Dr. Stuart Neilson is a fictional character in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who was portrayed by Martin Henderson as part of the original cast until early 1995.

The character's three years on the soap featured several major story lines as well as social commentary on youth, religion and mental illness.

[1] The character was written as part of a family unit consisting of himself, his father Tom (Adrian Keeling), mother Marj (Elizabeth McRae) and a recurring elder brother Darryl (Mark Ferguson).

[4] Henderson signed an initial 1-year contract and originally intended to depart following the singular year to pursue a corporate career outside acting.

[1] This change left viewers with only one heart throb on screen in Stuart and nervous Television New Zealand producers requested the character was rewritten to be straight so that the show remained appealing to the target audience of young teen women.

[1] On screen Stuart was shown to be rebuffing Kirsty's advances and writers quickly rewrote the character's backstory so that rather than being gay, he was heavily religious and celibate.

[1] Following the completion of Henderson's first year contract and the win of a New Zealand Television Award, he decided to pursue acting full-time and committed to the role.

[2] He agreed to sign a final 1-year extension to his contract before he would leave to pursue a film career, committing to this decision when his acting ambition was dismissed by a Producer on the soap.

The ordeal drew Stuart to Marj's co-worker hospital recepitonist Kirsty Knight (Angela Dotchin) and he struggled to balance his lust with his Catholic faith.

As an act of rebellion, he dropped out of the Catholic school and briefly had a fling with the middle aged Alex McKenna (Liddy Holloway) only to truly fall for her daughter Rachel (Angela Bloomfield).

Despite dating Jo, Stuart fell in love with Rebecca Frost (Luisa Burgess) but the feelings were unrequited leaving him single.

As 1994 ended Stuart realised he was still in love with Kirsty and attempted to stop her marriage to Lionel Skeggins (John Leigh).

Stuart helped in ED during the volcanic eruption and ultimately shared a kiss with Harper as he struggled to deal with Marj's illness.

"[3] The storyline that saw Stuart become involved in the property market was criticized by reviewers, with some claiming the writers were so intent on telling the story, they forgot the characters past personality and ignored his young age.