HANNAH ASHWORTH

'Hannah Ashworth' (born 26 January, 1989) is a fictional character on the long-running British Channel 4 television soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', she is currently at the centre of the soap's anorexia storyline.
She is played by actress Emma Rigby.

Contents

Storylines

Relationship with John-Paul McQueen

Family

External links

Storylines

Hannah moved into the Hunter family's old home with her parents Neville and Suzanne, and brothers Rhys and Josh. Hannah's storylines were initially fairly light-hearted, playing pranks on her brother Josh and cousin Fletch by pretending to be the fabled 'Hollyoaks beast'.
Her first plot development of any real brevity came when Nancy and Hannah were babysitting Tony and Mandy Hutchinson's daughter Grace, during which time, she died due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Hannah was understandably trauamatised by this experience and ran away in tears from Grace's funeral when she saw Grace being carried inside the church.

Relationship with John-Paul McQueen

However, in time Hannah was able to get over Grace's death and move on with her life. After completing her GCSEs and starting sixth form, Hannah fell for her new class mate John-Paul McQueen and their friends Sarah and Craig, who were also dating, tried to help set them up as a couple. Although at first the relationship appeared to be going well, John-Paul was clearly uneasy and his hesistance made the relationship a struggle. When they eventually had sex, John-Paul realized he didn't want a relationship and broke up with her. Hannah was unaware John-Paul was actually struggling with his homosexuality, and was attempting to conceal it by pretending to be attracted to Sarah. This deception caused problems in Sarah's relationship with Craig and Hannah's friendship with Sarah.
It was not until February 2007 that Hannah found out that John-Paul was gay after spotting him kissing Craig. Although she thought that they could get through it, she was proved wrong when John-Paul admitted his sexuality, leaving her devastated. It took Hannah a long time to accept the fact that they were not going to get back together, and during this period of hopefulness she attempted to sabotage John-Paul's new relationship with Spike. However, breaking up with John-Paul has left a much more serious mark on Hannah than a simple case of jealousy...
===Suffering from bulimia/anorexia ===
During and after her difficult on-off relationship with John-Paul, Hannah began binging and purging and when John-Paul admitted he was gay, Hannah was convinced that she was the cause. Convinced that she undesirable and overweight, Hannah has been binging and purging since New Year's Eve 2006. This has quickly became a vicious cycle of behaviour, and has had a terrible effect on her previously sweet and kind personality. Hannah's bulimia was exacerbated with the emergence of Sarah's model friend Melissa Hurst. Melissa offered the confused Hannah some tips to lose weight discreetly in order to become a model. Melissa has contributed to Hannah's compulsive eating habits, even taking food away from Hannah so she is not 'tempted'. Whilst Hannah's family were on holiday, Gilly agreed to 'keep an eye on' Hannah to the annoyance of the increasingly paranoid girls. Gilly has expressed concern over Hannah's diet and moodiness, suspecting that she was on drugs after overhearing Melissa give her laxative pills. He was confused when Hannah brought strange boys home and tried to protect her, much to Hannah's fury.
John-Paul and Sarah had also become suspicious of Hannah's weight loss and change in behavior, believing mistakenly that she was on drugs after Sarah misinterpreted a private conversation between her and Melissa in the SU Bar. That same evening, Hannah fainted due to her illness, but was reassured by Melissa's claims that her body was merely adapting to change. Hannah's mother also became increasingly concerned about Hannah, and her anxieties were fueled by Sarah's claims that Melissa was a bad influence on Hannah and that she fears they are taking drugs to keep thin. Suzanne confronted Hannah about Sarah's accusations, but she denied everything and her mum agreed to give her the benefit of the doubt. Hannah, furious at Sarah, turned on both her and Gilly, threatening the latter with a claim that he had been acting inappropriately towards her. Nonetheless, Gilly did express his concerns to Suzanne, who reacted by throwing Melissa out the house, after Melissa told her that she and Hannah had taken speed. Hannah's mood swings once again kicked in and she became abusive towards her mother.
Hannah was distraught when she discovered that she performed badly in her A Levels. Distressed and angry and having heeded Melissa's comment that she should steer clear of her other friends who may 'discourage' her dieting, she turned on them and abused each of them vocally, leaving them shocked and confused at her irrational behavior.
Turning her back on her old friends, Hannah began to fall further under Melissa's influence. The situation came to a head when Rhys returned from France and decided to have a barbecue. When Melissa attempted to hit on Rhys and refused to let Hannah eat a burger, Rhys expelled Melissa from the barbecue, enraging Hannah, but she had more pressing problems to worry about when Melissa collapsed in the street and was rushed to hospital. Deeply worried, Hannah tried desperately to find out what had happened to her and was shocked to be told she was in intensive care. With Suzanne still convinced Hannah was taking drugs, she tried to convince her mum her recent behavior was because Gilly was abusing her. Suzanne and Rhys believed her at first and Rhys punched Gilly and threw Gilly out the house. Worried, Suzanne suggested Hannah go see Sarah. Instead, she went to see Melissa in hospital and was shocked to see her sickly thin and hooked up to a drip. When she started applying make-up to her face, Melissa asked how she looked. 'Stunning' (Hannah). 'Thought so' (Melissa). Hannah also told Melissa she was the best thing to ever happen to her. When she returned home, she discovered Suzanne, Gilly and Rhys had searched her room and discovered the truth about her anorexia. Upset, and in denial about her condition Hannah refused to listen to her mother and attempted to run away before collapsing in tears in her mother's arms.
After days of abuse from Rhys, being hounded by Suzanne and having her condition missunderstood by Neville, Hannah feels she needs to escape, and engineers a plot to escape the country with Melissa. Breaking her friend out of hospital, the duo find a flaw in their plan and have to return to Hannah's home to retrieve her passport. Confronted by a confused Suzanne, Melissa collapses of a heart attack, lead by lack of food and body abuse, and dies shortly after.
Hannah is seeing Melissa still, whilst mourning the loss of her friend, the vision of Melissa convinces her that her family will use her death against her and force her to eat again. Hannah vows to not allow that to happen. In an effort to help, Suzanne invites Sarah and Nancy over and tells them about Hannahs condition. They talk to her and it results in Sarah badmouthing Melissa, causing Hannah to leave in distress. Sarah and Nancy find her again in the village, persuading her to talk to them again they get to the bottom of why she has the disease. It ends in another shouting match where Sarah says 'it's not the conditions that are the problem, you want a friend who'll tell you what you're doing is okay and I'm sorry I just can't'. In the end the pair hug and Hannah waves goodbye to the vision of Melissa.

Family

★ Father: Neville Ashworth

★ Mother: Suzanne Ashworth

★ Brother: Josh Ashworth

★ Half brother: Rhys Ashworth

★ Grandfather: Bill Ashworth

★ Uncle: Noel Ashworth

★ Cousin: Jamie "Fletch" Fletcher

External links

★ Hannah Ashworth on the Hollyoaks website

★ Videos Clips with Hannah Ashworth(Emma Rigby)

★ Photos with Hannah Ashworth(Emma Rigby)

★ Hannah Ashworth fan site (emma Rigby)