Marty Walker (Shortland Street)
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| Marty Walker | |||||||||
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| Shortland Street character | |||||||||
| Portrayed by | Scott Smart | ||||||||
| Duration | 2019– | ||||||||
| First appearance | 2 December 2019 | ||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||
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Marty Walker is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who has been portrayed by Scott Smart since December 2019. First introduced as a new doctor, Marty has been labelled a fan favourite, with his most notable storylines being marriage to Esther Samuels (Ngahuia Piripi) and his drug addiction storyline. His most recent storylines revolve around Marty working as a Paediatrician in the hospital's paediatrics unit.
Creation and Casting
[edit]Before Marty debuted, he was labelled as "Shortland Street's answer to McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy." [1] Scott Smart won the role and debuted in December 2019. Smart described himself and Marty having being "Loyal and Hardworking" in common, while citing Marty's life in Ferndale to be "a nightmare."
Storylines
[edit]Marty Walker made his first screen appearance on 2 December 2019. He arrived in the ED after he injured his leg and brought in a patient. He quickly began to help out and he clashed with Ben King after he treated his patient without his say so. Chris hires him and he gets attention of the female nurses, especially Nicole Miller. (Sally Martin)
Nicole developed feelings for Marty which she didn't act on as Marty was married. But when Marty began a flirtation with his wife's best friend, it was revealed his wife Lisa had died 10 months earlier. With this, the two decided to remain friends as Marty was still not over his dead wife. During the 2019 cliffhanger, Marty would prevent Nicole's son Pele (Felete Peter-Aulika) from opening a bomb-rigged present left there by incels River Pearse (Jordan Oosterhof) and Tim Myers (James Wells).
In 2020, Marty was involved in several fatal flu cases in the hospital. Marty takes it personally as it would be revealed Lisa died from the flu. In the aftermath, Marty ended up preventing the wife of one of his patients committing suicide and in March, Lisa's sister Bridget would arrive in Ferndale and obtain a job as a nurse. Bridget's attraction to Marty would be revealed at a quiz night where she would shout at Nicole following Nicole kissing Marty. Bridget ended up leaving which was followed by Marty deciding he wanted to be with Nicole. By this point, however, Nicole had moved onto new nurse Maeve Mullens (Jess Sayer) and once again, the two would remain good friends.
In 2022, whilst planning on leaving Shortland Street to take up a fellowship in America, Esther discovers she is pregnant with Marty's baby. Esther chooses to stay in Ferndale, with Marty calling off his recent engagement with Monique to promptly propose to Esther instead. At year's end, Marty and Esther would find themselves trapped outside of Ferndale during the Ferndale bushfires with Esther's heart condition again causing problems.
As 2023 begins, Esther is revealed to have recovered from her heart problems and works as a surgeon at Central while Marty works at St Catherine's whilst Shortland Street is closed due to fire damage. Whilst working at St Cath's, Marty forms a bond with a dying patient and her teenage wildchild Milo Cross (Ben Porter). Marty and Esther would get married in February, but again health issues would come to the forefront and Marty would be put in the position of choosing between the safety of his wife and their unborn son. After making the choice to terminate the pregnancy (and naming the child Potiki), Esther has an emotional meltdown and in her grief leaves to go up north, leaving Marty to grieve on his own. After an extended absence to grieve the loss with her family, Esther returns to work at Shortland Street and rebuilds her relationship with Marty.[2] Esther would soon take over as CEO of the hospital after Harper stepped down. In the meantime, Rahu Parata (Zak Martin) would bond with the off the rails Milo, who by that point had committed several crimes including leading a group assault on an ailing TK (Benjamin Mitchell) and bashing another teenager over the head with a cricket bat. While Rahu would try to steer Milo onto a better path, Marty would have Milo arrested with Milo being sent to a borstal, swearing revenge on Marty. After attempting and failing to commit suicide, Milo would get admitted into the hospital and steal a security pass. Weeks later, Marty would be caught up in Milo's shooting spree in the hospital.[3] Confronting Milo who had shot at least 6 people by that point, Marty would emotionally break Milo by questioning Milo's worth as a person, leading to Milo fatally shooting himself. Due to the trauma of witnessing this and TK being shot, Marty begins losing patches of his memory and having blanks. Diagnosed with PTSD, Marty began to take anti-anxiety medication which would lead to him using the controversial new drug Zeclastion. Spending the rest of the year dealing with a horrific addiction to the drug, Esther helps Marty with his addiction, however he soon relapses due to his PTSD and overdoses at Chris Warner's New Year's Eve boat party.
Marty returns from rehab in early 2024, testing his professional boundaries with Esther and Monique as he establishes a new career at the hospital away from the emergency department. Finding GP Services too boring and ED too triggering, Monique orchestrates a transfer to the new Paediatrics Unit, working alongside Shortland Street's new head of the department, Nazar Arshad (Mo Nasir). Clashing at first over professional differences such as Marty making what Nazar sees to be guarantees of successful operations which end up being fatal for some patients, the two form a working bond and friendship. At the same time, Marty and Monique's old feelings for each other begin to crop up with Esther starting to push Marty away because of her position. Deciding to remain friends, Monique and Nazar soon formed a mutual attraction which lead to a will they, won't they situation due to not wanting to cross professional boundaries. Confused, Monique would kiss Marty before cursing him out. Monique would then quit the hospital while confessing to Esther that the two had kissed.
Reception
[edit]Marty has been labelled a "fan favourite", with people citing his romances with Monique and Esther as highlights of Marty's tenure.
References
[edit]- ^ Harvey, Kerry. "The Man Behind Shortland Street's Dr Marty Walker". Stuff. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
- ^ "The biggest Shortland Street cliffhanger in a decade is about to drop". Stuff. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ "Shortland Street Midyear Cliffhanger: Bloodshed, Chaos, and Awkward Romance". Stuff. Retrieved 18 July 2024.