Biography[]
Background[]
Richard Charles Hillman was born on 20th December 1951 to Pamela Hillman. When he was a young child, his father walked out on him and his mother. In 1971 he married a woman named Marion. Marion had hoped to start a family with Richard, but his mother fell sick and he wanted to look after her. Not wanting to take care of a sick old woman, Marion divorced Richard and later passed away in 1996 from a stroke. Pamela died shortly thereafter, and in 1997 Richard remarried to Patricia.
Patricia and Richard went into business together. They both attempted to start a family together but were unable to, and discovered that Richard was infertile. Patricia divorced Richard and took a large chunk of money in the divorce settlement. Richard began operating as a financial advisor and would enroll his elderly customers in an equity scheme in which they would get a large sum of money upfront, but the catch being Richard would get their house following their death.
Arriving in Weatherfield[]
Richard Hillman meets Gail Platt in the wake of Alma's funeral.
In June 2001, Richard learned that his cousin Alma Baldwin had passed away from cancer. He arrived in Weatherfield to attend her funeral, and met her friends and neighbours, and mainly got acquainted with Alma's friend Audrey Roberts. Following the funeral, Richard returned back to Audrey's house for the wake and along with the neighbours watched a farewell video filmed by Alma prior to her death.
Over a week later Richard arrived back on Coronation Street to meet up with Audrey Roberts, who had an attraction to Richard. But Richard wasn't interested in Audrey, and instead had eyes on her daughter Gail Platt, who was just recently divorced from her husband Martin. Richard got chatting with Gail and it was clear there was a mutual attraction between the pair of them. They began dating and Richard met Gail's children Sarah and David and her granddaughter Bethany. Richard eventually moved into the household with the Platt family, and was glad to have finally gained a family. He would spoil the children with presents, although there was slight friction between Richard and David, especially after David accidentally deleted some of Richard's paperwork on his computer after messing around with it.
Audrey came to Richard for financial advise and he helped her out. In October 2001 he and Gail went away on holiday to Canada to visit her son Nick Tilsley as well as her half-brother Stephen Reid. They arrived back on Coronation Street, and Audrey was concerned that she lost £6000 in the stock market. She became suspicious of Richard, especially after hearing from Norris Cole that he got Emily to sell Richard her house in an equity scheme.
Gail grew attached to Richard and asked him to move in with her. Richard agreed, although asked for her hand in marriage to make it traditional, which she accepted. Audrey wasn't happy with the news and tried to talk Gail out of it, but she refused to listen to Audrey and felt that she was jealous. Audrey later sought advice from Ken Barlow about the investment and found out that Richard wasn't in the wrong and that the stock market was to blame. Audrey apologised to Richard, although still didn't trust him.
Start of darkness[]
Richard leaves Duggie Ferguson to die.
Rovers Return landlord Duggie Ferguson found out about Richard's intentions of redeveloping the Ridings and offered a partnership, as he had been involved in property development in the past. Richard became interested but was floored when Duggie presented a quote of how much the redevelopment would cost to turn the house into luxury flats. Richard discovered through some of the residents that Duggie is a shifty character and that he was involved in the refurbishment of the community centre which left it with poorly fitted doors due to him cutting corners. Despite Richard being apprehensive, he decided to strike a deal with Duggie as long as he could find a way to lower the price. They ended up shaking on it and became close. True to the claims being made, Duggie began cutting corners and hiring dodgy builders to help him out on the job at the cheap. Richard attempted to oversee the development of the flats but Duggie attempted to keep Richard at arm's length, telling him it was all in order. Overtime Richard became irritated with Duggie avoiding him.
