Paula McCullock was an advisor who was consulted by Katy Harris at a careers evening at Weatherfield Comprehensive in November 2003. Katy had recently moved out of the family home after her relationship with twice-her-age Martin Platt had been discovered and her father had demanded that none of her family had any more dealings with her.
Mother Angela had decided to go against this edict and join Katy at the evening, lying to Tommy that she was going shopping in town. Martin also turned up on the night, causing embarrassment between him and Angela but Katy asked them both to stay and support her. Paula advised Katy that if she wanted to go into medicine, she had to get good grades and, in response to a question, she agreed with Martin that she needn't move away to go to university but could study in Manchester. There was an awkward moment when Paula referred to Martin as Katy's "dad" but that was nothing compared to a moment later when Tommy stormed into the room, having discovered from a conversation with Kevin Webster that Martin would be there and also found that his wife had lied to him too. A shouting match ensued, during which Paula tried to get them to take their argument outside but the incident ended when Tommy announced to the room that Martin was a sick, child molester and Katy angrily retorted that he was the sick one and he should get out of her life.