Brad Armstrong
Brad Armstrong (2006-2007)
Chris Sadrinna
Episodes: 4227–4547
Parents: Robert & Elaine Armstrong
Siblings: Rachel Armstrong; Tamsyn Armstrong (half)
Marital Status: Emily Vincent (2006, deceased); Sally Fletcher (2007, engaged)
Occupation: School Principal
Arriving, like his sister in the middle of a crisis, the first thing we saw of Brad was his backside, or rather Sally did when she opened to door of Leah’s house to find a stranger with his back to her and bent over.
Quickly regaining his composure he introduced himself as Rachel’s brother Brad, summoned by Leah to pull his sister out of a downward spiral of drink and drugs bought on by their mother’s sudden death and her fiance being missing in the bush. Embarrassingly Brad made the crucial mistake in his very first episode of mistaking Sally for Leah’s cleaner but despite the misunderstanding the sparks between those two were already ignited.
After finding Rachel collapsed and in the middle of a seizure he got her to hospital and managed to get her to open up about how she was feeling. Job done and with Kim safe and well he accepted an invitation to stay with Kim and Rachel at the Bachelor Pad. After some weird behaviour Brad made the ultimate mistake of locking himself out of the house in only a towel and of course the towel got caught in the door so now stark naked he attempted to break into the house via a back window. Falling over and landing in a wheelbarrow he was busted than none other than Sally who had popped round to get his help on her Principal’s application and wound up getting a whole lot more into the bargain.
A few days later after saving her from a burning building he and Sally seemed to get on famously, until she mentioned Flynn dying of cancer and he clammed up. After seemingly taking the Principal’s job from under Sally’s nose, he surprised everyone by introducing his wife Emily and after springing a surprise wedding on those nearest to him, he confided in Emily that Sally’s husband had died of cancer. At which point Emily turned up at the school to speak to Sally and finally admitted the secret she and Brad had been keeping. She was dying of leukaemia.
Over the months Emily deteriorated and Brad alternated between pushing Sally away and confiding in her and when Emily finally died in his arms watching the sun rise a devastated Brad announced his intention to leave the Bay. Until a letter from Emily convinced him otherwise. At Emily’s funeral Brad reacted angrily on hearing Leah mention that Sally had feelings for him but they managed to clear the air.
Over the next few weeks Brad and Sally continued to grow close until they clashed once again. This time over new boy at school Rocco, Sally wanted to give ex-gang member Rocco a chance but Brad was furious that she went over his head and confided that in his experience once you were in a gang, you never got out of it.
Seemingly Brad was right and when Rocco’s brother and gang member Johnny arrived in the Bay he and Brad became instant sworn enemies. After having his flat robbed by Johnny, Brad and Sally continue to clash over Rocco with Brad eventually confiding in Sally that he had encountered gangs before and he showed her the scars and burn marks they had left on him. A shocked Sally agreed not to let Rocco move in but the next day they both changed their tune when Rocco showed up having been badly beaten by Johnny but neither were aware they’d been cleverly set up.
Further torment followed from Johnny including a threat against Sally and an attempt to run him off the road which resulted in some cuts and bruises. Refusing to go to the hospital to be checked out, Sally tended to his cuts and bruises and after what can only be described as ‘a moment’ between them they finally admitted they had feelings for each other. Both agreed that they’d always love Flynn and Emily but decided to give their relationship a try as it would have been what Flynn and Emily wanted.
Unfortunately though their troubles with Johnny and the gang were far from over. After Johnny set Brad up on an assault charge and started planning another robbery Sally did some snooping and unearthed the gang’s plans just in time to have the police catch them in the act. With Johnny behind bars and the charges against Brad dropped, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
After Colleen’s Christmas pageant Sally and Brad finally shared their first kiss under the mistletoe and happily made plans to have dinner together except that Sally never showed up. Brad went looking for her and found her lying unconscious outside the school after being stabbed by Rocco on Johnny’s orders. Racing her to hospital Brad was incredibly relieved when she recovered from the stabbing and has been at her side ever since. Through her recollections of who actually stabbed her and the recent event of Rocco’s murder and her foster son Ric’s false imprisonment Brad has supported Sally. His role at the head of her family was seemingly made official when on the night before he was sent down, Ric entrusted the care of Sally, Cassie and Pippa, that Flynn had entrusted on him; to Brad.
Colleen’s hospital ball was a happy occasion for Sally and Brad. After using part of the money he inherited from both his mum and his wife, Brad announced that he had set up a new hospital scholarship program: ‘The Flynn Saunders Fellowship’. Sally was overwhelmed by Brad’s gesture, and thanked him and Rachel for their kindness.
Shortly after the hospital ball, Sally and Brad made the decision to move in together. This was made official by Brad’s photo being placed upon the mantle piece.
From then on, Brad’s storylines mainly revolved around him caring for Sally, and running the Caravan Park House. But trouble started to brew for Brad shortly after Naomi Preston arrived in town. Naomi had told Brad about her relationship with Lucas and was subsequently told, by Brad, to stop teaching at Summer Bay High. Naomi twisted that story to make it sound as though she had told Brad about her and Lucas before she had started working at the school. Brad was shocked that Naomi would do such a thing, but Naomi argued that she had a better chance of getting out of the situation with her job still intact if they stuck to her story. Brad told his side of the story, and Naomi told hers.