One day Richard arrived at the Ridings and was shocked to find the builders ripping out the piping and was unsure why they would carry out an unnecessary task. Richard was again fobbed off by Duggie. Having had enough, Richard returned to the house on his own later that night to have a look at what was being done. Duggie arrived at the house shortly after and Richard confronted him over his dodgy workmanship and came to realise he was ripping him off and planned to make money on the side. Richard told Duggie that their partnership was over and that he would find somebody else to help him out. Duggie pleaded with Richard and while leaning on the banister he fell through it and fell several floors and was severely injured. Richard assumed Duggie was killed instantly, and despite coming close to phoning an ambulance he thought against it. He took Duggie's keys and gained access to his home, where he emptied out his safe. Richard returned to the Ridings to find Duggie seemingly gone, although discovered he had only moved a few feet before passing away. Richard went to meet Gail in the Rovers, pretending that nothing happened. The following morning he arrived with Gail at the house and feigned shock at finding Duggie's body. Much to Richard's happiness, Duggie's death was ruled as an accident and he wasn't connected to it.
Richard's occupation as a financial advisor drew the attention of some of the older street residents such as Jack and Vera Duckworth, Emily Bishop and Rita Sullivan, who wanted to find ways to invest their money to life a comfortable retirement. He enrolled Emily in his scheme to buy her house and let her live off the money, meaning it would be his home when she passes away. Emily's busybody lodger Norris Cole didn't trust Richard and (rightfully) deduced he was a conman. An angry Richard kidnapped Norris and took him to The Ridings site and threatened him. He apologised and showed Norris around, and later let him go. A scared Norris kept his distance from Richard.
Richard kills his ex-wife Patricia.
Richard and Gail got engaged and planned to marry in June 2002. But his ex-wife Patricia arrived in the area and wanted Richard to buy her out of her share of their property company Kellett Holdings. Richard takes Patricia to the Ridings site to show the development he is working on and pleading with her to give him more time to make money off the project in order to pay her back. Patricia didn't approve of the answer, and threatened to destroy Richard's world by revealing to Gail the truth about Richard duping past clients and ripping people off. During a heated argument and angry Richard grabbed a spade and hit Patricia over the head, causing her to fall into a pit. He covered the body up and it was later sealed with cement, much to his relief. When Gail found Patricia's bracelet on his person, Richard lied and claimed it belonged to his late grandmother and he was giving it to Gail as a present for their wedding. Richard and Gail later tied the knot, and went on a honeymoon together in Florida with the children.
Financial difficulties[]
Richard began having problems with his newly developed flats following the approval of a young offenders hostel built nearby. This lowered the value of the flats and nobody was interested in purchasing a flat situated nearby criminals. Richard was left in financial constraint due to his development. Struggling for money, he learned that Audrey had a large sum of money in her will. Having killed Patricia, Richard was prepared to kill again. Over the coming weeks he began to slowly make Audrey look like she was going mad, such as sneaking into her house and misplacing things. Audrey began to question her own sanity as a result. One night Richard put his plan into motion and set fire to Audrey's house to make it look like an accident by her own doing, although she was rescued by the emergency services.
Overtime Audrey began to gain her own suspicions of Richard and became convinced that he was planning to murder her. Richard played it cool, which only made Audrey look worse in the eyes of Gail and the other neighbours, who saw no wrong in Richard. One day Richard chased Audrey down the canal, and she fled to the house of her friend Archie Shuttleworth out of fear. Archie looked out for Audrey and sent Richard packing. Archie and Audrey discussed the recent goings on and came to the conclusion that Richard was actually in the wrong, having found flaws in his past behaviour. But this only added to Audrey's fear as she realised her daughter was living with a murderer. Meanwhile Richard poured his heart out to Gail about his past raising his own mentally ill mother and broke down in tears. Audrey, Archie and Norris teamed up to try and expose Richard, but he was always a step ahead and put on a good performance for Gail and the neighbours.
Targeting Emily Bishop and second murder[]
Still under financial strain, Richard turned his attention to client Emily Bishop. Knowing he would inherit her house once she died, he made plans to make her his next murder victim. Around the Festive period of 2002, Emily fell seriously unwell, and Richard hoped to use this to his advantage. He visited Emily at her house on Christmas Day when she was alone and had a sherry with her. Emily fell asleep, and Richard came close to smothering her with a pillow, but had second thoughts and held back. Rita arrived to check up on Emily, and Richard made his excuses and left. He met up with Gail moments later, and informed her he didn't think that Emily was long for this world.
