Sally St. Claire

Sally St. Claire
Hollyoaks character
Portrayed by	Annie Wallace
Duration	2015–
First appearance	30 October 2015
Introduced by	Bryan Kirkwood
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Other names	Iain Naismith (birth name)
Occupation	Headteacher (2015–)
Family Sons John Paul McQueen Grandsons Matthew McQueen

Sally St. Claire (Previously Iain Naismith) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by actress Annie Wallace. The character made her first on-screen appearance on 30 October 2015. Sally was introduced as the new head teacher at Hollyoaks High School, replacing established character Patrick Blake. After a couple of months, English teacher John Paul McQueen discovered she was a trans woman, but vowed to keep her secret. Later it was revealed that Sally was John Paul's biological father, having had a brief relationship with his mother Myra McQueen in the late 1980s.

Casting

The character of Sally St. Claire was created after open auditions for trans actors by the programme's makers Lime Pictures in 2014. The character and casting was first announced via an article in the Guardian, by Paris Lees, and her character and story details released on 20 October 2015. Sally is the first regular British soap character to be played by a transgender actress, predating EastEnders trans character Kyle Slater by a mere 48 hours. Sally arrived at Hollyoaks High as Patrick Blake's (Jeremy Sheffield) appointed future replacement, but they soon locked horns, and Sally took over as headmistress. Sally was described as having a "no-nonsense attitude" and arrived at Hollyoaks High to "seek out the bad apples and make them into crumble." It was also said that she had come to the village with "an ulterior motive."

Storylines

Sally first appears telling Patrick that she is his replacement, and wastes no time in evaluating him as unfit for work as he is dying from motor neurone disease. She constantly interrupts one of his classes, which results in Patrick shouting at her in front of the students. This prompts Sally to contact the board of governors, and after persuading them, she reveals to Patrick that they have made him redundant and she will immediately be taking over as headteacher. Patrick's estranged wife Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson) is furious to discover this, so starts a riot at the school, resulting in Sally phoning the police and Maxine being arrested. After being released, Maxine apologises to Sally and explains how she just wants to give Patrick the best final days of his life. Sally understands Maxine's motives and decides not to press charges against her. She later investigates the alleged relationship between teacher John Paul McQueen (James Sutton) and pupil Harry Thompson (Parry Glasspool). She initially sacks John Paul, but when it is revealed that Harry has been lying, she gives him his job back. When helping Sally move into her new office, John Paul discovers a document revealing Sally to be transgender, and she swears him to secrecy. However, after she overhears John Paul talking to Nancy Osborne (Jessica Fox) about men, Sally believes he has told her, and threatens to report his alleged relationship with Harry to the board of governors. Sally quits her job after Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) vandalises a piece of artwork with a transphobic slur. Peri then tells Sally it was her that vandalised the artwork. As punishment, Sally suspends Peri. However, the suspension angers Peri's mother Leela Lomax (Kirsty-Leigh Porter), who believes she's taking the situation too seriously and personally. After realising she took it too hard, she offers to resign as headmistress. However, John Paul and Peri, who has raised a school petition to keep Sally as head teacher, convince her to change her mind. After her return, she and John Paul have dinner together. After John Paul leaves Sally reveals she has a picture of him hidden in her desk. Following an argument with John Paul, Sally is confronted by his mother Myra McQueen (Nicole Barber-Lane) who recognises her as Iain, John Paul's father. Sally and Myra argue about whether Sally should be honest with John Paul, but Myra, afraid of the repercussions that may ensue should the truth be told, persuades Sally to keep quiet about her parentage, for John Paul's sake. Scott Drinkwell (Ross Adams) overhears Sally talking to Myra about being John Paul's real dad after they all had a dinner together. Scott later blackmails Sally and Myra over what he heard. Later on, John Paul is battered by Pete Buchanan (Kai Owen) after he, Sally, Myra and Holly Cunningham (Amanda Clapham) discover that Cleo McQueen (Nadine Rose Mulkerrin) is running away with him. Sally accidentally reveals that she is John Paul's father to the crowd. After John Paul comes back from the hospital, he gets angry at both Sally and Myra for keep it from him. After Sally is angrily forced to leave the house, John Paul shouts at Myra, disowns her and kicks her out. Scott later reveals that he knew that Sally was his father for over a week. John Paul then breaks up with him and later has sex with James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan).

Reception

When the character first appeared, she was initially disliked, as the viewers thought her behaviour to incumbent head teacher Patrick Blake was rude and unsympathetic to his motor neurone disease. After her support and care for the school pupils became evident, and following her outing by Peri Lomax, comments on social media and by TV reviewers started to warm to her, with Sharon Marshall on ITV's This Morning programme saying how much she loved the character. When summarising a year's worth of stories on Hollyoaks, the Metro said "Has there been a newcomer quite so refreshing as Mrs St Claire?......Definitely one of our favourite new characters this year – long may Mrs St Claire reign!" As a result of this increasing popularity, and for her portrayal of Sally, actress Annie Wallace was nominated for several awards from the Sparkle National Transgender Awards, The National Diversity Awards, and the TV Choice Awards.

External links

• Character profile at Channel4.com