Shortland Street is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 prime-time soap opera, first broadcast on Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....

's TV2 on 25 May 1992. It is the country's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 4500 episodes and 19 years, and is one of the most watched television programs in New Zealand. The show centres around the domestic and professional lives of the people who work at Shortland Street Hospital

Shortland Street Hospital

Shortland Street Hospital is a fictional hospital which is the main setting for the TVNZ soap opera Shortland Street...

, a modern combined public-private hospital based in the fictional suburb of Ferndale, Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

.

The show was originally screened as five half-hour episodes each week and initially receiving mixed reviews on its premiere.