Dominic Thompson (Shortland Street)
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| Dominic Thompson | |||||||||||||||
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| Shortland Street character | |||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Shane Cortese | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2003–2004 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 13 February 2003 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 2 December 2004 | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Harriet Crampton | ||||||||||||||
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Dominic "Dom" Thompson is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by Shane Cortese from 2003 to 2004.
Dom arrived as the brother of established character Toni Thompson (Laura Hill) in a protagonist role that saw him revealed as the half brother of Chris Warner (Michael Galvin). However the character of Dom soon underwent a major shift following the revelation his relationship with Chris was fake and taking on a more antagonistic characterisation. Central to several key storylines, these included: his marriage to Emily Bredican (Sarah Somerville), affair with 16-year-old Delphi Greenlaw (Anna Hutchison), a rivalry with Chris Warner, murdering Geoff Greenlaw (Andrew Laing), his controversial return on the shows 3000th episode, his murder of Avril Lucich (Kate Louise-Elliott) and a dramatic conclusion episode in December 2004 featuring the character's death.
The 2-year duration of Dom and the villain storyline he was involved in, saw high ratings and praise from viewers. The character ultimately left an impact on fans of the show, being remembered as "iconic".
After auditioning for Geoff Greenlaw and losing out to Andrew Laing, Shane Cortese learned producers had created a character specifically for him to be the brother of a major character and it was undecided whether the character would be "good or bad".[1] Cortese made his debut as Dom in early 2003 under a yearlong contract with the potential of another 12 month expansion.[1] The character stayed on screen for a year and departed in early 2004. Producers offered Cortese the chance to return on the show's 3000th episode under a contract that would see him continue with the show until mid-2005.[2] Cortese accepted and returned to the show on the momentous 3000th episode.[3] The character ended up getting killed off later in the year.[4]
Storylines
Dom arrived to visit his sister Toni (Laura Hill) and quickly got a job at the hospital. He mysteriously got on well with rival Chris' (Michael Galvin) mother - Margot Warner (Dinah Priestley) and when she died, Dom revealed himself as Chris' illegitimate half brother. Taking up the Warner surname, Dom married Emily (Sarah Somerville) and fought attractions to teenager - Delphi Greenlaw (Anna Hutchison). Following a blood test, Dom realized he was not related to Chris but kept it a secret whilst he started an affair with Delphi. To hide the affair, he drugged his wife and soon became a suspect in the murder of Geoff (Andrew Laing) who had discovered the affair. Once Chris discovered the truth, Dom circulated rumours he was a child molester. Dom and Delphi planned to run away but Delphi discovered Dom had killed Geoff and a desperate Dom fled Ferndale.
Dom returned later in 2004, having started a relationship with Lucy (Sally Stockwell). He managed to successfully avoid capture in relation to Geoff's murder and when Avril (Kate Louise-Elliot) began snooping, he drowned her in his bath tub. When the staff started to turn against Dom after Avril's sister Bernadette (Kate Louise-Elliot) accused him of murder, he faked mental illness and after escaping a psych ward, he lured Chris to a barn and tried to set him on fire. Unsuccessful, Dom ended up getting caught in a large explosion. With intense burns, Dom finally admitted to killing Geoff and Avril before he died in Toni's arms.