Richard attacks Emily Bishop and murders Maxine Peacock.
After the New Year Richard still plotted to kill Emily. He found out that Sarah's ex-boyfriend Aidan Critchley was sleeping rough in an abandoned shop down the road. Aidan was previously responsible for getting into a car accident with Sarah, which put her life in danger. Aidan had also proved to be a nuisance to the Platts and others over the past year, so Richard planned to set him up. He discovered that Sarah was smuggling Aidan food and drink, and Richard secretly spiked one of the drinks which knocked Aidan out. During a party in the Rovers Return, Emily was babysitting baby Joshua Peacock for Ashley and Maxine. Richard managed to sneak out unnoticed and dressed in black, and armed with a crowbar snuck into the house and struck Emily over the head while she watched TV. Unexpectedly Maxine returned home to check on Joshua, and Richard coldly told her that she "should have stayed at the party" before beating her to death with the crowbar. He staged a robbery at the house by taking some belongings and later planted the goods and murder weapon near an unconscious Aidan, and managed to return to the party where nobody noticed he was gone.
Richard was shocked to discover that Emily had survived the incident although had no memory. Aidan was caught and arrested for Maxine's murder and held in custody, although others such as Sarah, Audrey and even Aidan's nemesis Ken Barlow didn't believe he was responsible for the attack. During Maxine's funeral Richard was asked to do a eulogy by the Peacock family, which he reluctantly carried out. Richard held immense guilt over the crime, especially when he found out one of his elderly clients had died and left him their house, making his attack on Emily pointless. The council had also decided not to build the offenders hostel near his Ridings flats, meaning he could now bounce back without financial difficulty.
Richard's downfall[]
Richard confesses his crimes to Gail.
Richard appeared to have gotten off with his crimes and was able to look to the future. He planned to buy a house on a suburbs and move away with the family. But soon his lies would be unraveled, especially when it was discovered Aidan's blood results showed he had sleeping tablets in his system so couldn't possibly have carried out the murder of Maxine that night. In February 2003 Richard and Gail celebrated them moving away together, although Richard found it hard to keep his guilt hidden, especially with the presence of Ashley in the pub. Gail grew suspicious when she overheard Steve McDonald saying he had found the bracelet that Richard claimed to be from his grandmother, and it was found on the building site of The Ridings property. Gail realised that Richard had been lying to her, and began to question her husband. Richard had went home earlier, and Gail followed him back and confronted him. Unable to hide his lies any longer, Richard confessed to his crimes.
Richard tried to justify his crimes that he didn't want to be seen as a failure and attempted to convince Gail that he cared for her more than her ex-husbands such as Brian Tilsley and Martin Platt, both whom had cheated Gail in the past. But Gail informed Richard that she could have lived with a failure than what he chose to become. Richard attempted to convince Gail to move away with him, but she refused and wanted him out of the lives of her and her children. Broken, Richard left the household without further incident and disappeared into the night. Gail called her mother and the pair reported Richard to the police, and a manhunt was issued out for him.
Richard attempts to murder his family.
Over the next two week Richard lived rough, and began stealing milk off doorsteps due to fear of showing his face in a shop. His mental health began to deteriorate and he missed Gail and the kids. Realising that his time would be up and not wanting to spend the remainder of his life in prison, he put into motion a final plan to kill himself and the Platt family. He returned to Coronation Street in secret in March 2003, where he gained access to the Platt household and secretly kidnapped Sarah, David and Bethany, and bound and gagged them in the car in the garage. He awaited for Gail's return and managed to overpower her and prevent her from fleeing with the threat of the children's lives. He informed her of his living situation over the last couple of weeks and how it nearly destroyed him. He promised he wouldn't hurt any of them and that they would flee together, far from Coronation Street and the prying neighbours. He bound Gail's wrists with tape and took her into the garage, where she was shocked to find the children tied up. It soon dawned on Gail Richard had more sinister motives, as he had planned to gas them all in the garage, feeling they were better reuniting in the afterlife. Stealthily Gail snuck Sarah scissors to cut her bonds. Gail was gagged and sat in the front seat with Richard, who started up the engine. Audrey arrived and realising something was wrong alerted Martin, who in turn summoned his friend Kevin Webster and their colleague Tommy Harris to discover the common. They pried open the garage doors and Richard then sped off into the night with the Platt family.
