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Hope Dobbs (née Stape) is the young daughter of Fiz and John Stape, raised by Fiz and Tyrone Dobbs.

Hope was born three months prematurely in 2010 during the tram crash. John died before her first birthday after he crashed his car while on the run for his involvement in the deaths of Colin Fishwick, Charlotte Hoyle and Joy Fishwick. In 2013, Fiz reconciled with her ex-boyfriend Tyrone and they merged their families, with Tyrone's daughter Ruby becoming Hope's de facto younger sister.

During Hope's early life she was afflicted by health problems, including a cancer diagnosis at the age of four. She fully recovered, and developed behavioural problems starting in 2017, with signs of pyromania. In 2020, she tried to run away with her half-sister Jade Rowan after Jade fabricated evidence that the girls were being abused at home. The following year, when Tyrone left Fiz for Alina Pop, Hope started a fire at 2a Coronation Street, causing Alina to lose the baby she and Tyrone were expecting. A youth rehabilitation order was imposed on Hope and she began seeing a counsellor.

Now a teenager, Hope lives at 9 Coronation Street with Fiz, Tyrone, Ruby, and her grandmother Cassie Plummer, and is seeing her first boyfriend, Sam Blakeman.

Biography

2010-2016: Premature birth, father's demise and cancer diagnosis

Hope was born to Fiz and John Stape on 6th December 2010. Her birth was three months premature due to an explosion which caused a tram to derail and crash onto Coronation Street, throwing Fiz to the ground and causing an early labour.

Hope's birth

2010: Fiz and John call their daughter Hope after she is born three months early

Following the birth at Weatherfield General, the baby was placed in an incubator and Fiz named her Hope as a reference to the circumstances of her birth. Due to her early arrival, Hope had a weak immune system and needed a transfusion to fight off an infection, and was also found to have a hole in her heart. Eventually, Hope became well enough to be discharged in March 2011.

Soon afterwards, John had a mental breakdown following his involvement in the deaths of three people - Colin Fishwick, Charlotte Hoyle and Joy Fishwick, with Charlotte's death occurring after John bludgeoned her on the night Hope was born. In June 2011, when the truth about his crimes emerged, he took Hope from Fiz and Fiz was hit by a van trying to retrieve her. When Fiz was in hospital, John asked her to run away with him, but when she pressed the panic button, he escaped onto the building's roof with Hope. He was persuaded to hand the baby back, but threw himself off the roof. He was presumed to have been killed in the fall, but he actually went on the run, which led the police to believe that Fiz was responsible for the three deaths.

Fiz was remanded in custody and allowed to keep Hope with her in prison. In October, when Fiz was put on trial, John returned but crashed his car after kidnapping Rosie Webster. With John on the verge of death, Fiz went to visit him in hospital with Hope. John confessed to his crimes and told police that Fiz was innocent. He died moments later, and Fiz was eventually cleared of the crimes, enabling her to return to the street with Hope.

In February 2013, Fiz went on the run with Hope, her new partner Tyrone Dobbs and Tyrone's baby daughter Ruby, in order to escape Tyrone's abusive ex-girlfriend Kirsty. Although their plan ultimately failed, Kirsty later admitted to the abuse and was sent to prison for perjury, allowing Fiz, Tyrone, Hope and Ruby to become a family unit, living together in 9 Coronation Street.

In August 2015, when on a camping trip with her family, Hope became ill. After a number of tests, a lump was found in Hope's abdomen and she was eventually diagnosed with the childhood cancer Neuroblastoma. She underwent treatment for the cancer and in addition to their stress and devastation, Fiz and Tyrone were disappointed that Hope wouldn't be able to go to Lapland for Christmas. As Christmas approached, Tyrone instead decided to bring their own version of Lapland to Weatherfield. However, doing so put him in a large amount of debt, temporarily straining his and Fiz's relationship. Following treatment, Hope was declared to be in remission in February 2016 and made a full recovery.

2017 to present: Behavioural issues and half-sister

In December 2017, Hope began to display behavioural problems, starting when she set a trampoline on fire which was blamed on Ruby, as a lighter was found in her possession. Ruby continued to receive the blame for Hope's misdemeanors including an incident when the girls locked themselves in a room with an active electric saw after which the key was found in Ruby's pocket, planted by Hope. Fiz learned the truth when she caught Hope trying to force her cousin Joseph Brown to jump down the stairs.

A few months later in September 2018, Tyrone's long lost grandmother Evelyn Plummer moved in with the family. Evelyn was a no-nonsense battleaxe who clashed with the troublemaking Hope, resulting in Hope sending Evelyn's dog away on a train. Knowing how serious her daughter's behaviour was, Fiz moved with her to a specialist unit in Birmingham in December.

Fiz and Hope returned in August 2019, only to learn that she had lost her place back at Bessie Street School as Tyrone had forgotten to enroll her. Immediately after returning, Hope set fire to the factory Underworld, indicating that the specialist unit had not helped her. Fiz struggled to homeschool Hope, so asked her Birmingham support teacher Jade Rowan to move in as her tutor. Jade adapted well to living at No.9, but secretly spoiled Hope and tried to drive a wedge between her and her mother. Jade then created false evidence that Hope was being physically abused by Fiz. Although Jade was forced to move out when Hope regained her place at school, she gave Hope a secret phone to contact her with, and manipulated her way back into No.9 when she claimed to be homeless.

