Dr Ropata returns

Temuera Morrison is no stranger to a good one-liner. On Shortland Street's first episode, Nurse Carrie Burton gently reminded his character, Dr Hone Ropata he was no longer just down the road from Mexico.

When he reprises that role to mark the soap's 4000th episode in June, we'll hear that after setting up a clinic on the East Cape of New Zealand, Ropata then spent time in war-torn Africa.

So listen out for a "you're not in Darfur now ... ". Or maybe they'll put him in the fertility department where he can say "cook me some eggs" to women trying to conceive.