KEY POINTS:
He's no Joey but Shortland Street's Dr Dinesh Jivani "may kill a few people while I'm on the show", jokes the actor who plays him, Amin Sheikh.
That would make life difficult should he go back to his day job as a real-life doctor.
It's not unusual for Shortland Street staff to get mistaken for medical experts, nor for incompetent real ones to get struck off the registrar. Any medical mishaps, real or scripted, could have repercussions for his career.
But rather than getting all the soap's gritty surgeries, most of Sheikh's storylines have been romance-related. Which is just as well.
"Every time we filmed the theatre scenes, all that was running through my mind was 'hold the scalpel the right direction or everyone's going to laugh at you.' "
Since the smug Doc showed up at the clinic, he's become embroiled in a frustrating love triangle with Shanti (Nisha Madhan) and Scotty (Keil McNaughton), frustrating, because Shanti is so conflicted between Dinesh (her betrothed from India) and Scotty (her boyfriend). Tomorrow Dinesh will tick Scotty off so much his nemesis will be forced to do something drastic.
Sheikh got the job after a few drinks at a party at which he met Shortland Street's casting director, Andrea Kelland. That was around the time Shanti was about to go on air, and the writers were looking for characters who would work with her storyline.
"It was totally random," he laughs. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and I had one too many cocktails and one of my friends introduced me. I didn't think I stood a chance in hell. I'd never been to drama school, I had no real acting experience, only a bit of amateur stuff around the city."
But he auditioned and two months later, had a three-month contract. The team were so impressed with his turn they've since extended his contract, although he says he's not sure how long he'll be on the show.
The addition of a string of new characters also opens the show up to the Indian community, and capitalises on the show's popularity in Fiji. And it turns out a medical degree isn't the only thing Sheikh has in common with Dinesh. He also knew Madhan from uni days working as ushers at the Maidment.
He has since discovered the contrast between workplaces.
"Well they're very different personalities. Actors are obviously artistic and creative and spontaneous and doctors are more to the point, very yes and no, very clear cut. I find the guys [at Shortland Street] don't bitch about the hours as much as my classmates, which is a nice change."
Still, it does seem an unlikely career change. Especially for someone who, at 26, has spent under two years as a doctor before packing it in for TV. Sheikh did three-month rotations in different departments at Middlemore. He also did six months in the emergency department at Starship. Why would anyone making moola in the medical world want to give it up for the instability of acting?
"It was something I've always wanted to do. Acting was always my number one career choice."
Plus, aside from the creative fulfilment, the hours aren't as stressful. Sheikh clocks in an average of 40 hours at the Shortland Street clinic, as opposed to the 60-65 hours he says he was doing at the hospital. He doesn't miss his pager, aka the "electronic leash", either.
But the TV job has meant a pay cut, and although he's not about to divulge how much, he's "happy" with what he's getting. There have only been a couple of minor inaccuracies in the script, he says, "but with every medical drama there's always creative licence. Nothing ever happens like in Grey's Anatomy or even ER which tends to get most things right but it's TV."
Sheikh grew up in India. At 18, he moved to New Zealand with his family, but when he realised how small it was, he went off the acting idea, concerned work would be scarce.
"I chickened out basically. Then I said, alright what else do I like? Animals. So I applied to vet school and got in but didn't do it for a number of reasons, one being that I didn't want to stay in Palmerston North for six years, and two, financially because I'd just moved to the country and I wanted to stay at home in Auckland.
"My mum's a doctor so I'd been exposed to it. So I applied to med school."
Since he started on the show, his former colleagues have come out as fans.
"They love it. They think it's hilarious. A lot of them are closet fans of the show and never really admitted it to me until I told them I was going to be on it."
Who: Amin Sheikh
What: The doctor who plays a doctor on Shortland Street
Where and when: TV2, 7pm, weeknights
