Jamie Forrest
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Episode 250
| Jamie Forrest | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shortland Street character | |||||||
 | |||||||
| Portrayed by | Karl Urban | ||||||
| Duration | 1993–1994 | ||||||
| First appearance | 7 May 1993 Episode 250 | ||||||
| Last appearance | 22 February 1994 | ||||||
| Introduced by | Brian Lenanne | ||||||
| |||||||
Jamie Forrest is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. The character was portrayed by Karl Urban for a guest stint in mid-1993 before returning later in the year for a 6-month recurring stint. The character is remembered as the first openly gay character on the show.
During pre-production of Shortland Street in the early 1990s, producers planned for original character Stuart Neilson to be gay. Despite the plot already having been written and the storylines airing on-screen, Television New Zealand became anxious and requested Stuart be rewritten at the last minute to be heterosexual.[1] As part of the discussion to rewrite the character, Producer Caterina De Nave negotiated the introduction of a gay character at a later-time; and Jamie Forrest was created.[2] Jamie debuted in 1993 in what was a groundbreaking storyline at the time.[3] The character appeared in a short guest stint before returning for a 6-month recurring stint.