Teacher's star status no big deal for students | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

It takes a lot to impress today's school kids - even a TV star for their teacher.

Shaun Edwards-Brown is back as the head of the drama department at Cashmere High School after a year's leave to act on TV soap Shortland Street.

He's used to people stopping him around town to ask "aren't you...?" or to request autographs.

And youngsters get excited when he visits primary schools - should they be familiar with Shortland Street? - but the students at Cashmere are laid back about it.

"Most know me and it does not make a difference, just a teacher coming back!" he said.

What's nice for him, he said, was "coming back home" to Cashmere High.

And being a teacher was a lot harder than being a TV actor, he said. "On Shortland Street you have one thing to focus on. A teacher, every staff member, has 400 things to focus on at a time. A lot of the time I was sitting around (on) Facebook in Shortland Street."

On the soap he plays paramedic Ben Goodall.

The programme's media people tell us the character has been "quite controversial due to the fact he started a relationship with a woman far older than him, Yvonne, who also happened to be the mother of his ex-girlfriend Tania. Yvonne and Ben are still together and are very much in love."

A toy boy, then?

"Yes, he has a thing for old ladies - about 30 years older!" said Mr Edwards-Brown.

If getting excited about cougars might have tested his acting abilities, he was more relaxed when the storyline featured a theatre group, the Ferndale Players.

His real-world wife Vicki appeared as fellow thespian Jewel in this segment.

Chasing chicks 30 years older is not the first time the 33-year-old has shocked his audience.

He starred in the Showbiz production at Repertory of The Full Monty, with its famous finish. For a dozen performances.

To full houses every time, he said. As well as having appeared in several theatre shows and musicals, he plays in a local rock band, The Bubblemen.

Until Shortland Street signed him up, he had done only four days of television - one commercial and three days' work for a Dutch reality show.

So he was a little nervous about stepping up to Shortland Street. He was given a script and performing two days after arriving in Auckland.

"But they were a pretty supportive group, and all doing something they want to do," he said.

However, working with drama students at school had given him more insight into acting than television had, he said. Although he's back at school, viewers will see him on Shortland Street for some time yet. And he's not divulging any secrets about what becomes of Ben Goodall.