Zac Smith (Shortland Street)

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Zac Smith
James Thornton

Zachary Smith is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who has been portrayed by Mike Edward in multiple guest stints since mid 1995. The character returned in a more central role for the shows 20th anniversary in 2012.

Zac appeared in numerous stints throughout the show's first 20 years, initially debuting in May 1995 as a short term love interest for

Roimata Samuels
(Shavaughn Ruakere) in a personal attack on her husband.

Zac has been labelled a "hottie" and his generally remembered for his good looks. His later storylines saw Zac branded as one of the best Shortland Street villains of all time, being praised by reviewers and stars of the soap itself.

Creation and casting

Mike Edward was just 21 when he cast in the role of Zac in 1995.[2] Part of the role in which producers intended Shortland Street to participate in, was to accurately portray and convey real life community and everyday occurrences.[3] The character of Zac was written as a builder so as to embody the role of the working class man.[3] Edward maintained the role until mid 1996.[4] Edward returned to the role on 23 November 2002 in a month-long recurring stint.[2][5] Edward auditioned numerous times throughout the next few years but was constantly rejected due to producer's suspecting the audience would recognize him as Zac.[5] In 2011 the role of "Jack" was created,[6] a love interest for Sarah Potts (Amanda Billing) who would cheat on her in a high-profile love triangle.[7] The character and storyline was decided to unfold over 6 months in a bid for slower paced story arcs.[7][8] Producers soon realized they could fill the characters spot with that of Zac and Edward was hired.[5][9]

In January 2012 it was announced that a previous character would be returning and "will get the hearts of many a Shortland Street pounding."

Roimata Samuels (Shavaughn Ruakere).[7] Edward enjoyed the challenge but acknowledged, "it's going to be the end because it's so irredeemable."[7] Chris Tempest (who portrayed Dr. Josh Gallagher) stood in as Zac during the sexual assault scene to leave the assailant ambiguous.[13] Zac made his last appearance on 6 February 2013 and Edward had no quarrels with leaving the role, "I'm happy to move on. The last few times Zac has left the show, his parting lines have been, 'I'm just going to sit on the beach and get my head together', so at least now it's done."[14] Edward was not opposed to a return, but acknowledged it was up to the producers.[15]

Storylines

Zac arrived as a builder on

James (Chris Dykzeul), managed to track down his father, Phillip, on the internet. However it soon turned out that James was the result of an affair between Julia and Phillip, thus making him Zac's half brother. When Julia's husband died, Zac slowly was welcomed into the Thornton family. In 1996 Zac dated Ana Fa'asolo (Mary Lose) but she soon realized that Zac had developed a mutual attraction to Julia. Zac was disgusted when he discovered this attraction and he fled Ferndale to rid himself of these feelings. He returned 6 years later and impressed many with his flashy apartment and his job at an upper class bar, none more so than Rachel McKenna (Angela Bloomfield
). With her relationship on the rocks, a small spark between Rachel and Zac brewed potential romance but when her alcoholism lead her to nearly drown in his pool, Zac harshly dumped her and fled Ferndale.

In 2012 Zac returned when he was hired by

Roimata (Shavaughn Ruakere) was sexually assaulted by an unseen assailant in what seemed an attack on TK. It soon turned out Zac was the attacker and he framed Josh
(Chris Tempest) after landing TK with a reckless driving charge from a poisoned drink. When Roimata discovered Zac was the culprit, much of the hospital turned against him and he ended up kidnapping her and holding her hostage for several days in 'The I.V.' cellar. Enough evidence was soon collected to prove Zac had taken her and he was arrested and charged. In June 2014, a neighborhood watch team was created in part due to the legacy of Zac and his attack on Roimata.

Character development

Edward debuted as Zac at the age of 21,[2] and was regarded as a "hunk".[5]

Characterisation

Upon his first appearance, Zac was labelled a "hottie",

The Otago Daily Times reviewer, Charles Loughrey, described Zac as a, "love-rat with an increasingly obvious penchant for extreme villainy".[22] Edward himself later referred to Zac as "evil".[14]

Sexual assault of Roimata Samuels

Following the extension of Edward's contract, producers decided to undergo a sexual assault storyline utilizing the character of Zac.

Roimata (Shavaughn Ruakere) was sexually assaulted in an alleyway following her birthday party.[24] Sexual assault storylines had previously occurred in Shortland Street (such as the rape of Minnie Crozier (Katrina Devine) in 1998), but Ruakere felt Roimata's was portrayed with "the most depth needed".[25]

"It is a big topic and you want to treat it with respect - not so much from my character's point of view, because he's the bad guy, but certainly Shav [Ruakere] (

Roimata Samuels) and Ben [Mitchell] (TK Samuels
) needed to treat the fallout with respect for people who have been through it."

—Edward on the sexual assault storyline.[7]

Behind the scenes, Zac was always intended to be the perpetrator but the assailant was depicted anonymously so as to create suspense.

