Sam Hayden was a patient in Weatherfield General who befriended Sinead Tinker when she was hospitalised in January 2015 following the Underworld minibus crash. Sinead was paralysed from the waist down but with hopes for a recovery. Sam was confined to a wheelchair after an unspecified accident and had, for the most part, come to terms with his new life. He was therefore in the best position to advise Sinead how to cope with her situation and he did this with a mixture of harsh truths, dark humour and an unwillingness to accept any self-pity from her. Some of this was over the heads of Sinead's family, particularly Kirk Sutherland who thought that Sam's invitation to Sinead to join in a five-a-side match was serious. Chesney Brown was ambivalent about Sinead's friendship but Sam's face when the couple held hands showed that he was jealous of the affection between the pair.
A month later, the positions had reversed when it came time for Sinead to go home. Sam and Sinead had grown to be good friends in the hospital and had formulated a repertoire of in-jokes between them that made Chesney feel excluded. By themselves, Sinead confessed to Sam that she was feeling nervous about going home and dreaded all the fussing that the family would do around her.
List of appearances[]
2015