Not long after, Sally broke the news to Brad that he was being stood down as principal. Brad was planning a big surprise for Sally and didn’t seem too worried about the fact that his career as principal, for the moment, was over. Sally was surprised that Brad was taking the news so well, and that’s when Brad asked Sally a very important question…”Will you marry me?”. Sally was completely shocked and didn’t know what to say. After gathering her thoughts together, she told Brad that she didn’t feel it was the right time to be getting married. Even after a short talk with Brad, Sally was still adamant that she didn’t feel it was the right time to be marrying him. Shocked at Sally’s reaction, Brad walked out of the house and headed to the Surf Club where he had organized an engagement party. He told everyone the news, and told Alf to cancel the boat cruise that he had arranged. However, after a little coaxing from the others, Brad decided to go on the cruise anyway. What a mistake that would turn out to be! The boat capsized with Ric, Alf, Dan and Brad, onboard.
Much to the relief of their family and friends, the men returned the day after. Following a sleepless night of worrying about Brad, Sally had a change of heart and accepted his marriage proposal.
Shortly afterwards, Brad told Sally that he wanted to get married in six weeks. This unsettled Sally alot. However, after thinking the idea over, she agreed, but it soon became clear that she wasn’t so happy about the decision after all.
With the wedding fast approaching, everyone in Summer Bay was looking forward to seeing Sally and Brad tie the knot. Except Sally…who was getting more and more worried. Her worry wasn’t helped by the arrival of Brad’s best man, Henk. It was revealed that Henk had raped Rachel some years ago and after finding out that Cassie had been with him, things in the Caravan Park House started to go from bad to worse. After being told about what Henk did to Rachel, Brad confronted him which resulted in Henk being rushed to hospital. After finding out about Henk, Sally asked Brad if he wanted to call of the wedding, but he was sure that he wanted it to go ahead.
The day of the wedding arrived. As with most important Summer Bay occasions, Pippa arrived and helped Sal to get ready. Hair and make-up complete, and Sally should have been in the bridal car. Instead, she started to open up to Pippa about how she was really feeling. With Sally and Pippa still back at the house, Brad started to get worried, but was reassured that everything would be fine. However, back at the house, Sally had made up her mind that she couldn’t go ahead with the wedding. Pippa was surprised, but told Sally that someone had to tell Brad. Pippa arrived at the ceremony and told Brad the news. He was shocked, but was adamant that she would change her mind.
After being told the news, Don headed to the house to see Sally. He asked her why she had made the decision to call off the wedding, but she didn’t say anything. A few moments later, she showed him a photo of her and Flynn on their wedding day.
After the guests had gone, Sally spoke to Brad on the beach and told him that she still loved him. Brad couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but Sally explained that she couldn’t go through with the wedding because she felt as though she would be erasing Flynn.
Later on, Brad turned up at the house and told Sal that he was going to move out. He packed his bags and stayed at Rachel’s, leaving Sally in tears.
As if that wasn’t dramatic enough, shortly afterwards, Brad found out that he and Rachel had a 15 year old half-sister, Tam, whom they knew nothing about. Tam’s mother, Heather, had a gambling addiction and left Tam with Brad and Rachel, after going to a retreat program. Brad and Rachel had told Heather that they weren’t in the right situation to look after Tam, but Heather left anyway. From then on, it was clear that things weren’t going to be easy for Brad to cope with.
Tam started to cause trouble for Rachel, so Brad suggested that Tam stay with him at the motel.
Brad was looking for a new job and an old friend of his, Pat, who was principal of Yabby Creek High, offered him a position. However, that was on the condition that there were no repeats of the Naomi situation. Shortly afterwards, the police turned up wanting to question Brad over a call they had received from a woman saying that a young girl was being held against her will inside the motel! Before Brad could even explain, Pat didn’t want to hear another word and said that the job wasn’t open to him anymore.
Brad was annoyed at Tam for ruining his chances of getting the job and decided to take up Sally’s offer of having her stay at the Caravan Park House. Things then started to settle down for Brad, and him and Tam started to get along. Brad even rented a place for him and his half-sister to stay.
Not long after Brad’s life had started to gain some normality, little Pippa was hit by Alf’s ute. Brad supported Sally during the difficult time and she thanked him for being their for her when she needed him.
With Pippa recovering and Tam feeling more settled in the Bay, Brad’s life started to settle back down again.
Having returned home from the retreat program, Heather was pleased to find Tam so happy with living in the Bay. Later on, Brad suggested that they all move in together, which they happily agreed with.
After Brad’s leaving party at the Surf Club, him and Sally kissed, but neither of them were quite what it meant. Brad said that he still had feelings for Sally but wanted to take things slowly. Sally suggested counseling for the two of them, which Brad agreed too. However, after some trouble with Heather, Brad couldn’t make the session. At the Caravan Park House, they both talked about recent events and finally came to the conclusion that they were better off as close friends.
Brad, who was still out of a job, was about to receive some exciting news. After glowing references from Sally, Brad was offered a teaching position in Tasmania! At first, Tam didn’t take the news well, but after being asked if she and her mum would like to join him, her attitude changed and they agreed to go.
After saying their goodbyes at the school formal, Brad, Tam and Heather left Summer Bay for Tasmania.