Sally Fletcher

H&a sally — Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie)

Sally Louise Fletcher (née Copeland, previously Keating) [1] was a main character from the January 1988 pilot episode until April 2008 (Episode 4610). She made a return as a guest in 2013, last appearing in Episode 5825. Sally was one of the first children fostered by Tom and Pippa Fletcher and is regarded as one of Home and Away's most iconic characters. Sally was played by dual Gold Logie award winning star Kate Ritchie.

Biography[]

Sally Copeland
Character Profile
Birthday:	9 February 1979
Birthplace:	Australia
Father:	Aaron Copeland Tom Fletcher (adoptive)
Mother:	Diana Copeland (biological mother) Pippa Fletcher (adoptive)
Siblings:	Miles Copeland Christopher Fletcher (adoptive) Dale Ross (adoptive)
Spouse:	Flynn Saunders (2003-2006) (his death)
Children:	Pippa Saunders (2004)
Occupation:	Teacher
Played By:	Kate Ritchie

Backstory[]

Sally Copeland was born on 9 February 1979 to Aaron and Diana Copeland. She had a twin brother Miles. Her parents marriage broke up while she was still a small child, largely because Aaron was a heavy drinker and all-round horrible person. Fearing he'd be stopped from seeing his kids after splitting up with Diana, Aaron ran away with Miles. He had considered taking Sally with him but decided that life on the road wouldn't be suitable for a little girl. Father and son vanished without a trace. Sally never saw her father again, though it was revealed in flashback that a meeting almost happened in 1988. Diana remarried in the early 80s, tying the knot with Derek Wilson. Both were killed in a boating accident, so Sally went to live with her grandmother Mrs Keating. When Mrs Keating developed Alzheimer's Disease, Sally was fostered by Tom and Pippa Fletcher. For some time Sally had an imaginary friend named Milco who she would refer to frequently. Milco was later revealed to be the name she had called Miles as a young child.

1988-2000[]

In January 1988, Tom and Pippa Fletcher decided to relocate to Summer Bay. And so, Sally moved along with her foster siblings Frank Morgan, Carly Morris, Lynn Davenport and Steven Matheson. She quickly settled into her new home and school, where she was a diligent student. She enjoyed playing in Floss and Neville McPhee's caravan, something she continued to do even after they left. She continued to refer to her imaginary friend "Milco" in these years, which was indulged by her family. When her new foster brother Dodge came along in 1989, he gave her a hard time and "killed" Milco off. At least Milco was imaginary - Dodge was later revealed to have killed Philip Matheson. Also in 1988 Sally gained a baby brother in the form of Christopher Fletcher. She would be seen looking after him for years to come.

Tom and Pippa adopted Sally in 1989, but not before her head was turned by her wealthy uncle Ross Keating who wanted to take her for good. She also had a brief romance with classmate Murray "Mullet" Jensen. In 1990 Sally was devastated when Tom died suddenly. When Pippa began to date Michael Ross in 1991 she was very hostile towards him. She had a change of heart when she came to realise how much Pippa liked him and how home without a dad wasn't the same.

On Christmas Day 1994 Sally ran away from home and wasn't seen for a few weeks. Pippa and Michael's marriage had hit the rocks (temporarily, as it turned out) and Sally's anger and hurt boiled over during a disastrous Christmas dinner. She returned for Christopher's birthday and revealed that she had slept rough for some of her time away.

Although Sally had occasional boyfriends, sometimes they were a bit too close to home. Literally! She was humiliated when she kissed her foster brother Damian Roberts and he reacted badly. Later on, she briefly dated Jack Wilson who was also being fostered in her house. She asked Joe Lynch out but he bullied her for that. She also dated bad boy Gus Bishop who memorably set Jack's guitar on fire. Also fire and family-related, she dated Nelson McFarlane who was a first cousin of Damian's. That ended after Nelson was badly burned in a fire and was sent away to a specialist burns unit. Like many teenagers, she learned to her her cost that sneaking out to parties and/or drinking too much alcohol doesn't go down well with cranky foster parents!

In 1996 Michael was drowned, so Sal's home life was upended yet again. To try and cheer her up, Sally's friends took her on a rafting trip. The raft broke up and Sally was washed up on a beach. She was found by Jamie Grace, a man with learning difficulties. She was rescued by Steven Matheson. Sally began to date Tim O'Connell but that ended when he was arrested. After this, she went off the rails and slept with bad boy Scott Irwin who looked suspiciously like Heath Ledger. That didn't end well. In the meantime, Tim returned and Sally resumed her relationship with him.

In 1998 Pippa decided to go travelling with her new love Ian Routledge. Sally assumed that Pippa would let her and Tim take over the house. She was furious when she learned that Pippa had asked Travis and Rebecca Nash to move into the house. They briefly fell out but reconciled before Pippa left. Shortly afterwards, Sally and Tim broke up. She then moved into Travis's old house and lived there with Vinnie Patterson and Jesse McGregor. She briefly had a fling with Sean Ellis but he cheated on her with his ex-wife. She then fell for Vinnie and they became a couple. They split after a year.

