Leanne Miller

Leanne Black
Shortland Street character
Portrayed by Jennifer Ludlam
Duration 2010, 2011, 2014—
First appearance 27 April 2010
Introduced by Steven Zanoski (2010–11)
Simon Bennett (2014)
Classification Present; regular
Profile
Occupation Receptionist at Shortland Street hospital (2011, 2014–16)

Leanne Black (previously Miller) is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who is portrayed by Jennifer Ludlam. Leanne debuted as the mother of established character Nicole Miller (Sally Martin) in a guest role in 2010, before reprising the role in more central positions in both 2011 and 2014.

Creation and casting

The character of Leanne was created as the mother of established character Nicole Miller (Sally Martin) in a storyline that saw her come out as bisexual to her family and reveal her relationship with Maia Jeffries (Anna Jullienne).[1] Jennifer Ludlam was offered the role due to what she believed as, "being a certain age, and looking like I could pass for Nicole's mother."[2] Leanne debuted onscreen in April 2010 and Ludlam enjoyed shooting the show due to the outspoken nature of her character.[1] Ludlam was offered a reprisal of the role the following year and she appeared for 5 weeks in recurring role.[1] She made her last appearance on 25 February 2011. Ludlam was offered to reprise the role 3 years later and agreed upon learning she was going to have, "my own arc and be a person."[3] Leanne returned in March 2014,[4] in a more central role that saw her become the receptionist at the hospital.[5] Ludlam found it daunting filming at the reception desk due to its "iconic" nature and having worked with several former actors who played the receptionist role such as Elizabeth McRae (Marj Brasch), Geraldine Brophy (Moira Crombie) and Alison Quigan (Yvonne Jeffries).[2]

Storylines

In late 2009 Nicole Miller (Sally Martin) informed recently discovered half sister Morgan Braithwaite (Bonnie Soper) that her family were eager to meet her, primarily her mother, Leanne. Several months after Morgans untimely death, Nicole's ex-girlfriend Maia Jeffries (Anna Jullienne) and Gerald Tippett (Harry McNaughton) visited Tauranga to find a recently runaway Nicole and ended up staying at Leanne's house. Nicole and Maia were forced to keep their relationship private due to Leanne's conservative nature but when Nicole eventually came out, Leanne disowned her unless she dumped Maia permanently. Nicole at first accepted but later fled Tauranga and reunited with Maia in Ferndale. The following year Leanne arrived in Ferndale and pronounced her new pro-gay attitude, showing open approval of Nicole and Maia's relationship. However, after discovering Maia had cheated on Nicole, Leanne set about sabotaging the two and tried to set Nicole up with both Hunter McKay (Lee Donoghue) and Maxwell Avia (Robbie Magasiva). Whilst out for a walk, Leanne was mugged and injured, extending her stay in Ferndale that eventually saw her receive a job as the hospital receptionist. However Leanne soon realised she was holding Nicole back from a relationship and returned to Tauranga.

In 2012 Nicole visited Leanne after her brother Eric (Mick Andrews) had a severe schizophrenic episode. In 2014 Nicole and Vinnie Kruse (Pua Magasiva) returned to Tauranga after Leanne requested help with Eric once again. However, when Nicole suggested Leanne was the issue, she kicked her out only to show up in Ferndale with Eric. Following Eric being sent into care, Leanne made it clear that she thought Nicole should date Vinnie over girlfriend Harper Whitley (Ria Vandervis). She returned to her role as receptionist at the hospital having sold her house in Tauranga. Leanne had a brief flirtation with Murray Cooper (Matthew Chamberlain) after mistakingly believing he and his wife Wendy (Jacqueline Nairn) were swingers. She began to date Nev Carlson (Stuart Devenie) much to the angst of Nicole, but he left her for one of his five ex-wives. Leanne soon found herself becoming a burden to her family but this changed when she began to date Howard Black (Michael Saccente) who lavished her in expensive gifts. Though it soon turned out he had a potentially terminal illness and he returned to America, with Leanne nearly joining him on the day of Nicole's wedding. In 2016 Leanne began to feel elderly and underwent plastic surgery only for the anaesthetic not to work, leading to her being awake during the aborted procedure. Feeling increasingly unwanted at work, Leanne was overjoyed when Howard returned to Ferndale. The two decided to marry and after realising how much she needed to move on, she left Ferndale. At the wedding ceremony only days later, Nicole and Leanne expressed their love and she departed with her new husband to the United States. 3 months later, Leanne returned to Ferndale temporarily after her honeymoon with Howard. After being questioned as to where Howard was, Leanne finally admitted that they had a fight and she doesn't know where Howard is staying. The police turn up to Nicole and Vinnie's house, and inform them that Howard is missing and is presumed to have fallen overboard. Leanne is shocked that her brand new husband is now potentially her former husband.

