As it transpires, Chris' motives for visiting the island are more to do with his unborn child and seeing Grace than helping locals regain their sight. Expect Grace to make an unexpected visit to the Fred Hollows clinic early in the week.
Forday is prepared for the Fiji-based Chris/Grace storyline to ruffle a few feathers back in New Zealand. "I think it's safe to say that there will be a fair few who react badly to the Grace/Chris situation. Chris and Rachel have only been married for a matter of months, and here's Chris having a baby with another woman and lying about it to her," she says.
But she feels Grace's insistence on Chris being honest about the forthcoming baby may see public opinion soften towards her. "Hopefully, she will find some redemption due to her constantly asking Chris to tell Rachel the truth."
The hospital location is also the background for a medical drama in which two Fijian actors will play a starring role. Reapi Navuku, who is in her 60s, and Reama Vulaca, 12, play a grandmother and granddaughter in the episodes, which deal with diabetes, a disease that is almost at epidemic proportions in Fiji.
Wainibokasi Hospital outside of Suva doubled as a Fred Hollows clinic for the filming and the medical scenes were played out against a backdrop of real-life emergency and illness. Forday says it was hard to switch off from the off-screen dramas when filming was taking place.
"As it was a working hospital, much of what we saw was so very confronting. But it was also very humbling to see the extraordinary work done by the staff there."
Galvin agrees. "The hospital entrance was next to the morgue. At one stage, we had
to stop filming so a family could pick up their dead relative and load him into the back of a borrowed truck. That was sobering, to say the least."
It's not all work for the Shorty foursome in Fiji, however - they do get to take a much-needed break at a beachfront resort. Poolside, things start to sizzle between Boyd and Harper (a future love match maybe) - there's some lingering application of sunscreen and longing gazes in the swimming pool.
Kylie, on the other hand, discovers her inner Mother Teresa and throws herself into work at the Fred Hollows clinic - possibly in an attempt to assuage the embarrassment of the earlier handcuff incident.
But it's the Chris/Grace storyline that's likely to hold viewers' attention this
week. And Galvin's not so sure they'll be happy with the outcome. "I don't imagine many people will have an awful lot of sympathy for either of them. It is totally
a situation of their own making."
Shortland Street screens weeknights on TV2 at 7pm.
