TV star's reality check SALLY'S LIFE AFTER SHORTY

The actor's had to do some soul-searching since saying goodbye to Nicole

- Elisabeth Easther

Kiwi actor Sally Martin can lay claim to being one of Shortland Street’s longest-serving core cast members.

Second only to Michael Galvin’s Chris Warner, aka Dr Love, Sally spent 15 years playing the gutsy Nicole Miller.

Married three times, including once to herself, she also survived brain bleeds, a helicopter crash and attempts on her life.

If that wasn’t enough, in the past year, she was sentenced to 10 years for murder after killing a woman with her own mother’s urn.

Nothing was ever deemed too far-fetched for nurse Nicole because the writers knew Sally would play whatever they threw at her with sincerity, wisdom and warmth.

Which is how Sally became part of the Ferndale furniture, making it a terrible shock when Nicole was written out. And it wasn’t just shocking for the fans – it was also devastating for Sally.

“My agent called me one Friday night last year,” recalls Sally. “She said, ‘You probably know what this is about,’ and I said, ‘No,’ as I live quite squarely in the present.

“Then she told me and I went hot, then cold. I was home alone too because my boyfriend Dan had gone out. So I spent the next few hours just pacing, walking from wall to wall in every room of our house.

“I cried and tried to calm myself, as it was just such a surreal feeling. Not that I ever thought I was invincible, but it was still awful.

“My brain spiralled into ‘What will I do for money? What work am I even capable of doing?’”

Once the news had sunk in and Dan had come home, Sally texted her friend Hannah, who’s a script supervisor on the show, and Jess Sayer, who plays Maeve, her onscreen wife.

“I told them, ‘FYI, this thing had happened,” she says. “I didn’t yet have any words I could say out loud.

“Over that weekend, I also spoke to my family, the producers and the head of writing. Everyone was genuinely gutted and so supportive.”