Reception

Ludlam highly enjoyed portraying Leanne throughout her first stint as she liked the extremities of Leanne's homophobia and believed it provided an interesting character to play. However upon her second stint that saw Leanne accepting towards Nicole and Maia's relationship, Ludlam believed that the character had been toned down and found portraying the character to be "a lot less fun".[1] Leanne's mispronunciation of Ula Levi's (Frankie Adams) name as "Ew-la" became a running joke throughout the cast and crew, with a 2015 scene showing Ula correcting her after many months, receiving much praise by the audience.[6] Karima Madut praised the relationship between Leanne and her character fellow receptionist Clementine Dean, "They are a great team, I guess Leanne is more the older, wiser woman and they develop a great relationship. My character looks up to her and she learns to not become more subdued, but she starts to become more thoughtful."[7] The character proved hugely controversial upon her debut April 2010 after several homophobic comments she made were perceived to be insulting the city of Tauranga in suggesting it was not gay friendly. The controversy surrounded Leanne telling Gerald Tippett (Harry McNaughton) that his shirt was "too gay" for Tauranga. The episode also featured Nicole referring to the city as not being as gay friendly as Auckland. Bay of Plenty Tourism general manager, Tim Burgess believed the show was establishing a "negative stereotype," and that the, "only positive thing I can say is they were pronouncing Tauranga and Mauao correctly." In response to the episode he referred to the writing team as "disappointing and lazy."[8][9] Burgess also requested an apology.[10] Matthew Denton of the University of Auckland student magazine, Craccum, named Leanne as the shows 5th most annoying character. He attributed this to her blatant homophobia and the irony of this due to her disregard for relationships after attempting to seduce married man Murray Cooper (Matthew Chamberlain).[11] Tara Strong of The Spinoff website praised Leanne and Howard's romance and compared them to Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. She believed their wedding episode was a "perfect" exit for the character.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Jennifer Ludlam: Acting without makeup or shoes…". NZ On Screen. NZ On Air. 11 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Get to know Jennifer Ludlum". tvnz.co.nz. Television New Zealand. March 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Stewart-Tewhiu, Josrphine (15 October 2015). "The Craft: An Interview with Jennifer Ludlam". Pantograph Punch.
  4. ↑ "March on Shortland Street". tvnz.co.nz. Television New Zealand. 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Kia Ora Shortland Street". tvnz.co.nz. Television New Zealand. 12 April 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014.
  6. ↑ Martin, Sally (20 January 2015). The Edge (Interview). Interview with Sharyn & Guy Williams. The Radio Network. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Win a role on Shortland Street". stuff.co.nz. Fairfax Media. 26 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Irvine, Ellen (30 April 2010). "Shortland Street's gay jibes anger Tauranga residents". The New Zealand Herald. Bay of Plenty Times. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  9. ↑ "Shortland St gay remarks outrage Tauranga locals". 3 News. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  10. ↑ "Tauranga not happy with Shortland St". Newstalk ZB. 30 April 2010. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011.
  11. ↑ Denton, Matthew (12 May 2014). "Top 10 Most Annoying Shortland Street Characters". Craccum. Auckland University Students' Association. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014.
  12. ↑ Strong, Tara (19 September 2016). "Shortland Street Power Rankings: farewell to Leanne, the queen of Ferndale". The Spinoff.
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