Hollyoaks - Interview with Annie Wallace (Sally St Claire)
Category: Press Pack ArticleYou were involved in the writing of the script for the special episode, can you tell us about that?
Alanna (Hallum) contacted me and said she was writing this episode and it was very interesting. She said she had this one scene where Sally talks about the trans flag and what it means to her and she wanted my input. Ultimately she thought it would be authentic coming from me and asked if I could give her any ideas. I just said I can tell you a monologue off the top of my head right now, so I did it! Pretty much what came off the top of my head went into the script. Obviously she finessed it and did her professional writer work but it was a good opportunity to get a little ten pence in which was nice. It also explained a lot of my own philosophies about being trans and a lot of it is not reflected in today’s world. I don’t often fit in with what is commercially thought of as being trans and that being out and proud and fabulous and shopping and makeup it’s just not me I don’t feel it. The only person who ever represented me on television was Hayley Cropper because so much of her came from me, apart from of course the fabulous writing and the fabulous performances which are the important part, but Hayley was just an ordinary person. I feel that there are not enough ordinary trans people in the public eye at the moment, so it was nice to put my aspect over in that way.
What was that scene like to film?
It was great it was really nice it wasn’t raining for a change. It was nice because it gave us a little bit of reflection and we tweaked it a little bit to make it sound more empathic. It was just a really nice little reflection scene. It stuck out, I was very proud of it.
Why do you think it’s important for Hollyoaks to show the contrast of togetherness during the issue storyline covering conversion therapy?
The bottom line is that the LGBTQ+ community is automatically drawn together because we have the same enemies and that is predominantly people who are cisgendered heterosexual which accounts for 90% of the human race. You can understand that ultimately, we are all a part of a small minority. Even though there’s people who go ‘I’m sick and tired of seeing all this queer stuff on my TV screen’ well you know what, this is a redress of a balance that has been lacking for decades. Yes there is a lot of it on television now and that’s because there’s a lot of queer people involved with making television whether it be writing or behind the scenes or working in sound or direction or acting or whatever. It’s good that these stories are being told rather than just boy meets girl proposes gets married and has two children, that has been the never ending story in soap its love triangles and pregnancy. Those are pretty much stock and trade of every soap opera since 1960 and it’s interesting that trans people have a very different journey because children and marriage and everything sometimes doesn’t work out because of the minority aspect. It’s nice to show that actually when it comes down to it and queer people sit down and talk about their experiences, the amount of common ground there is is absolutely stark and plain to see. Although sexuality and gender identity are very different things, the gender non-conformist aspect of it is what gets focussed upon. Its what’s used to hammer the community into submission as it were. It’s been particularly appalling for the past few years led by the anti-trans movement so yeah we stick together and we’re stronger together.
Carter has helped Sally get her foot back in the door of Hollyoaks High, do you miss playing the headteacher and hope for a reinstatement in the future?
Absolutely, her natural position is headteacher. It was kind of stolen from her as one of the governors clearly had it in for Sally because he was only interested in league tables but as we know there’s more to being a school than that. Yes she had pressure but she also had other things and I’m quite sure she could pull her socks up and become headteacher again. I think it would be the right thing to do but of course first we’ve got to get rid of Carter and how would we do that who knows.
Do you like filming with David Ames?
Yes I do very much. We were kind of friends before anyway through meeting each other at pride and various events and online, he’s a very talented actor. He can really do evil very well for someone who is so nice. They always say that the best evil characters are the ones played by the nicest people.
If anyone’s going to get rid of Carter it’s going to be Sally, do you think so?
It would be nice to think that she has a contribution to whatever downfall may happen to him, and maybe working in the school she’ll begin to spot things because he’s quite unstable. I think at some point his guard will drop and she will see him for what he is, but I don’t know yet, we will have to wait and see…