Sally got caught up in a hold-up at the diner and got shot in the leg. She recovered from this but it wasn't the first time she would sustain injuries that most people are never ever in danger of suffering.

2000 - 2008[]

In 2000 Sally embarked on a trip around the world. After a booking mix-up at a hotel in Ireland, she found herself sharing a room with fellow tourist Kieran Fletcher. They embarked on a whirlwind romance and returned to Australia, engaged. Behind Sal's back, Kieran began to make moves on Gypsy Nash. When they were about to make their wedding vows, Gypsy announced that Kieran had been making advances towards her. The trauma of it caused Sally to develop OCD. After the non-wedding, Sally fell for Kieran's best man Luke Harvey. They became briefly engaged but he then had to move away because of his job. When Sally kissed Harry Reynolds, she knew it was time to call the wedding off.

Sally decided to take up teaching as a career. She was given a job as a history teacher in her old school, though by now the Principal was Judith Ackroyd. She began dating fellow teacher Brett Egan but that hit the rocks when he assaulted Noah Lawson. Sally reported him and Brett ended their relationship. Perhaps surprisingly, given their history, Sally became good friends with Gypsy.

In 2001 Sally began to date Dr Flynn Saunders who had just begun working in the local drop-in centre. Then Sally learned she had ovarian cancer and would have to have a hysterectomy. Although she had some of her eggs frozen before her surgery, she feared that Flynn would leave her now that she couldn't have children. She eventually decided to look for a surrogate mother and her former foster sister Sophie Simpson agreed to do it. When Sophie went for an ultrasound, she learned that she was carrying two babies with different parents. One was Sally and Flynn's child. The other was her and Blake Dean's baby. Sophie miscarried Sally's baby shortly afterwards.

In 2002 Sally became Acting Principal of Summer Bay High. Deputy Principal Angie Russell was less than happy about this and tried to get rid of her. She was aware of Sally's previous struggles with OCD and triggered that again. Sally gave her job to Paris Burnett and walked away. After learning that Angie had tried to seduce student Nick Smith, she came back and resumed her role as Deputy Principal. Yet another school Principal was appointed and this time it was Barry Hyde. Sally clashed with him but at least he appeared to be sane.

Sally finally managed to get engaged and married in 2003 when she and Flynn tied the knot. Leah Poulos offered to be a surrogate mother for them and went on to give birth to a little girl called Pippa. Sally and Flynn moved back into Summer Bay House and fostered Ric Dalby and Cassie Turner.

She suffered a brain haemorrhage after she was pushed off a ladder by the Summer Bay Stalker (the 2005 one was loopy nurse Eve Jacobsen). When tampering with Sal's life support machine in the hospital wasn't enough, Eve tried abducting her. Sally managed to escape despite being tied up in an abandoned building filled with gas, and Eve the stalker was vaporized in the inevitable explosion.

Sal's troubles weren't over. Back at school, student Diesel Williams claimed they were having an affair. The police and the Department of Education came in to investigate but that wasn't the end of it. Diesel later held Sally hostage and she was rescued by Flynn. Meanwhile, Flynn was diagnosed with skin cancer. Sadly it was too advanced for him to be operated on so he slowly deteriorated. After Flynn's death in 2006, Alf Stewart moved into Summer Bay house to support Sally.

At the school, Sally took an interest in gang member Rocco Cooper, and tried to help him turn his life around. She was unsuccessful and he was drawn back into his brother Johnny's gangster world. For her troubles, Sally was stabbed by Rocco. By now she had got involved with new school Principal Brad Armstrong. After her near-death experience, they became closer and eventually got engaged. Sally jilted him on their wedding day and after a later attempt at reconciliation, they realised that they were over.

In 2007 Sally's long-lost brother Miles (a.k.a. Milco) returned. She didn't know he even existed because their later father had taken him away when she was so young. After not believing him at first, they got to know each other.

After being stabbed by Rocco's brother Johnny, Sally nearly died. While she was undergoing surgery and somewhere between life and death, she had a vision of her old foster father Tom. He showed her what life in Summer Bay would be like without her and gave her a choice. She could choose to die and reunite with the people she'd cared about and lost, or she could choose to live. Sally decided to live. After her old job was taken by Martin Bartlett, Sally decided that it was time to move on. Ric and Miles organised a leaving concert at the school. Pippa, Carly and Steven returned for her send-off and she said an emotional goodbye to Alf.

2013[]

Sally returned in 2013 with her daughter Pippa. She revealed that Pippa was suffering from a Mitochondrial disease. Alf gave her the money for treatment, which would involve a trip to America.