Richard's corpse.
Moments later, Martin gave chase as Kevin and Tommy joined him in chasing Richard through the streets of Weatherfield. Sarah and David managed to undo their bonds and began to untie Gail's wrists, much to Richard's irritation. They tried to stop him but Richard sped into the canal, shouting that he loved them. He crashed into the canal and attempted to stop them from fleeing the sunken car, but the family managed to escape with the help of Tommy and Martin. Tommy went back to find Richard, but discovered he was gone from the car. Later that night the police found a body and asked Gail to come along and identify it. The body was discovered to be Richard's, and Gail confirmed the identity before throwing their wedding ring into the canal.
Legacy[]
Richard was given a private cremation with only Gail and Archie present, as Gail didn't wish to glorify her murderer husband. Gail and the family attempted to move on with their lives following the incident, although Richard would still cast a dark shadow over the Platt household for many years to come. David was especially affected by Richard's attempted murder of them, and would go down a dark path.
In 2006, three years following Richard's death, the family began receiving cards on specific dates, seemingly addressed with Richard. It was clearly a sick prank, but nonetheless concerning. Gail began to suffer with stress and insomnia as a result of the cards and was prescribed with medication to cope. She suspected her boyfriend Phil Nail was involved (due to him writing a book about Richard) and dumped him, although the cards still came. She discovered that David was involved in the card sending, although he attempted to play it down as a prank. Despite her disgust at David, Gail didn't want to press charges against her son due to what he had to endure with Richard.
In October 2007, David drove to the spot where Richard tried to kill him and his family. Around this time David had been banished from the Platt household after nearly killing Bethany after stashing drugs in her doll. He drove the canal and was believed to have been killed, which ruined his sister's wedding to Jason Grimshaw. David turned up safe and sound later that night and was welcomed back by Gail.
In 2013, ten years following Richard's death, David told his wife Kylie that he had been suffering with nightmares about Richard.
In 2018, fifteen years after Richard's death, Gail began to see a psychic medium Rosemary Piper and was apparently being contacted by Richard from the afterlife. Rosemary claimed that Richard had left a curse on the family, which is why they have been suffering so much bad luck since his demise. Gail believed this and wanted the "curse" removed. It turned out Rosemary was a con artist who was in cahoots with Gail and Audrey's ex-partner Lewis Archer, who wanted revenge on Gail for ruining his relationship with Audrey five years prior. Lewis provided Rosemary with the information about Richard to make her look authentic.
In October 2023, just over twenty years following his death, Richard was referenced once again when Gail's brother Stephen was exposed as a serial killer just like Richard. The Platt family stated they found it hard to believe Stephen was a killer, especially when Nick later remarked that they once thought the same thing about Richard himself.
Return[]
Richard returns from the 'dead' after 21 years and comes face-to-face with Gail when she wakes up on Christmas Eve 2024.
In December 2024, Gail decided to leave the street to marry her old friend Jessie Chadwick and start anew together in France. The family were initially sceptical about this but nevertheless accepted their wedding plans on Christmas Day that year. On the night before the wedding, however, Gail is horrified when she wakes up to find herself face-to-face with Richard as a ghost. Richard attempts to get Gail to profess her love for him, but she rejects Richard in favour of Jesse himself. The following morning she marries Jesse and they leave the street together, with Gail having finally been able to leave behind the dark memory of her late killer husband once and for all.