Vasa Levi (Teuila Blakely).[26] However, on 12 December 2012, Zac was revealed to the audience as the attacker when he threatened Detective Lisa Stone (Caitlin Bossley) and later removed a balaclava to expose his face.[27]

The characters soon started to discover the attacker had assaulted Roimata as a personal attack on TK.[28] Further harassments included the assailant breaking into the house and sprawling out Roimata's underwear and later leaving a white feather on the doorstep.[28] During the 2012 season cliffhanger, Zac was described as a, "a master puppeteer".[29] He was said to be playing TK, Roimata, Sarah and Josh, "like pawns in his own twisted game of chess, moving suspicions from one person to the other in order to keep his identity under wraps" and it appeared as though he were "unstoppable".[29] As the year ended, Zac poisoned TK[22] and used several tricks to frame Josh for the attack[20] However, with Josh's input, Roimata realised Zac was the attacker and publicly accused him, causing him to lose what little friends he had left.[30] With his dwindling amount of friends, in early 2013 Zac decided to take drastic action in exacting revenge on TK.[30] He kidnapped Roimata, bound and drugged her and locked her in the cellar of 'The I.V.' bar.[22] After Roimata was eventually recovered, Zac was arrested and charged after she collected enough DNA evidence to have him charged.[19]

Reception

Zac has been immortalized, being listed as one of the numerous men the iconic

The Otago Daily Times highlighted how successful the character of Zac was and noted a surprise in the character not being like "99%" of the characters, in that he wasn't a doctor. He commented that the character obviously spent too much time at the gym and mentioned the increasing amount of soap opera storyline climaxes involving locking characters in cellars. However he also noted that the character of Zac was sure to be written off due to the content of his story lines.[22] Although Edward received a fair amount of verbal abuse on the streets, he expected a more physical tone due to past experiences with Johnny Barker (Joey Henderson), whose character murdered 5 woman.[14] Upon ending his stint, Edward acknowledged that Zac was liked by fans when he first arrived in 2012 but by the end, had become a character fans, "loved to hate".[38] In the Ferndale Talk Best of 2013 awards, Zac's conclusion was voted the fans second favourite storyline and 3rd most shocking plot twist.[39] Television New Zealand named the kidnap storyline as the second best moment of the 2013 season.[40] In 2015 a New Zealand Herald author described Zac as one of the "most evil" characters in the soap's history.[41]

References

  1. Television New Zealand
    . TV2.
  2. ^
    Television New Zealand. February 2012. Archived
    from the original on 17 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b Barbara Cairns; Helen Martin (1996). Shortland Street - Production, Text and Audience (First ed.). Auckland: Macmillan Publishers New Zealand.
  4. ^ "Auckland Actors - Mike Edward". Auckland Actors. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  5. ^
    New Zealand Magazines
    . 1 February 2012.
  6. ^ "10:20 PM - 14 Feb 12". @ShortlandTweet. Twitter. 14 February 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Smith, Janie (3 January 2013). "The fun side of evil". New Zealand TV Guide. Fairfax Media.
  8. ^ a b "End of the affair". New Zealand TV Guide. Fairfax Media. 27 September 2012.
  9. ^
    Television New Zealand. 2 February 2012. Archived
    from the original on 21 May 2015.
  10. Television New Zealand. January 2012. Archived
    from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  11. Television New Zealand. 1 February 2012. Archived
    from the original on 4 February 2012.
  12. ^
    TV One
    .
  13. ^ a b c d "10:28 PM - 13 Dec 12". @ShortlandTweet. Twitter. 14 December 2012.
  14. ^
    New Zealand Magazines
    .
  15. Television New Zealand
    .
  16. New Zealand Magazines
    .
  17. Television New Zealand. March 2012. Archived
    from the original on 26 November 2012.
  18. Television New Zealand. 30 March 2012. Archived
    from the original on 3 April 2012.
  19. ^
    Television New Zealand. 12 February 2013. Archived
    from the original on 19 February 2014.
  20. ^ a b Edward, Mike; Mitchell, Benjamin; Tempest, Chris; Nairn, Jacqueline Nairn; Reid, Amelia (11 January 2013). "Shorty Secrets". Television New Zealand (Interview).
  21. Television New Zealand
    (Interview).
  22. ^
    The Otago Daily Times
    . Allied Press Limited.
  23. ^ TV2 (12 September 2012). "Shortland Street". Throng. Throng Ltd.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. Television New Zealand. 3 November 2012. Archived
    from the original on 18 December 2012.
  25. TV One
    .
  26. ^
    Television New Zealand. November 2012. Archived
    from the original on 12 December 2012.
  27. ^
    Television New Zealand. 13 December 2012. Archived
    from the original on 20 January 2013.
  28. ^
    Television New Zealand. 14 December 2012. Archived
    from the original on 16 January 2013.
  29. ^
    APN News & Media
    . 13 December 2012.
  30. ^
    Television New Zealand. 30 January 2013. Archived
    from the original on 6 February 2013.
  31. APN News & Media
    . Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  32. Television New Zealand
    . 21 May 2012.
  33. Television New Zealand. September 2012. Archived
    from the original on 10 October 2012.
  34. APN News & Media
    .
  35. ^ Jones, Bridget (10 December 2012). "Shortland Street's classic cliff-hanger". Auckland NOW. Fairfax Media.
  36. APN News & Media
    .
  37. Television New Zealand. 24 October 2013. Archived
    from the original on 29 October 2013.
  38. Media Works NZ
    .
  39. ^ shortlandstreet (17 December 2013). "Results of Ferndale Talk's Best of 2013 Awards!". Ferndale Talk.
  40. Television New Zealand. 23 December 2013. Archived
    from the original on 24 December 2013.
  41. APN News & Media
    .
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