Hannah Gilmore was the infatuated girlfriend of Jim McDonald, who impersonated his deceased daughter Katie to help con his ex-wife Liz McDonald in order to raise enough money to treat his Myotonic Dystrophy.
Having first made contact with Jim while he was still serving the remainder of his sentence at Highfield Prison, Hannah fell in love with him and agreed to help con his ex-wife into believing that she was her deceased baby daughter, Katie - having been swapped at birth after a hospital error. In September 2018, Jim returned to Coronation Street, and turned up at his son Steve's stag-do in the Rovers. Revealing to Liz that he had some important news to share with her, Jim organised a meeting at the Viaduct Bistro where he introduced her to Hannah.
At first Liz was horrified and refused to believe Jim and Hannah's claims, although she later began to be tricked - when she noticed that Hannah even had Katie's birthmark (unbeknown to her it had been applied with make-up in order to help fool her). With Liz now completely convinced by the story, Hannah bragged about how easy it had been to trick her and promised Jim that he would soon have his revenge on both Liz and his Steve for abandoning him in prison.
Putting the con into action, Hannah revealed to Liz that she was suffering from the same life-limiting genetic disease that Jim was and explained that if she didn't come up with enough money to get her to America - in order to try some experimental drugs - she would eventually succumb to her symptoms. Liz was horrified by Hannah's revelation and agreed to help find the money to get her 'daughter' to the States. Steve's girlfriend Tracy Barlow was not taken in by Hannah's claims and, after confronting her, Hannah faked a collapse in order to be asked to move into 15a Victoria Street where she could get closer to Liz.
Despite now being in a relationship with Hannah, Jim was unable to separate himself from his feelings towards Liz. After discovering Liz's affair with Johnny Connor, behind his wife Jenny's back, Jim resolved to get the money they needed from blackmailing him instead of conning Liz. However, Hannah became jealous and questioned Jim's true feelings towards his ex-wife.
With help from his daughter Carla Connor, Johnny eventually stood up to his anonymous blackmailer and refused to give forward any money. Hannah was enraged and insisted that she and Jim returned to their plan of taking the money from Liz. However, Carla had also set up a trap to discover the identity of Johnny's blackmailer and revealed that Hannah was the culprit. Johnny immediately informed Liz, who originally didn't believe him until she was shown video evidence from Kirk Sutherland's phone - who had been filming Victoria Street in the hopes of seeing a "big cat" and unknowingly recorded Hannah collecting a bag left for Johnny's blackmailer in the community garden.
Liz decided to confront her 'daughter' and Hannah was forced to fabricate her intentions, she informed Liz that she had been blackmailing Johnny as she had discovered her affair with him and wanted to punish him for how badly he treated her. Originally Liz wasn't convinced by Hannah's version of events, but when Hannah explained that she had been desperate for cash to treat her illness - Liz eventually decided to believe her and revealed that she would soon have enough money to pay for the treatment herself.
Over the next few days Hannah grew even more impatient while waiting for the money and feared that Jim was falling deeper in love with Liz. Upon witnessing the pair sharing a passionate kiss, Hannah considered murdering Liz with a shard of glass but eventually decided against it. On the day of Steve and Tracy's wedding, Liz revealed that she had the money. Hannah was delighted and quickly told Jim that they were able to leave, however Jim insisted that she leave alone as he feared that Liz would realise the truth if the both vanished.
Realising that Jim had no intention of remaining with her, Hannah set him up - and purposely kissed him whilst knowing that Liz was in the bathroom. When Liz came out she was disgusted to see Jim kissing his 'daughter' - and was horrified to discover the truth. Jim was devastated and tried to defend his actions to Liz but she refused to listen and stated that she was going to contact the police and have Jim put back behind bars.
Now, with nothing else to lose, Hannah happily exposed Johnny's affair to Jenny before leaving the wedding venue. Planning to leave on her own, Hannah was contacted by Jim - who had decided that there was no way back for him and Liz now, and the pair left together.
- The character was credited in a "voice only" capacity in Episode 9577 (3rd October 2018).
List of appearances[]
2018