Development
The Grant family consisted of Sheila, her husband Bobby (Ricky Tomlinson) and their children Barry (Paul Usher), Karen (Shelagh O'Hara) and Damon (Simon O'Brien). The Grants appeared in the first episode. [1] In the scripts, Sheila was given the two nicknames of "Queen" and "She", which Bobby often refers to her as during scenes. [2]
Writers planned a later-in-life pregnancy storyline for Sheila which captivated viewers' imaginations. [3] The show initially received letters from viewers who mistakenly believed Sheila had cancer because of subtleties added into scripts which portrayed Sheila as being tired. Show creator, Phil Redmond told Roy West from Liverpool Echo that Sheila's pregnancy was only hinted at to begin with and he believed that leaving things unsaid on-screen helped drive their viewers' imaginations. He added "this is what all the good drama does." [3]
In 1986, the most notable storyline featuring Sheila's rape was broadcast. The story was written in order to keep Sue Johnston on the soap, who had previously expressed an interest in leaving. [4]
In the book, "Phil Redmond's Brookside - Life in the Close" it details the lives of former Brookside characters away from the main series. In Sheila and Billy's story, it details them in 1994, still living in Basingstoke where Sheila worked as a part-time school secretary. She and Billy have relationship problems because of rumours about Billy having an affair with a woman whose house he was re-wiring. [5]
On 23 August 2025, it was announced that Johnston had reprised her role for a Brookside and Hollyoaks crossover episode as part of latter's 30th Anniversary. Of her return, Johnston stated "it'll be so lovely to go back and be Sheila for a day as it was such big, enjoyable part of my life." [6] [7]
Storylines
After Bobby had spent his first months of Brookside Close fighting to save his job and 200 others at Fairbanks Engineering, Sheila is the one made redundant in 1983. In an attempt to occupy herself she joined Annabelle Collins' (Doreen Sloane) Ratepayers Association and forged an unlikely friendship with her. [8] The two however disagree when Sheila nominated Roger Huntington (Rob Spendlove) as chairman instead of Annabelle and when they clash over what type of group it should be with Annabelle wanting it to be an apolitical group bringing issues such as hedges and refuse collection to the attention of the council while Sheila wanted to use it to campaign about the poor standard of schooling in the area and the lack of jobs for their children. Later, in an attempt to make a living, Sheila establishes a non-registered employment agency. This has the unfortunate result of having friend Matty Nolan (Tony Scoggo) prosecuted for benefit fraud. [9]
In 1984, Sheila became pregnant with her and Bobby's fourth child, despite both of them being well over 40. Their daughter Claire (Amy Lynch) was born on 8 January 1985 - the very first baby to be born in the series, more than two years after its inception. However, the downside to this was that parenthood so late in life put pressure of the Grant's marriage. The Grant family started to break-up from 1986, first with Karen leaving to go to university in London. In 1987, Damon was stabbed and died on Lendal Bridge in York. Bobby and Sheila persuaded Barry not to go after revenge, but the strain this put on her caused a rift in her marriage. To try and recuperate, Sheila and Bobby leave for a stay with Sheila's sister Margaret Jefferson (Barbara Marten) and her husband Tony (Richard Walker), but to no avail, and the marriage continues to collapse. After months of tension between him and Sheila, Bobby left her and the soap in 1988. Despite Barry and Sheila's best efforts, without Bobby's wage they fall behind with the mortgage repayments and their home is repossessed, later being bought by Frank Rogers (Peter Christian). Sheila is devastated by this, as the home represents everything she and Bobby had worked for. Barry lived in a Volkswagen camper van while Sheila moved into friend Billy Corkhill's (John McArdle) house with Claire.
Sheila was raped after getting out of a taxi. Following her ordeal she bathed, removing any evidence that could have incriminated her attacker. There were three suspects: former friend Matty Nolan, who was furious with her for wrecking his marriage by telling his wife he'd been having an affair; neighbour Pat Hancock (David Easter), who had gotten drunk after a violent argument with his girlfriend and couldn't remember what he'd been up to; and lecturer Alun Jones (Norman Eshley), who had unsuccessfully tried to initiate an affair. However it soon emerged that none of them were guilty, and the rape had been committed by the taxi driver who had just dropped Sheila off. Sheila later discovered she was pregnant as a result of the rape but had a miscarriage.
Sheila spends Christmas 1988 with Billy and the two get on well. Later when Debbie McGrath (Gillian Kearney) comes around with Simon, Sheila's grandson, Sheila, Billy and Debbie take him to the park and Sheila and Billy grow closer. On Christmas evening, Billy gives Sheila her present, some rosary beads which he had bought from the Cathedral, knowing how important her Catholic religion was to her. Billy also buys a set for Claire.
Sheila goes to confide in a priest she does not know about her failed marriage with Bobby, her repossession and meeting Debbie (whom she refers to as Damon's wife) and her grandson Simon. She does not mention Billy to him, although infers his presence. That night Sheila goes missing from Billy's house and he finds her having broken into her boarded up old home, sitting in Damon's old room remembering him and the happy times she had had in that house.
Feeling she is still married to Bobby in the eyes of the church and her growing relationship with Billy is sinful, Sheila insists in leaving, although Billy tells her that his home is her home and tells her she is more than welcome. Nonetheless, Sheila is intent on leaving. On New Year's Eve, however, Sheila slips out of a party early to be with Claire. Billy follows her and the two kiss, starting a relationship between them. Sheila and Billy marry in September 1990 and left Brookside to live in Basingstoke, Hampshire with Sheila's sister Margaret, eventually selling No.10 to Billy's son Rod (Jason Hope) and his wife Diana (Paula Frances).
Sheila Corkhill returned, without Billy, in the straight-to-video special The Lost Weekend in 1997. She returned again the following year another straight-to-video special, Friday the 13th, to attend the wedding of her niece-in-law Lindsey Corkhill (Claire Sweeney) and Peter Phelan (Samuel Kane), however she became caught up in trouble when her brother-in-law Jimmy (Dean Sullivan) is pursued by drug-dealers intent on killing him. Here, she reveals to sister-in-law Jackie (Sue Jenkins) that she and Billy have split up after an argument over Billy's ex-wife Doreen (Kate Fitzgerald) but Sheila explained that as soon as she arrived back from Tracy's wedding, Billy had sent her a bunch of flowers from her flower shop and she left, making her final appearance, to go back home and reconcile with Billy. In 2001, Jimmy mentioned that Billy and Sheila were "still together" in a conversation with neighbour Diane Murray (Bernie Nolan). This proved they had reconciled.
