Amelia Wark was the affluent mother of Gabriella Wark.
As a young child, Gabriella and her younger sister Florence were waiting for their father Vincent to pick them up from school when Gabriella decided to take the bus after Vincent failed to show. However, as they stepped off of the bus, Florence was hit by a car and killed instantly. Following this, Gabriella had a terrible relationship with her parents, believing that they blamed her for Florence's death.
Series 9[]
Amelia is first seen in Series 9 Episode 11 when she and Vincent take Gabriella in for her first day at Waterloo Road, and later when they are called in on the same day following Gabriella's antics. After learning that Gabriella stole Hector Reid's truck and tried to leave school premises with it, Vincent slaps Gabriella across the face in front of headteacher Christine Mulgrew. After Gabriella is taken out of the office, Amelia shows Christine a video of Florence and tells her what happened to her. Gabriella listens in at the door as Amelia claims to Christine that Gabriella has never forgiven herself, until, Gabriella bursts in and exclaims that the forgave herself years ago, and that it is her father who never forgave her, saying that he blames her because it is easier than blaming himself for working on his day off, the day Florence died.
Amelia dissuades Christine from calling the police on Vincent, and he emotionally apologises and proclaims that he has never struck Gabriella before. Amelia and Vincent reject Christine's suggestion of family counselling, with Vincent saying he doesn't want "some do-gooder poking their nose in".
Amelia returns in Series 9 Episode 20 when she is called in after Gabriella stamps on Kacey Barry's hand, causing her to fall off the climbing wall and break her wrist. Amelia immediately disbelieves Gabriella's claims that it was an accident. Kacey's mother, Carol Barry, later walks in on Amelia offering to pay acting headteacher Simon Lowsley "to make this all go away", and demands £10,000 to stop her from going to the police. When Carol tells Amelia who she is, Amelia smugly asks her if Kacey hurled herself off of the climbing wall on purpose, earning her an almighty slap from the Barry matriarch.
Soon, Gabriella is claiming that Nikki Boston assaulted her, and suddenly Amelia has changed her tune and started to believe her daughter's lies. Amelia announces her intentions to go to the police, and Simon is losing his grip on the situation until Christine shows up to save the day. Christine sits everybody down and urges them to talk it through, until Gabriella complains that nobody believes her and claims to her mother that she "wouldn't. Not today." And Amelia snaps at her to "not use today against her", at which point Christine claims to believe Gabriella and takes her out for a walk to talk with her alone. Gabriella reveals that it is Florence's birthday, and that her father always makes sure he is away on business on Florence's birthday, and that she acted up in an attempt to make him come back this time. When Amelia and Gabriella later have a moment alone together, Gabriella says that she is tired of doing things to get her parents' attention, and that they want them to be a normal family, and that "what happened to Florence happened seven years ago. Can today be a new start, please? Florence is dead, I'm alive, and I need my mum and my dad.", and they embrace after Amelia says "we all want this to end".
Series 10[]
Amelia returns again in Series 10 Episode 8 when Allie Westbrook runs a hoodie design competition at the school, with the prize being that the winning design would be featured in the Wark catalogue, with a run of 100 produced at their factory (more if they sell out). Gabriella, partnered with Darren Hughes, wins the competition, sparking allegations of a fix by Lisa Brown, who was annoyed that they had not been told of the additional prize of £1000 before.
Darren, Rhiannon and Gabriella go to Amelia's studio to see if Amelia would take on Darren as a model for the company, but she turns him down without even looking at the photographs Gabriella had taken of Darren modelling. However, Amelia's eye is unexpectedly caught by Rhiannon, whom she offers a modelling gig as she has "been toying with the idea of a plus-size range for a while now". Rhiannon is taken aback but accepts, until she sees how much the images of her are being edited by Amelia's company to make her look thinner, at which point she refuses and walks out. Amelia is not seen again.
Behind the scenes[]
- Amelia's actress, Connie Hyde, later returned to Waterloo Road in Series 14 Episode 8 as the judge who remanded Schuey Weever in a youth detention centre following his wrongful arrest for the murder of Boz Osbourne.