Karen Fisher was Waterloo Road's second on-screen female headteacher. When she arrived in Series 6 following the resignation of Rachel Mason in the previous series, she brought with her a cheating husband, Charlie Fisher, a rebellious daughter, Jess Fisher, and a bulimic son, Harry Fisher. Karen is also later joined by her missing daughter, Bex Fisher. Karen's top priority is encouraging well-rounded and socialised pupils, and to achieve this she wants to create a safe and positive school environment where kids can leave their trouble behind and concentrate on their schooling, but alongside this Karen's not afraid to discipline pupils who step out of line and her tough love policy means that exclusion is back on the table. She will do everything in her power to help a child, but won't tolerate her pupils using their personal lives as an excuse to disruptive behaviour. Staff and pupils are divided over Karen's policy, and Waterloo Road will teach Karen a thing or two about patience and tolerance before the term is out.
Karen is determined to rule by example and keep her work and home life separate, but hides a tragic past which she and her family are struggling to come to terms with, and this will test her ethos over the course of the series.
Her son Harry (Year 11) and daughter Jess (Year 12) frequently make this difficult. Karen was consumed by guilt - her eldest daughter Bex has been missing for over a year and Karen's obsession with tracking Bex down meant that she failed to notice that Jess was veering off the rails or that Harry developing bulimia. Even after Bex returned home (bringing her sordid past with her) Karen's total maternal focus was still on her eldest daughter - it wasn't until Bex finally re-settled back at Waterloo Road that Karen was able to relax a little. But with Bex now off studying at University, Karen is able to focus more attention on her two youngest children and their family will grow even closer as a result. As Karen's chaotic home life divides her loyalties, we'll see her place the needs of her family above those of her own career. Karen is making great changes to Waterloo Road.
Series 6
This saw Karen split from her husband Charlie, as Harry found out that he was having an affair with another woman. Karen also found out that her daughter Jess was veering off the rails. Karen and Jess had a feisty relationship and they don't really talk much, but when Karen wants to speak to Jess, Jess just keeps this deep dark secret inside of her. So when Karen found out about her son developing bulimia she tried to put a stop to it and left Jess in the dark, but when Karen found out about her daughter veering off the rails, she didn't do much because she didn't know what to do as Jess didn't talk to her mum about stuff like that as Jess thinks she will judge her and that when she is out she is her own person, but her mum wants to know more and disagrees with her straight away. Will there relationship get better or worse?
Series 7
This saw a new start for Karen and the Fisher Family. As her ex-husband was away with another woman and her eldest daughter Bex was away studying at University, it was just the three of them Karen, Jess and Harry. They seemed a happy family. In this series we see the Scotcher's arrive, Karen, caught the eye of Rob Scotcher and her daughter caught the eye of Rob's son Aiden Scotcher, but were these Scotcher's bad news. Karen and Rob started dating; this didn't see the approval of her daughter Jess as she thought it would embarrass her as he was a site manager and her mum was the Head. Karen found out that Aiden had got her daughter Jess and Jess's best mate Vicki pregnant, she didn't want to be with Rob anymore after this because Aiden was bad news. It was Karen and her family's last day at Waterloo Road, this was only because Eleanor Chaudry had been giving information to the LEA which meant Karen was going to lose her job, Jess told Eleanor that if they were going to do something to save Karen's job and save Waterloo Road they needed to do it now, so Jess Fisher and Eleanor got a protest together, Jess did this because she thought her mum was great at being a head-teacher and she thought Karen was the best thing that could've happened to Waterloo Road, unfortunately this didn't work and Karen still left Waterloo Road. She left with Jess and Harry, and that was the last we saw of the Fisher Family.
Trivia
- Karen was the first Headteacher in the show to have had her own children attend Waterloo Road as students.
- Karen was also the first Headteacher where her children appeared in the show. Jack Rimmer also had children, however these were never featured in the show.
- Karen is the only Headteacher to have had only one Deputy Headteacher serve under her, this being Chris Mead. Brian Vaisey also only had one known deputy (Jack Rimmer), but given his length of service, it's likely he had other deputies before Jack.
- In Series 7 Episode 3 Karen mentioned to Rob that she used to be "very good friends" with Shakespeare, implying she may have taught English before she became a Headteacher.