Joseph James "Joey" Henderson[1] is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by Johnny Barker from mid 2007 to early 2008.
Arriving in June 2007 as an eager yet awkward newbie nurse, Joey was a potential love interest for Claire Solomon (Emily Robins).
However Claire ended up murdered by an unknown assailant and for the next 6 months, Shortland Street underwent its largest and most dramatic whodunit storyline in its history.
Producers decided to embark on a whodunit storyline that not only would draw ratings and celebrate the show's 15th anniversary, but also cut out characters that were proving useless and cast that requested to leave.
Joey started to live with Kieran and was severely beaten by Beth (Hannah Marshall) when he snuck up on her in the carpark, making some of the staff suspect he was the Ferndale Strangler, a serial killer who had murdered Claire, Meg (Emily Mowbray), and Jay (Jaime Passier-Armstrong).
Joey became interested in new nurse Tracey Morrison (Sarah Thomson), but after a few dates, he was shocked to see she was two timing him with Gavin Capper (Tim Schijf).
He tried to date Tania Jeffries (Faye Smythe) but ended up embarrassed, only for the audience to discover Joey was the Ferndale Strangler when he unsuccessfully attempted to murder her.
Joey attempted to date Morgan Braithwaite (Bonnie Soper), a long-time friend from nursing school, but only ended up humiliated and sexually confused.
Before Joey could be caught, he took Tania, Shanti, Morgan, and Alice Piper (Shortland Street) (Toni Potter) out clubbing for a night.
Alice woke up in a room at a storage facility, full of pictures and ominous sketches of Joey's previous victims on the wall, strapped to a bed with surgical clothes on.
[3] However, by the time Joey is revealed as the killer, his true colours have surfaced and he is shown to be extremely judgemental, showing homophobia, sizeism, racism and elitism.
[12] When he caught on that Joey was going to turn out to be the killer, Barker purposely made his character more humorous and goofy, so as to make it as least obvious as possible.
[2] The storyline was to be the biggest whodunit in the shows history and would wipe out characters such as Mark Weston, who was proving useless, and Jay Copeland after her actress decided to leave.
[2] No one was above suspicion – even women were suspects – and Daniel ensured that the deaths were all part of the storytelling rather than pointless killing, saying; "Each incident is different from the one before so that it's not just a question of people dying relentlessly.
[7] Daniel announced the 2008 season would focus on Joey, stating; "You are seeing it from his point of view why he likes working at the hospital, as he has this fascination with all things medical.
[2] As the storyline came to a close, fan site reaction started to garner negativity and producers decided to end Joey's reign in a dramatic three part episode.
[21] In 2017 stuff.co.nz journalist Fleur Mealing named Joey as the 4th character she most wanted to return for the show's 25th anniversary, citing the possibility of his ghost.
[26] Barker was nominated for the 2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor alongside Kirk Torrance and Tammy Davis.
"[32] Chris Brush the deputy editor of the New Zealand TV Guide, compared Joey to Coronation Street villain Richard Hillman, stating the two were both great characters and ratings wonders.
[33] In 2012, Shortland Street cast member Geordie Holibar (Phoenix Raynor) recollected on his past viewing of the soap opera and named the Joey storyline as his "favourite".