New Shortland Street doctor tangos his way into triage

Ben Barrington is racing between studios to appear in Shortland Street and Dancing With the Stars. Photo / Doug Sherring

It’s raining roles for actor but, handily, his shows are next-door neighbours.

Ben Barrington is swapping his Dancing With the Stars sequins for medical scrubs after signing on with Shortland Street.

The Outrageous Fortune and Almighty Johnsons star has joined the TV soap to play dashing plastic surgeon Dr Drew McCaskill.

The doc will send female pulses racing on the Shorty Street hospital wards.

"McCaskill is a charming rogue who will cause havoc with the ladies and wind up all the men," Barrington told the Herald on Sunday.

"He is gleefully unrepentant and I think people are going to love him."

Barrington has been working around the clock juggling filming for Shortland Street and appearing on Dancing With the Stars.

Barrington and Dancing with the Stars partner Krystal Stuart.

"Last week, I was also filming

The Brokenwood Mysteries

, so I had three jobs on at once. I am so tired I'm not sure what day it is at times. I have hardly slept for three weeks."

Barrington makes his Shortland Street debut on our screens in August and hopes his character will be a permanent fixture.

"It all came about so quickly and within a few days of being asked I was trying on scrubs and learning a bunch of medical terms.

"I'm hoping Dr Drew settles in because I'm keen to stick around."

Barrington, who also starred in acclaimed drama series Top of the Lake and Aussie drama Offspring, said it was challenging flitting between the soap and Dancing With the Stars.

"Fortunately, both shows are filmed in the same building," he said. "When I finish doing a scene for Shorty I discard the scrubs and pull on the sequins for dance rehearsals.

"At other times, I have found myself tango-ing into triage."

Dancing With the Stars hit controversy this week when some viewers criticised MediaWorks. Fans had spent money voting for their favourite contestants after last Sunday's premiere, only to discover no one would be eliminated in the first week.

Each text vote cost the sender 99c - but on Monday, viewers discovered the show's first elimination wouldn't occur until tomorrow night.

Barrington is teamed with Krystal Stuart. He said contestants will feel the heat when the show moves into the elimination stage.

"A lot of the initial nerves and fears have gone, but knowing you can now be knocked out has added a different kind of pressure."