Shortland Street - 25th anniversary (volcanic eruption)

Leave him alone Nick! He's Australian.

– Waverley (Claire Chitham) defends Frank Connelly (Luke Patrick) and his lack of volcanic knowledge

The cliff[hanger] is normally an action movie, sort of. There's a siege, a shooting, an explosion — that kind of thing. But because you can't really beat a volcano, what producer Maxine Fleming went for this year was to treat it more like a thriller than an action movie.

– Shortland Street director Oliver Driver on the challenges of equalling the eruption cliffhanger, Sunday Star-Times. 22 December 2017

It's erupting, you idiot.

– Hawks Logan (Teone Kahu) mocks his confused assailant as Mount Ferndale explodes

Man, hitting this half tonne is really getting to you isn't it?

– Drew McCaskill (Ben Barrington) needles birthday boy Chris Warner (Michael Galvin), early in this clip

She's not listening to me — I did a project on it!

– Michael Hampton-Rees (Duane Evans Jnr) tries to warn the adults about poisonous gases in the volcanic aftermath

The hospital, the people — they need us. We have to do our duty.

– Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) tries to stop Boyd Rolleston (Sam Bunkall) from heading to the mountain

We are overwhelmed by the extremely positive reaction we have received from the public for last night’s anniversary episode. The surprise eruption and the many loved faces from the past truly made the episode a celebration of the last 25 years of Shortland Street.

– Producer Maxine Fleming on viewers reaction to the 2017 volcanic eruption plot line, Stop Press, 26 May 2017

Volcanologist Brad Scott, who was consulted by South Pacific Pictures regarding the episode, scored it 8/10 for its technical credibility. Its portrayal of ash, rock showers and toxic gas as a real threat, and the downing of power and phone lines, was correct. The writers also got it right portraying self-evacuation, low visibility and traffic congestion . . . But there was a lack in showing official response from parties such as Civil Defense and emergency services.

– Stuff writer Hannah Martin on the accuracy of the volcanic eruption plotline, 26 May 2017

TVNZ reports that its total audience (all people aged 5+) tallied 627,000 viewers with 318,000 of those from TVNZ 2’s target demographic of 18-49-year-olds. TVNZ.co.nz also recorded over 45,000 streams of the episode since last night. The episode’s accompanying documentary tallied a total audience of 551,000, with 292,000 in the 18-49 audience group.

– Viewer figures for Shortland Street's 25th anniversary specials, StopPress website, 26 May 2017