Leanne Black (previously Miller) is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by Jennifer Ludlam.

[5] Ludlam found it daunting filming at the reception desk due to its "iconic" nature and having worked with several former actors who played the receptionist role such as Elizabeth McRae (Marj Brasch), Geraldine Brophy (Moira Crombie) and Alison Quigan (Yvonne Jeffries).

[6] Ludlam played the role on both a regular and recurring basis, often departing for months-long stints for theatre shows;[7] leaving the core cast in 2021.

Ludlam intended this to be Leanne's final time on the show until she was contacted the following year with a pitch to kill off the character,[8] and explore a cancer story alongside the complexities of recently introduced assisted dying legislation.

[10][11][12][13] In late 2009 Nicole Miller (Sally Martin) informed recently discovered half-sister Morgan Braithwaite (Bonnie Soper) that her family were eager to meet her, primarily her mother Leanne.

Leanne soon found herself becoming a burden to her family but this changed when she started to date Howard Black (Michael Saccente) who lavished her in expensive gifts.

In 2016 Leanne began to feel elderly and underwent plastic surgery only for the anaesthetic not to work, leading to her being awake but paralysed during the botched procedure.

She began to date Marty's (Scott Smart) father Graham (Nigel Godfrey) and lost all her money in a poor investment into son Eddie's music festival.

Leanne retired from the front-desk and began working at the flower stall only to secretly fall in love with Nicole's wife Maeve's (Jess Sayer) mother Rosalyn (Theresa Healey).

Volunteering at the hospital, Leanne eventually reconciled with Rosalyn and suffering financial hardship, couldn't believe when she won millions in the lottery for a second time.

Initially opting for surgery due to Nicole's pressure, Leanne chose to see out her illness farewelling her friends and former lovers, with a "living funeral" organised by her daughter.

Letting Ros know the truth that she had left her due to fear of death and allowing her to move on, Leanne chose to apply for assisted dying, but fell into a coma before this could come to fruition.

"[15] The character proved hugely controversial upon her debut April 2010 after several homophobic comments she made were perceived to be insulting the city of Tauranga in suggesting it was not gay friendly.

Bay of Plenty Tourism general manager, Tim Burgess believed the show was establishing a "negative stereotype," and that the, "only positive thing I can say is they were pronouncing Tauranga and Mauao correctly."

He attributed this to her blatant homophobia and the irony of this due to her disregard for relationships after attempting to seduce married man Murray Cooper (Matthew Chamberlain).

[20] Tara Strong of The Spinoff website praised Leanne and Howard's romance and compared them to Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

[12] An official Shortland Street social media post reportedly caused confusion to some members of the public, mistakenly believing Ludlam had died rather than the role she played.