Linda Hancock (previously Armstrong) was the ex-wife of Owen Armstrong, and the absent mother of their daughters Izzy and Katy. When Katy was just a toddler, Linda and Owen separated after she had an affair, and Owen continued to raise their daughters without any contact from Linda for the next twenty years.
She unexpectedly turned up in the family's lives again during February 2015 demanding to see Izzy and Katy. Initially the girls were of the opinion that it was too late to start building bridges but they discovered that Owen had lied to them for many years - telling them that Linda walked out on them because she couldn't cope with Izzy's illness.
After Katy's brief relationship with Callum Logan ended the following month and deciding that she and her young son Joseph would have a better life with Linda in Portugal, she began making plans to leave Weatherfield, but was apprehensive about telling Joseph's father Chesney Brown. Chesney however returned home and overheard Faye Windass discussing Katy's plans with Craig Tinker. He immediately went to confront her and told Katy that there was no way that he'd allow her to take his son away from his family.
Although tempted by a new life away from Weatherfield, Katy decided to turn down Linda's offer as she didn't want to take Joseph away from Chesney. She later changed her mind when Chesney gave her his blessing and she and Joseph flew out to join Linda who had already returned to Portugal. Owen subsequently flew out to Portugal the following month, although only for a short visit as he'd accepted permanent work in Aberdeen after splitting up from his long-term partner Anna Windass.
In October 2017, Katy was killed in a car accident - news of which was broken to Izzy over the phone by Owen. Linda had been looking after Joseph until Chesney arrived to pick up his son.
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In May 2023, Gemma decided to invite Linda to her and Chesney's wedding. She turned up several weeks in advance to help with the preparations and immediately reignited the feud between her and Bernie by throwing money around. She and Chesney came to an agreement that instead of her paying for everything she would instead lend Chesney the money and he could pay her back in installments. She secretly paid for the suits, venue and wedding cake but failed to provide for the catering as Gemma had her heart set on a basic caterers. When the truth was revealed at the afterparty Bernie and Linda squabbled resulting in them having a cake fight, but when Bernie learned that her son Paul Foreman had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease she warmed to Linda and the pair shared a hug as they put aside their tensions.
- Linda could be heard off-screen in Episode 8899 (9th May 2016) when Chesney was speaking to his girlfriend Sinead Tinker on web chat from Portugal. It is unknown who voiced Linda in this "appearance" as no credit is given.
List of appearances[]
2015
2022
2023
2024