The first episode of Shortland Street starts with a pregnant woman being rushed to the clinic after an accident. Only the doctors are all missing. Visiting doctor Hone Ropata (Temuera Morrison), who is soon to join the team, makes the call to deliver the baby. Head nurse Carrie Burton (Lisa Crittenden) disagrees, and proceeds to mention that Dr Ropata is no longer in Guatemala. This first episode of the five night a week soap screened on 25 May 1992. It would go on to become New Zealand's longest running TV drama (but not our first soap — that was Close to Home).

In July 1998 Shortland Street added a tragically memorable entry to its catalogue of births, deaths and marriages. Pregnant nurse and fan favourite Tiffany (Alison James) is out shopping, when she sees suicidal patient Tim (Kelson Henderson) heading for the roof of a high rise. She races up the stairs and successfully talks him down, but then she falls. Knowing she is badly injured and brain-dead, her husband Johnny Marinovich (Stelios Yiakmis) has to make the difficult choice between letting her go, or keeping her on life support until their baby is born. 

Made for the Plunket Society by the NFU, A Baby on the Way uses a blackboard and various experts in front of an antenatal class to provide birth education for early 70s Kiwi parents-to-be. Plunket Medical Director Neil Begg lowers his pipe to introduce the lessons, and contemporary advice for ensuring a mother’s health during pregnancy is given by doctors, nurses, and physios. The scenes involving breast massage and analgesics may have induced titters in school-aged audiences, unlike the brief-but-gory concluding birth (set to piped organ music).

In this 2012 series, media personality Jaquie Brown chronicles a year as a young mother, as she raises her first child Leo. With a single rule — not to offer advice — Brown aimed to document honestly the realities of modern parenting. This first episode looks at everything from worrying nipple advice to installing car seats, from the pelvic floor to the post-baby body. Brown's candid reflections (captured in video diary 'Little Brother') are mixed with experts (Plunket nurses, baby whisperers), and a look at Kiwi child-rearing social history. The show was produced by JAM TV for TV One.

In these short clips from our ScreenTalk interviews, directors, actors and others share their memories of classic films, as we mark 40 years of the NZ Film Commission.   - Roger Donaldson on odd Sleeping Dogs phone calls - David Blyth on Angel Mine being ahead of its time - Kelly Johnson on acting in Goodbye Pork Pie - Roger Donaldson on Smash Palace - Geoff Murphy on Utu's scale  - Ian Mune on making Came a Hot Friday - Vincent Ward on early film exploits - Tom Scott on writing Footrot Flats with Murray Ball  - Greg Johnson on acting in End of the Golden Weather - Rena Owen on Once Were Warriors  - Melanie Lynskey on auditioning for Heavenly Creatures - Ngila Dickson on The Lord of the Rings - Niki Caro on missing Whale Rider's success - Antony Starr on Anthony Hopkins - Oscar Kightley on Sione's Wedding - Tammy Davis on Black Sheep - Leanne Pooley on the Topp Twins - Taika Waititi on napping at the Oscars - Cliff Curtis on The Dark Horse - Cohen Holloway on his Wilderpeople stars

The Great Maiden's Blush hinges on two people from very different backgrounds: a girl-racer in prison for manslaughter (Hope and Wire's Miriama McDowell), who plans to adopt out her baby, and a failed classical pianist (Renee Lyons) whose own baby is due for a risky operation. Each must confront their own secrets in order to move forward. Andrea Bosshard and Shane Loader's acclaimed third movie continues an interest in character-rich stories where "big themes play out in modest circumstances". It won awards for McDowell and Best Self-Funded Film at the 2017 NZ Film Awards.

In this 2013 short, a possum-trapping nature boy is challenged when a woman moves into a house on the edge of the bush, looking for a fresh start. Cinematographer Ginny Loane captures the wintry central plateau landscape where the fable of life and death plays out. Director Leo Woodhead co-wrote the script with Paul Stanley Ward; the result followed Woodhead’s short Cargo (2007) to the Venice Film Festival, and won the Jury Prize at the 2014 Hong Kong Film Festival. Director Andrew Adamson (Shrek) called it “a well structured, beautifully shot narrative.” 

A rural raised woman (Dianne Renolds) reconnects with her half sister (Rena Owen) in the city, and learns some hard life lessons. Roimata was the first film directed by then unknown writer Riwia Brown. Brown was initially reluctant to direct the adaptation of her play but, encouraged by producer Larry Parr, she decided that with only one Māori woman director in New Zealand (Merata Mita) there was a need to develop the talent of Māori women in the industry. Brown later wrote the screenplay for Once Were Warriors. Screen legend Ramai Hayward also features.

After a young woman (Denise Maunder) falls pregnant, she decides to go against the tide of advice from her family and unsympathetic welfare authorities by keeping her baby. Misery and hardship ensues. Director Paul Maunder brought kitchen sink drama to NZ television with this controversial National Film Unit production. The story can claim to have effected social change, stirring up public debate about the DPB for single mothers. Keep an eye out for a young Paul Holmes as a wannabe lothario. Maunder writes about making it in this piece. Costa Botes writes about it here. 

When a show has been in production for over 25 years, the odd mistake is to be expected — as this assemblage of Shortland Street bloopers demonstrates. - Angela Dotchin invents a new word - Angela Bloomfield gets confused over who she's talking to - Peter Elliott almost gets hit by part of the set - Peter Elliott manages to stay in character after Tandi Wright hits a pot plant - John Leigh performs miracles on a sick dog - Peter Elliott has some bother with Elizabeth McRae's cheque - Michael Galvin hurts his leg - Roy Snow gets his cords confused - Theresa Healey has a bumpy kiss - Paul Ellis's face is grabbed by a baby  - Ido Drent announces he's pregnant - Craig Parker hits a pot plant - Mr Whippy distracts Nisha Madhan  - Angela Bloomfield fluffs her line - Angela Bloomfield battles dialogue and weapons - Lee Donoghue forgets a line - and more!