Sally St. Claire

Character Profile

Sally St. Claire (formerly Iain Naismith before transition) is the mother of John Paul McQueen, and grandmother of Matthew-Jesus McQueen.

She is the headteacher of Hollyoaks High School, succeeding Patrick Blake in 2015. She is also the ex-fiancée of Myra McQueen, who she dated before her transition from man to woman in 1990. Prior to her transition, Sally fathered a son, John Paul McQueen, with Myra.

Biography[]

Until 2015: Early Life[]

Sally was born Iain Naismith and had a relationship with Myra McQueen in the 1980s. After Myra fell pregnant, 'Iain' left her, and Myra gave birth to a son - John Paul - in 3rd January 1989. In 1990, Sally began transitioning from male to female, and began going by 'Sally St. Claire'. After her transition, Sally began working as a teacher, but left her last school after several teachers and parents reacted negatively after discovering that she was transgender.

2015-2016: Arrival and Revelations[]

Sally arrived in Hollyoaks in October 2015, meeting Patrick Blake at the headteachers office at Hollyoaks High School to inform him that she would be replacing him in the role. Patrick reacted badly to the news and Sally fired him with immediate effect. Oblivious to his connection to her, John Paul - a teacher at the school - helped Sally move into her new office, finding her birth certificate baring the name 'Iain Naismith'. Sally told him that she was transgender, but wanted to keep it secret due to the past negative reactions. However, Peri Lomax overheard the pair discussing and vandalised the school's art exhibition, outing Sally. Sally furiously suspended Peri until further notice and considered leaving the school, but John Paul managed to change her mind.

After John Paul's date stole laptops from the school whilst John Paul was sorting them, Sally suspended him. Myra turned up at the school to furiously confront Sally, recognising her as Iain. Sally agreed to keep the truth hidden from John Paul, but inadvertently blurted out that John Paul was her son after John Paul was attacked by Pete Buchanan. John Paul eventually forgave Sally but his relationship with Myra suffered when he learned of the secrets about Sally she had been keeping from him. Myra ended up attacking Sally and Sally pushed Myra away, inadvertently causing her to fall down a flight of stairs. Sally was arrested for attempted murder and lawyer James Nightingale - hired by John Paul - told Sally to lie about her version of events as she had no gender recognition certificate, meaning that she would be incarcerated in an all-male prison. The charges were eventually dropped against her.

2016-2017: Friendship with Neeta[]

Sally hired Courtney Campbell as a teacher and Neeta Kaur as a teaching assistant, despite getting off on the wrong foot with the former and the latter having little experience. Impressed by her passion, Sally ended up forming a close friendship with Neeta. After learning that John Paul was planning on moving abroad, Sally informed him of a teaching exchange job in Singapore. Myra was left furious with Sally when John Paul was accepted and moved to Singapore in March 2017, but the pair eventually became friends. Afterwards, Sally decided to become roommates with Neeta, with the pair moving into 5 Oakdale Drive, Flat 2 together.

Neeta later decided to move out to reunite with her ex-fiancé Mac Nightingale. After discovering a bruise on Neeta's face, Sally confronted Mac, only for Mac to reveal that Neeta had been having an affair with Hunter McQueen. Sally was forced to call the police on Neeta, who was arrested. However, Sally was left devastated when Neeta was killed after being dropped from a height by Mac after an explosion at the school. Sally and Hunter attempted to expose Mac, with Mac becoming violent towards her after confessing. Sally and Hunter's quest ended when Mac was pushed through a window by his daughter Ellie, and moved to a long-term care facility.

2017-2019: Relationship with Myra[]

After Neeta's death, Sally pretended that she had a leak in the flat as an excuse to move into 26 Leigh Road, but Myra soon discovered that Sally actually had feelings for her. After sharing a kiss, Myra told Sally that she did not have feelings for her and wanted to remain friends. However, after Sally caught Myra flirting with Buster Smith and considered leaving, Myra declared her love for Sally and the pair began a relationship. Her relationship with Myra meant that Sally ended up getting caught up in the various schemes and family dramas, such as Mercedes McQueen returning to the village from Los Angeles, having kidnapped her son Bobby Costello from his grandfather Carl.

