SJ Fletcher

Sarah Jane "SJ" Fletcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portrayed by Natasha Beaumont. She made her first appearance on 16 June 2006. Beaumont was excited to join EastEnders as she had been a fan of the soap opera when she arrived to the UK. SJ was introduced as an Australian stripper who is looking for a place to stay, and she catches the eye of Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi), who becomes infatuated with her. SJ then uses Minty for money for months and this causes him to neglect other factors in his life. SJ's on-off boyfriend from her past, Sid Clarke (Simon Gleeson), was introduced during her stint, and the pair pretend they are siblings and scheme to take more money from Minty. Beaumont did not believe that SJ was a completely bad person as she believed that she was just used to getting her own way and does not see what she is doing as completely wrong. Beaumont made her final appearance as SJ on 12 October 2006; in the storyline, SJ and Sid leave after Minty discovers them in bed together. Beaumont enjoyed her time in the soap and wanted to portray another villain in another soap opera. SJ's behaviour led to a fan shouting at Beaumont in the street. Critics criticised SJ for her treatment of Minty and characterised her as sly, shameless and a schemer, although several critics also criticised Minty for falling for her schemes.