Hope Stape is the young daughter of John and Fiz Stape. She was born three months early on 6th December 2010, after Fiz fell and was knocked unconscious when an explosion caused a tram to derail and crash onto Coronation Street. The character was created to lighten the situation surrounding the December 2010 tram crash and to provide "Hope" for the other characters involved in the storyline. She was in an incubator for a while after her birth, and her parents were allowed to hold her for the first time on 10th January 2011.
Fiz went into labour after being thrown to the ground as a result of the tram crash. She gave birth to a daughter three months early in Weatherfield General. Following the birth, the baby was placed in an incubator and Fiz named her Hope. On 13th December 2010, Fiz learned that Hope would need a transfusion to fight off an infection, due to her weak immune system. On 31st January 2011, it was discovered that Hope had got a hole in the heart, thus prompting many people in the Street to help raise money - including the Websters who didn't particularly like the family - and in total raised £100.
Hope came home on 10th March 2011.
On 3rd June 2011, John's symptoms of his mental illness peaked and he kidnapped Hope when Fiz was rushed to hospital after a road accident - trying to chase after John to get her daughter back. Fiz realised that Hope was in danger and followed John up to the hospital's roof. He eventually handed Hope back to Fiz, before falling off the roof to the ground. It is speculated that he survived the fall.
When Fiz and Tyrone Dobbs began seeing each other publicly, Fiz and Hope moved into 9 Coronation Street with Tyrone and his daughter Ruby.
In August 2015, the extended family went on a camping holiday in Wales. After a few days, Fiz was concerned that Hope had stopped eating and playing as much. They took her to Garney Hospital where she was diagnosed with anaemia. Upon their return to Weatherfield they had an appointment with Dr Gaddas, who discovered a lump in Hope's abdomen. She referred the youngster to a paediatrician and booked her in for a scan.
Background information
- Although Hope was born on-screen in December 2010, she was not played by an actor until March 2011 due her premature birth. Harriet Atkins and Sadie Pilbury were the first in the role, playing her jointly as producers had intended to use twins but had been unable to find any that were suitable. Atkins and Pilbury played the role until 2012 with twins Faith & Nicole Holt taking over in December of that year.
- Hope was uncredited until Episode 8709 (17th August 2015).
See also
- Full list of appearances