At Christmas 2018, Myra realised that she had forgotten to get a Christmas present for Sally and hurriedly arranged a marriage proposal, which Sally accepted. The pair planned for a March 2019 wedding, but Myra's interest began to wane. On the day of the wedding, Sally overheard Myra speaking with Scott Drinkwell about her kiss with DJ Stevie Scaramouch at Duke Street Social Club a few weeks earlier. Sally jilted Myra at the altar and planned to leave the village, but Myra told Sally that she should be the one to leave, moving to Alicante.

Following Myra's departure, Sally faced several challenges that arose at the school. Sid Sumner - the son of far right extremist Stuart Sumner - began making false allegations that Imran Maalik had threatened to blow up the school. Meanwhile, new teacher Laurie Shelby began sexually harassing Sienna Blake and manipulated her and Sally. During an argument between Laurie and Sienna, Sally snapped at Laurie, resulting in Laurie making an allegation of workplace bullying and getting Sally suspended. In September 2019, Sally came face-to-face with John Paul's rapist Finn O'Connor after his release from prison. Finn began working for a Christmas tree delivery company, with Hollyoaks High School being one of the customers. Sally was quick to tell Finn's boss about why Finn was in prison, getting him fired. Sally was left delighted when John Paul moved back to the village in December, whilst Finn was driven out of the village by Edward Hutchinson in the same month.

2020-: County Lines and Killing George[]

As the village began being targeted by county lines drug dealers, Hollyoaks High School became a target. After the stabbing of teacher Nancy Osborne by a drug dealer, P.C. George Kiss was stationed at the school. John Paul developed feeling for George and Sally pushed him into asking George on a date, which began their relationship. After an examiner found marijuana in Sid's music folder, Sally expelled him.

George and John Paul's relationship took a dark turn as George began trying to convince people that John Paul was being domestically violent towards him. However, Sally became suspicious of George, with George threatening to cut her out of John Paul's life if she kept interfering in their relationship. After George was exposed, Sally and Theresa McQueen confronted him as he prepared to leave the village. George lunged for Theresa and Sally struck George with a bookend, killing him. Theresa took the blame for the murder, but when Sally planned to confess, John Paul told D.S. Cohen that he was the killer. To get John Paul released, Sally confessed, but the case against her was dropped after corrupt officer P.C. Smith was exposed.

John Paul ended up developing alcoholism after George's death, even hiding alcohol at school. Leah Barnes and DeMarcus Westwood broke into the school, found the alcohol in the caretaker's closet and DeMarcus collapsed from alcohol poisoning. Sally believed that the caretaker, Prince McQueen, was responsible and fired him. Due to alcohol withdrawal symptoms, John Paul crashed a school minibus during a trip, leaving student Freya Calder paralysed. After learning that John Paul was an alcoholic, Sally was forced to fire him due to the crash. John Paul turned on Sally, until Sally suffered two heart attacks and nearly died.

Kill Count[]

Murders[]

George Kiss, 23rd April 2021 (defence) - Struck George over the head with a bookend in defence of Theresa McQueen, whom George was about to attack.

Attempted Murders[]

None

Appendices[]

Residences[]

Address	Duration
5 Oakdale Drive, Flat 2	April 2017 to 2018
26 Leigh Road	2018 to 2019
1 Stockton Lane	2019 to 26th October 2021
3 Oakdale Drive, Flat 4	26th October 2021 to 22nd December 2021
The Cage	Since 22nd December 2021

Employment history[]

Job	Duration
Hollyoaks High School Headteacher	29th October 2015 to 28th February 2023
Hollyoaks High School Bookkeeper	Since 20th September 2023

Background Information[]

Actress Annie Wallace was cast in the role through a workshop - devised collaboratively by Hollyoaks and the 'All About Trans' project - in 2015. Her casting was announced by Paris Lees in an article in The Guardian in October 2015.

Introduction Sequence[]

2015-2016: Sally will mark the screen as a paper.
2016-2017: Sally is dancing with John Paul McQueen and Myra McQueen.
2017: Sally is dancing with Myra.
2018-2019: Sally sings karaoke with Myra, Nana and Bobby.
2019-2022: Sally sings karaoke with Bobby as Nana swings a microphone above her head.
2022-: Sally pulls out a dress from a rack at Sweater Thunberg before being showered with confetti.