sally Martin) led to the revelation that Rahu had syphillis and had spread it throughout the Nursing department. Rahu soon fell for Stella Reihana (Tatum Warren-Ngata) but this sparked a rivalry with her ex-boyfriend Harry (Xander Manktelow). As the year ended, Rahu uncovered that Harry had faked his surgical qualifications, but before he could reveal this, was stabbed repeatedly by a patient. Stepping in to undertake the live-saving surgery, Harry purposely sabotaged the procedure; killing Rahu and burying his secret.

Rebekah Anderson appeared in a recurring role from 2022 to 2023, portrayed by Antonia Prebble. The character was written for Prebble, with complete flexibility allowed for filming to ensure her availability.^[3] Prebble was initially unaware her character would be an antagonist, but critics soon had named her as one of the soap's "most devious killers".^[4]

Ranger Harrison appeared across several episodes in December 2022. First mentioned through dialogue in 2017, Ranger was the daughter of long running characters Nick (Karl Burnett) and Waverley Harrison (Claire Chitham).

Revealed to be an influencer family, the Harrisons went camping in the Ferndale forest over Christmas 2022 where Waverley live-streamed their experience. Failing to properly extinguish their campfire, the forest caught alight and started a serious wildfire resulting in multiple fatalities. Ranger visited hospital alongside her family following smoke inhalation.

Camry Harrison appeared across several episodes in December 2022. First mentioned through dialogue in 2017, Camry was the brother of long running characters Nick (Karl Burnett) and Waverley Harrison (Claire Chitham).

Revealed to be an influencer family, the Harrisons went camping in the Ferndale forest over Christmas 2022 where Waverley live-streamed their experience. Failing to properly extinguish their campfire, the forest caught alight and started a serious wildfire resulting in multiple fatalities. Camry visited hospital alongside his family following smoke inhalation.

Silvia Harrison appeared across several episodes in December 2022. First mentioned through dialogue in 2017, Silvia was the youngest daughter of long running characters Nick (Karl Burnett) and Waverley Harrison (Claire Chitham).

Whilst visiting Ferndale for Chris Warner's (Michael Galvin) 50th birthday, Waverley and Nick were shocked to discover they were expecting another child. Longtime family friend Marj Brasch (Elizabeth McRae) encouraged them to embrace the pregnancy shortly before she died. In 2022, the now 5-year old Silvia and the Harrisons went camping in the Ferndale forest over Christmas 2022 where Waverley live-streamed their experience. Failing to properly extinguish their campfire, the forest caught alight and started a serious wildfire resulting in multiple fatalities. Silvia visited hospital alongside her family following smoke inhalation.

Milo Cross appeared as a recurring character from late-2022 in a 6-month guest role.^[5] Milo first arrived to the Hospital as the victim of the Ferndale bush fires, where his father was killed. In the aftermath of the fire, Milo befriended TK Samuels' (Benjamin Mitchell) daughter Tillie (Tinihuia Lee-Lemon), and led her astray. The two got involved in a ram raid which saw Tillie hospitalised, and when TK confronted him, Milo assaulted him with a cricket bat. Milo returned to the hospital with his very sick mother Annabel (Kylie Cushman) and when she suddenly died, Milo took out a vendetta on her doctor Marty (Scott Smart). Milo was arrested when he assaulted Rahu Parata (Zak Martin) and was put into rehabilitation to sort his anger issues.

Milo returned some months later and frustrated TK and Marty, when Rahu took him in, began mentoring him and channeled his anger into boxing. However his lingering bitterness toward Marty escalated and he snuck into the hospital with a gun, shooting several staff members, paralysing TK, and killing Quinn Cox (Clementine Mills). When attempting to kill Marty, he was talked through his trauma and opted to shoot himself, leaving Marty with post-traumatic stress disorder at having witnessed his death. Several months later, Marty hallucinated a vision of Milo in his distress.

Porter found an array of audience responses to the character, believing "I think that Milo’s struggles are pretty relatable to some degree, but it’s pretty obvious that he is going about it the completely wrong way."^[5] The reaction to the character allegedly resulted in Porter's personal car being targeted and vandalised.^[6]