.
Guest Character Profiles > Sharon Canning Natasha Herbert

Sharon Canning 2014, 2015, 2022
Marital Status: Gary Canning (Divorced)
Children: Kyle

Flighty Sharon Canning brought up her son Kyle on her own, after husband Gary walked out on them, but once Kyle left home, she rarely made any appearances in his life, always ready with an excuse, though she did turn up in Erinsborough when Kyle married Georgia Brooks. After embarrassing her son, calling him 'Kylie' in front of his friends, she managed to exchange a few insults with Gary's mother Sheila, and then made a beeline for local policeman Matt Turner during the wedding reception. As Sharon was disappointed that her latest boyfriend, Dwayne, hadn't shown up, and Matt was suffering with marital problems, they drowned their sorrows together, and Sharon then offered Matt the spare key card for her hotel room, telling him that she'd be leaving town the next morning anyway, so they'd never have to see each other again. Matt, however, though tempted, decided that he would stay true to his wedding vows and didn't go to Sharon's room.

A few months later, Sharon returned for another visit, and was pleased to bump into Matt again at The Waterhole. She made it clear that she was still interested in him, but was soon distracted by family dramas, as Georgia was facing problems at work, and Sharon's advice to Kyle only managed to irritate Sheila. Sheila then told Sharon that she wasn't welcome at the Canning house and would have to stay at the hotel. With Matt facing serious problems at home, and now Sharon feeling rejected by her own family, the pair met up for a drink and were soon heading back to her hotel room, where they were spotted kissing in the corridor by Terese Willis. Worried about what Matt was about to do, Terese returned to the room and, whilst Sharon was in the shower, dragged him off before anything else could happen. When Sharon tracked down Matt a few days later, she was annoyed that he'd left her in the lurch again, but it quickly became clear to her that he wanted to forget the whole incident. And so, later that day, Kyle drove Sharon to the train station, with Matt and Terese both hoping that the secret was safe.

However, Matt was killed in a hit-and-run accident only hours after Sharon left town, and she decided to return the following week to pay her respects at the funeral. Arriving too late for the ceremony, she went looking for her family, but Terese was unnerved to see her back in town, and did her best to stop her from going to the Turner house. However, under the misguided apprehension that it might somehow help, Sharon went to see Lauren, attempting to tell her what had happened a couple of weeks earlier. A confused Lauren believed that Sharon was referring to her first attempt to seduce Matt - after Kyle and Georgia's wedding - and said that she knew all about it, and Terese then arrived just in time, dragging Sharon away before she could say anything else. As Sharon then spent more time with her family and started to talk about sticking around in Erinsborough, Terese, now desperate to get rid of her, offered her a market research job on a cruise ship, explaining that Lassiter's was looking to move into that area. Sharon, realising that she had the upper hand, even managed to get some spending money out of Terese before accepting the offer.

It was a few months before Lauren finally found out about Matt's visit to Sharon's hotel room, as Brad could no longer listen as she spoke about how perfect her husband had been. After listening to Brad and Terese's explanation over why they'd done their best to keep it all a secret, and hoping to get Sharon to leave town, Lauren decided that she had to speak to Sharon herself, so she called her and invited her over for a chat. Sharon explained that she had wanted to be honest about everything, but that Terese had stopped her, and had then managed to bribe her to leave. Though Lauren said that Terese had only done that because they were friends and she wanted to protect her feelings, Sharon was less sure, warning Lauren to be careful of Terese, as she may have been acting more out of jealousy than friendship.

When Sharon next made an appearance in Erinsborough, it was for Kyle's wedding to Roxy Willis. Sharon was pleased to see Terese again, telling her that the cruise ship job she'd given her had led to others, and she was now working on ships all over the world. Sharon was also quick to tell Roxy she was being an idiot, when the bride-to-be feared that her wedding wouldn't happen after a series of disasters, including the marquee not turning up. As everyone pitched in to help with the preparations, Sharon soon had her eye on Glen Donnelly, the half-brother of Terese's ex-husband Paul. Terese had also been developing feelings for Glen, and when she went to his hotel room later that evening, she was shocked to find him and Sharon in a state of undress.

The wedding took place the following day, with Sharon proud to see her son married for a second time. Terese, however, struggled on the day, as she watched Sharon asking Glen to sit with her during the ceremony and flirted with him during the reception. With a major storm building, most of the wedding party then headed over to the Flamingo Bar, and, distracted by seeing Glen and Sharon together, Terese didn't act quickly enough to evacuate the bar, and could only watch on as a pylon crashed down onto the building with everyone inside.

Trivia Notes
• Though Sharon is credited as appearing in episode 8764, it is only in flashbacks to the end of the previous episode, in order to show what had distracted Terese from evacuating the Flamingo Bar.

Tenure
6986, 7081, 7087, 7093, 7094, 7147, 8762, 8763, 8764