In January 2020, Jade dropped a bombshell on Hope - that they were half-sisters on their father's side. Jade continued to falsify evidence against Fiz, and social services were summoned taking Hope and Ruby away while an investigation took place. Fiz and Tyrone learned the truth about Jade when she attempted to have the girls live with her, although she was refused as she was living with Fiz when the alleged abuse took place. Hope and Ruby were allowed to move back home when Fiz agreed to temporarily move out, and the evidence was eventually proven to be fabricated when Hope admitted that Jade had encouraged her to lie about injuries she had recently sustained, leading to the investigation being dropped.

Jade and Hope planned to run away to France together, but when Hope briefly went missing, Jade realised she needed to be returned to her parents. Hope continued to misbehave as she wasn't allowed to see Jade, so Fiz allowed her to see her sister in a limited capacity. However, in March when Jade made a pass at Tyrone, Hope saw how deceptive she was and sent her away.

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Personality

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Background information

Hope Stape actresses

Hope as played by:
Top (l-r): Harriet Atkins, Sadie Pilbury
Bottom (l-r): Ava/Isla McCulloch, Faith/Nicole Holt

Hope was created as part of the series' 50th anniversary milestone in 2010. Within storylines, she was born during the tram crash which occurred during the episodes which aired from 6th to 10th December 2010. Her birth took place on screen on 9th December, 50 years to the day that Coronation Street premiered. Notably, the episode in question was broadcast live, making her birth the first to be shown in real-time on a soap.

Because Hope was born three months prematurely, she was played by a prosthetic baby for her first several weeks in the programme. Her debut as played by a real baby was in March 2011, with Harriet Atkins and Sadie Pilbury jointly playing the role. Producers had intended to use twins but had been unable to find any that were suitable. [1]

Both girls played the role until October, with twins Ava and Isla McCulloch taking over in November 2011. They would play the role until July 2012, after which the character would be absent for six months. When Hope reappeared in January 2013, a second set of twins had taken over the role - Faith and Nicole Holt. During their time on the programme, Faith and Nicole were involved in a storyline in 2015 where Hope was diagnosed with cancer, but eventually recovered. Jennie McAlpine, who plays Hope's on screen mother Fiz, commented:

"We don't want to put them into scenes that are too harrowing. That's where we'll never truly reflect what happens in real life, and it wouldn’t be very responsible of us to try to do that. So, we're just showing a snapshot. But the girls are doing brilliantly and they know we're just pretending." [2]

After playing the role for over four years, the Holt twins made their final appearances in April 2017. In August 2017, Hope reappeared with a seventh actress, Isabella Flanagan, now playing the role. Flanagan's elder sister Amelia was already a household name as a child actress in Emmerdale, and Isabella had previously appeared in a television advert for Nextbase. Of her casting, she said:

"I've wanted to be on TV for a long time, my sister has been in Emmerdale since she was five and I love watching her, my audition was a really fun script and I was so excited when Ology [Flanagan's casting agency] rang my mum to give us the good news! Everyone at Corrie is lovely and friendly and the canteen serves amazing food, I'm really looking forward to watching myself on the telly!" [3]

Two months after Flanagan's debut, her twin brother William would also start to appear on the programme as Hope's cousin Joseph Brown.

In October 2022, Isabella won Best Young Performer at the Inside Soap Awards. One of the other shortlisted nominees was her aforementioned sister, while co-star Jude Riordan (Sam Blakeman) was longlisted.

Appendices

List of addresses

Address Duration
5 Coronation Street 6th December 2010 to 20th September 2013
9 Coronation Street 20th September 2013 to 5th December 2018
Birmingham 5th December 2018 to 30th August 2019
9 Coronation Street 30th August 2019 to 4th April 2022
6 Copson Avenue 4th April 2022 to 13th June 2022
9 Coronation Street 13th June 2022 to present

See also

Current characters
Ken Barlow | Rita Tanner | Gail Rodwell | Tracy McDonald | Audrey Roberts | Nick Tilsley | Kevin Webster | Debbie Webster | Jenny Connor | Sally Metcalfe | Sarah Barlow | Steve McDonald | David Platt | Daniel Osbourne | Roy Cropper | Leanne Battersby | Toyah Habeeb | Tyrone Dobbs | Dev Alahan | Eileen Grimshaw | Maria Connor | Kirk Sutherland | Bethany Platt | Adam Barlow | Todd Grimshaw | Fiz Dobbs | Simon Barlow | Sean Tully | Chesney Winter-Brown | Amy Barlow | Aadi Alahan | Asha Alahan | Ryan Connor | Carla Barlow | Dylan Wilson | Gary Windass | Mary Taylor | Liam Connor | Brian Packham | Izzy Armstrong | Max Turner | Jack Webster | Hope Dobbs | Beth Sutherland | Craig Tinker | Joseph Brown | Ruby Dobbs | Tim Metcalfe | Jake Windass | Lily Platt | Alya Nazir | Yasmeen Metcalfe | Gemma Winter-Brown | Billy Mayhew | Alex Warner | Harry Platt | Shona Platt | Summer Spellman | Abi Webster | Paul Foreman | Evelyn Plummer | Bertie Osbourne | Ed Bailey | Michael Bailey | Aggie Bailey | Bernie Winter | Aled Winter-Brown | Bryn Winter-Brown | Carys Winter-Brown | Llio Winter-Brown | Nina Lucas | Elaine Jones | George Shuttleworth | Sam Blakeman | Daisy Midgeley | Ronnie Bailey | Glory Bailey | Stu Carpenter | Alfie Franklin | Eliza Woodrow | Glenda Shuttleworth | Dee-Dee Bailey | Lauren Bolton | Cassie Plummer
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