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Kathy Barnes is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Sarah Jane Buckley. Kathy arrived in October 2005. In October 2007, it was announced that Kathy had been written out of the serial and would leave in January 2008. She returned briefly on 24 April 2017 for the funeral of her daughter Amy Barnes (Ashley Slanina-Davies) and departed the following day on 25 April 2017. Kathy returned on 4 September 2017 for Ste Hay's (Kieron Richardson) week-long trial. After being found not guilty on 8 September 2017, Ste was shot by Kathy, following which Kathy is taken into police custody and makes a permanent exit.
In 2009, Buckley admitted she would like to see her character return. Speaking to Holy Soap, Buckley explained: "I suggested, and I haven't heard anything back yet, that I should come back, demand to have the babies from Amy and have a young toyboy, which would throw Mike Barnes into a right tizz. I think it would be an amazing storyline for her to come back and cause loads of trouble in the village with this younger man." She continued: "I wish they'd bring Kathy back. I had so much more to go with her. I was sad to leave. I didn't want to leave at all. I loved doing the show." When asked whether she thought viewers would be happy to see the character, Buckley said: "I always thought they'd say, 'We're glad you're gone'. But people say they wish she was there because she was that kind of antagonistic element you need sometimes in a soap. Get the campaign going! Get Kathy back. I'd go back tomorrow."
Kathy returns in October 2007, and finds Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) living with Amy. Kathy and Mike are not happy and throw Ste out. Amy then leaves with Leah and moves in with Ste. Kathy phones the social services which excludes her from her daughter even more. Kathy discovers Sarah and Rhys are back together. Their relationship leads to the start of Kathy's vendetta against the Ashworth family. The family begins getting strange phone calls, vandalism on their house and even a Tupperware box full of faeces. The Ashworths begin to accuse several people including Ste and even own family members Hannah Ashworth (Emma Rigby) and Beth Clement (Sinéad Moynihan). Whilst throwing a brick through the window of the Ashworth family business, Drive 'n' Buy, Kathy loses a nail. She goes to Evissa for a manicure and tells Carmel McQueen (Gemma Merna) that she took the nail off after it became loose. Carmel turns detective and finds a broken nail outside Drive 'n' Buy. She then reveals Kathy as the vandal. Kathy, Mike, Sarah, Amy and Ste are confronted by Rhys, Hannah, Beth. Suzanne Ashworth (Suzanne Hall), Neville Ashworth (Jim Millea), and Josh Ashworth (Sonny Flood). Kathy also gets jealous of Zoe Carpenter (Zoë Lister) and falsely accuses her and Mike of cheating. Although he had always previously supported Kathy throughout all of her various issues while at Hollyoaks, this accusation, coupled with Kathy's vendetta against the Ashworths, finally proves to be the last straw for Mike. Unable to cope with Kathy's behaviour any longer Mike tells her to leave. When she refuses, Mike throws her out, and Kathy goes to stay with her mother. In January 2008 Mike subsequently files for a divorce.
In October 2009, Sarah dies during a parachute jump. Mike phones Kathy to tell her the bad news. However, she does not attend Sarah's funeral.
She later returned in September for Ste's trail for Amy's murder. After catching Ryan kissing Tegan Lomax (Jessica Ellis) and decides to take Leah & Lucas away from her. She takes them to the beach where she unearths Shane Sweeney's (Michael Salami) handgun; Shane had been reported missing a couple of weeks earlier. Instead of calling the police, Kathy decides to keep the gun for herself.
The following day, Ste is found not guilty of Amy's murder, with Kathy running off in tears. Having watching Ste being released, Kathy decides to shoot him in the courtroom. Ste survives the shooting with no internal injuries. Kathy is last seen being escorted to the police station, under arrest for attempted murder.
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