Jenny Harrison (Shortland Street)
| Jenny Harrison | |||||||||||
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| Shortland Street character | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Maggie Harper | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1992–98, 2002 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 26 May 1992 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 14 September 2002 | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Caterina De Nave (1992) Harriet Crampton (2002) |
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| Book appearances | Shortland Street books - Nick's story (1996) | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Occupation | Political administrator (1998–2002) Business manager at Shortland Street A&E clinic (1996–98) Personal assistant at Shortland Street A&E clinic (1989–96) |
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| Father | Wilson |
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| Husband |
Barry Harrison (1975–83) Ian Seymour (1997—) |
| Sons | Nick Harrison |
| Grandsons | Lucas Harrison |
| Granddaughters | Tina-Anne Harrison |
Jenny Harrison is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. She was portrayed by Maggie Harper as part of the show's original cast, making her first appearance in the second episode. Harper quit the role in 1998 but reprised the character briefly 4 years later.
Jenny was created as the single mother of teenage rebel, Nick Harrison (Karl Burnett) after surviving an abusive marriage with Nick's father. The personal assistant to the Shortland Street clinic's Chief Executive Officer, Michael McKenna (Paul Gittins), Jenny was the embodiment of the strong and wise matriarch the shows producers wished to portray. Jenny headlined numerous storylines including a secret love affair with Guy Warner (Craig Parker), a secret revealing Nick may not be her biological son, numerous romances, a pregnancy and later abortion, breast cancer, a brief marriage to the villainous Ian Seymour (David Press) and departing the show to work in politics alongside best friend, Marj Brasch (Elizabeth McRae). By the time Jenny departed in 1998, she was the shows longest running character and only one of the two remaining original cast, beside her son Nick.
Jenny was a popular character, being named as a "favourite". Many of Jenny's storyline were notable, including a never finished story where she developed a cyst and a hugely controversial storyline where the middle aged personal assistant had an abortion.
Whilst creating the show that was to become Shortland Street, Caterina De Nave set out to pursue many goals, one of which was to have strong powerful women as primary characters to counter stereotype the weak and vulnerable women often portrayed in dramas. De Nave and Television New Zealand also wished for as wide demographics as possible and many measures were set about to ensure the soap would reach a diverse audience. To fulfill this, De Nave created the roles of teenagers such as Nick Harrison, Stuart Neilson and Kirsty Knight to draw in a young audience. Family units were also commonly used in soap operas to sustain a wide variety of demographics in one group of characters and as such, the characters of Nick and Stuart were built around a family unit, with the single mother of Nick's, Jenny, being created to represent single parent families. Jenny was characterized to embody the strong matriarch De Nave wished to portray. Maggie Harper had just started a 4-year course on the natural healing technique, the Feidenkrais method, when she was cast in the role. She was said to bring her own strength and experience to the part. Jenny made her debut on the show's second episode, screened 26 May 1992.
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