all fuzzy round the edges and that's hopeless." Marj was said to be the "quintessential" soap opera archetype of a gossip. The gossiping was a key point of the character, with the actress stating; "The show's creators realised from the start that the role of in-house gossip is integral to the soap-opera genre" and listing Marj's gossip as a necessary passage of drama between characters. She described Marj's gossiping as "dispersing" information between characters to help run the storylines and the "wheels" of the soap. Reception The character received a positive reception with a review of the first episode saying the reception desk was; "about the only place where the makers of Shortland Street have got it right". However it took a while for Marj to be won over by the audience, with McRae suggesting that after the character was written with "a bit of comedy and a bit of warmth", she instantly became a fan favourite. McRae understood why viewers related to Marj so well, stating; "I think that Marj is possibly Mrs Middle New Zealand; I think people identify with her as being just like their next door neighbour or an aunty. I suppose she could become a sort of Kiwi icon." McRae was contacted by a political party in 1996 suggesting she run as an electorate MP following scenes where Marj was shown to be political. When filming her final scenes at parliament, McRae remembered realising the impact Marj had made by the amount of MP's approaching her for photos. The relationship between Marj and Kirsty Knight (Angela Dotchin) proved memorable to fans due to its comedic nature. Scenes featuring Marj gossiping whilst purchasing from the clinic's food trolley further proved favourable to fans of the show and after being disestablished in the early 2000s, the trolley was reintroduced in 2014 to re-introduce similar scenes. To honour the shows 10th anniversary in May 2002, Michelle Hewitson of The New Zealand Herald voted Marj as the best character to ever appear on the show noting her multiple levels of characterisation and interesting storylines. Hewitson described Marj's best catchphrase as; "Mind your own beeswax." and her silliest scene, being when Marj nearly died when her scarf got caught in the paper shredder, only to be saved by Nick Harrison (Karl Burnett) who was washing the windows outside. McRae herself reflected on how this was one of her favourite storylines