considers having children with him. Simultaneously, Michelle's boyfriend Geoff Barnes (David Roper) wants to interview Sharon for a book he is writing. Michelle conducts a recorded interview but then forgets to turn off the recorder at the end and discusses Sharon's affair with Phil. Grant finds the tape and, on the night of Phil and Kathy's engagement party, he plays it to a packed pub. He then attacks Phil and bullies and humiliates Sharon into agreeing to a divorce. She goes to stay with Angie in America but returns to hostility from the Mitchells. She is unperturbed and wins back the respect of Grant who realises that he still loves her. Wanting revenge for her mistreatment, she leads Grant on whilst planning to humiliate him publicly. They have sex and Sharon lets Grant think a public marriage proposal will seal their reunion. Grant attempts this on The Queen Vic's quiz night; Sharon is all set to turn him down but suddenly cannot go through with it and stops him from proposing. She confesses that she no longer loves him, then returns to America alone. 2001–2006 Phil and Grant's mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) sells The Queen Vic and is furious to discover that Sharon is the new owner. Sharon's boyfriend, Ross Fletcher (Ché Walker), joins her claiming that he has left his wife but Sharon discovers he is lying and ends the relationship and rekindles her romance with Phil. Sharon's bombshell that she is infertile following an abortion upsets Phil, and knowing that Phil wouldn't be happy without children of his own, Sharon ends the relationship and returns to the States to be with her mother. After Angie dies from liver cirrhosis, Sharon returns to Walford to bury her mother. This affects her badly and soon she starts dating an old school friend, Tom Banks (Colm Ó Maonlaí). The relationship survives Tom's unstable wife, Sadie (Isobel Middleton) who is sectioned after holding Sharon hostage and threatening suicide unless Tom takes her back. Sharon later sells her share of The Queen Vic back to the Mitchells and purchases a nightclub with Tom, naming it "Angie's Den". When Tom is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour, Sharon stands by him and they plan to travel after getting married. On the night of their engagement party, however, Tom discovers a fire at the house of fellow neighbours Little Mo Morgan (Kacey Ainsworth) and