Sarah Cairns, played by Alison Pargeter, is a barmaid in Angie's Den nightclub. She first appears when Martin Fowler (James Alexandrou) and his friends pretend to have a stag party in order to get free drinks. Martin gets very drunk and is seen flirting with Sarah. The following morning, Martin wakes up in Sarah's bed. Martin admits to Sarah that he has made a mistake as he is married, and Sarah seems to back off. However, it soon emerges that Sarah is mentally unstable and begins stalking Martin as well as sending him text messages declaring her love for him. Sarah eventually runs in front of a car knowing that Martin's wife Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) will see. Sonia is a nurse, so she looks after Sarah and they become friends. Meanwhile, Sarah convinces herself that Martin loves her and that he will leave Sonia to be with her.
Martin keeps the truth about Sarah from Sonia but Sarah tells Martin's family she is dating a "certain" married man, and later confesses to Martin's mother, Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) that it is Martin. Martin finds the pressure intolerable and reports Sarah to the police, but they do not believe him. While he is out, Pauline "falls" off a stepladder, and Sarah disappears. Martin tracks her down and threatens her until she confesses that she pushed Pauline. He tells Sarah he will kill her if she shows her face again. Sarah calls the police and Martin spends most of the day at the police station. During this time Sarah goes to the Fowlers' house and tells Sonia of Martin's deceit. When Martin arrives, he apologises to Sonia and promises it meant nothing and will never happen again. When Sonia forgives him, Sarah refuses to leave, still adamant that she and Martin are meant to be together. She finally admits that although Martin fell asleep in her bed, they did not have sex. Sarah realises she can never be with Martin so she stabs him in his stomach with a pen knife. During the fight, Sonia picks up a fruit bowl, hits Sarah on the head with it, and then calls an ambulance for Martin. Sarah falls unconscious and is later committed to a mental institution.
Radio Times included Sarah in their feature profiling 'bunny boilers' and of her duration they stated: "If she's not a regular on her way to being written out, she's a guest who appears, causes havoc, and then vanishes again. Sarah was one such, a barmaid in E20 who stalked, harassed and finally stabbed Martin Fowler when he refused to dump Sonia. Last heard of in an institution."
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