Sammy Rogers

Samantha 'Sammy' Rogers (previously Daniels) is a fictional character in the British soap opera Brookside. She was played by Rachael Lindsay.

Sammy first appeared in 1987 when, along with her family - mother Chrissy, father Frank , younger brother Geoff and younger sister Katie she moved to No.7. At the time, she was 14 years old and a pupil at Brookside Comprehensive School.

Determined to be independent, Sammy was keen to find a part-time job, and following an abortive attempt at cleaning for Harry Cross and Ralph Hardwick, she found an after-school job in a local supermarket, where she struck up a friendship with co-worker and fellow student Nisha Batra. She also developed an interest in animal rights, becoming a vegetarian and joining a local campaign group. Despite her parents' initial misgivings, they eventually rallied round, allowing her to join her campaign group on a national demonstration in London, and - following the family's move to No.5 - by experimenting with organic gardening.

During this time, she was pursued by local boy Owen Daniels, and they began dating in spring of 1989. A significant ongoing storyline for Sammy, Owen and Nisha came in October 1989, when, following a night out with a group of friends, they were involved in a serious car accident which killed the driver of their car (a young man whom one of their friends had just met in a nightclub). Sammy survived the incident with a broken arm, concussion and cuts and bruising and was released from hospital after a few days; however Owen remained in a coma for several weeks, during which time Sammy visited him regularly at the hospital. At the inquest some months later, it emerged that all the girls except Sammy had been somewhat economical with the truth in order to spare the feelings of the deceased's parents.

Sammy progressed to the Sixth Form of Brookside Comprehensive shortly after the accident, however she struggled to cope in the aftermath of the accident and turned to alcohol for a period.^[1] After struggling with her studies, she left school part-way through her course and enrolled on a hotel management course. With her relationship with Owen having faded in the wake of his injuries and her alcoholism, she began a relationship with a much older man, Tim Darby - who had a daughter close to Sammy's age. However, the relationship did not last, and she reunited with Owen and soon fell pregnant. They married on the 6 November 1991. Sammy gave birth to daughter Louise on 5 June 1992. She left the close the following year, only to return soon afterwards for her father's wedding to Lyn Matthews. However, on the way to the wedding reception, Frank was involved in a car crash and died shortly afterwards, while his passenger Tony Dixon was in a coma for three months before dying. Jimmy Corkhill later confessed he was responsible for causing the crash. She left the close again soon after her father's death.^[2]

Sammy made a comeback for several months in 1996, followed by another return as a semi-regular character in 2001 and on a more regular basis throughout 2002, although by now the show's ratings were in steep decline and its demise was being widely speculated in the media, a stark contrast to Sammy's original spell in the show when it pulled in millions of viewers for three episodes a week.

She made a final brief comeback in the autumn of 2003, weeks before the last episode of Brookside was aired.^[3]

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