Judy Brownlee is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by Donogh Rees for 5 years from early 2001.

In 2002 it was discovered that the daughter Judy had adopted out at birth was none other than new nurse, Anne Greenlaw (Emmeline Hawthorne).

[7] Judy was hired in to audit the nurses department at the hospital run by Kate Larsen (Rebecca Hobbs).

Kate soon left and Judy took her place as director of nursing and briefly dated a rock star named Rich Fortune (Brian Sergent).

An important function of this character is to stimulate debate amongst the viewers, and I think she'll achieve it .... She's not necessarily Robo Nurse.

"[6] Upon the soap opera's revamp in 2000, part of the producers plan was to present a more community based setting with steady family links between characters.

[1][4] It was decided to introduce a daughter for Judy whom she had adopted out at birth, the character of Anne Greenlaw was created to serve this purpose.

[4] Upon her arrival Anne initially gets on the bad side of Judy with her portrayer - Emmeline Hawthorne stating; "I come along very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with a whole lot of ideas about how the old people shouldn’t be on the sleeping pills...

So Judy Brownlee automatically thinks I’m useless and I have to do all the terrible jobs, like cleaning up the sluice room and emptying the linen skips and doing tea rounds.”[9] The adopted Anne then set out on a "standard soap opera story" to find her biological mother.

[4] Both the characters and the audience were shocked when it was discovered Anne's mother was none other than the head of nursing, Judy Brownlee.

[4] Frances Grant of The New Zealand Herald, was surprised audiences were tuning in to watch Judy's relationship with Max over real life new stories.