Sally Louise Fletcher (also Copeland and Keating) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Kate Ritchie. She made her first screen appearance during the serial's pilot episode, which was broadcast on 17 January 1988. Sally became the longest running original female cast member. She departed on 3 April 2008. Ritchie earned various awards and nominations for her portrayal of Sally. In February 2013, it was announced that Ritchie would be reprising her role. Sally returned during the episode broadcast on 15 July 2013 with her daughter. They departed on 5 September 2013.
Casting
Ritchie auditioned for the role of Sally in front of executive producer John Holmes in 1987. Her audition scene was all about strawberry jam and Sally's imaginary friend Milco. Ritchie told Jason Herbison of British magazine All About Soap that she could remember reading Sally's scenes for Holmes, before auditioning for the director who recorded it on video. She added "I remember when my mum told me I got the part of Sally. I didn't want her to tell anyone because I was really embarrassed." Holmes revealed Ritchie had stood out among the other actresses auditioning for the role. He said "Actors always choose themselves for a role and in this case Kate Ritchie shone head and shoulders above all the rest." During flashbacks to the character's childhood, Sally was played by Chloe Shelsher.
In 2008, Ritchie said of her role, "I well and truly know the girl that is Sally Fletcher. If only I had realised earlier she wasn't my enemy, she wasn't the embarrassing little sister always trying to spoil my fun but, in fact, the best friend I ever had....In my Logie acceptance speech last year I said Home and Away had always been my constant and the same goes for Sally. We have spent the past 20 years side by side....Sally is a good person. She is the true meaning of the word good, often a quality that goes unnoticed and is most definitely underrated. Sounds crazy, but it is true."
Departure and return
After twenty years, Ritchie departed Home and Away and her last episode aired on 3 April 2008. Ritchie admitted that she had thought about leaving the show for years, but finally made her decision to go in 2007. She filmed her final scenes in December that year. Ritchie compared her exit from the show to ending a romantic relationship, writing "My decision to leave Home and Away could draw many similarities to breaking up with the boyfriend you just knew you had to... You still loved him, you always would and no doubt you were going to miss him like crazy – after all, you're not sure you even remember life before he came along. But something just wasn't right any more and the time had come for the inevitable parting of ways. Melodramatic? Perhaps. Only because I am desperate to normalise a situation that seems harder to explain as each day passes and for every one of those days I get closer to having to say goodbye to Sally Fletcher." Ritchie called Sally's exit storyline "perfect", while critic Farah Farouque stated "the last episode featuring Sally is a TV moment of note."
On 10 February 2013, it was announced that Ritchie would be reprising her role for "a special story arc". Of her return, Ritchie stated "There will be a wonderful sense of familiarity stepping back into Sally’s shoes for a while. Summer Bay is a very different place these days and I am looking forward to working with all the fresh faces that have continued to take Home and Away from strength to strength. It will be a good opportunity to catch up with some old mates too! Those cast and crew I worked with for so many years are who I have missed the most." Ritchie said that her decision to reprise her role depended on Sally having a great return story, as she did not want to come back and change sheets. The actress began filming Sally's return on 25 February. A promotional trailer for Sally's return was released on 20 June. It shows Sally returning to Summer Bay and stating that she had to come back, but is afraid to tell anyone why. Sally returned with her daughter on 15 July 2013.
Storylines
Backstory
Twins Sally and Miles lived together with their alcoholic father Aaron (Timothy Walter) and mother Diana. Aaron used to beat Diana, so she left him. Diana and new husband Derek Wilson had been killed in a boating accident. She went to live with her grandmother Mrs. Keating, but she developed Alzheimer's Disease. Sally was soon fostered by Tom (Roger Oakley) and Pippa Fletcher (Vanessa Downing; Debra Lawrence). Sally had an imaginary friend named Milco. Aaron and Miles went to find Sally, but after seeing Sally was better off with the Fletcher family, they left.