Richard Hillman

Richard Hillman is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Brian Capron. He first appeared on 20 June 2001 and became the show's main antagonist until his eventual departure on 14 March 2003. Richard arrives in Weatherfield for the funeral of his late cousin, Alma Halliwell (Amanda Barrie). He befriended Alma's close friend, Gail Platt (Helen Worth), and they start a relationship which culminated in them marrying a year later. However, Richard secretly withholds both a homicidal streak and an ongoing financial crisis during the time he occasionally played happy families with Gail along with her two children Sarah-Louise (Tina O'Brien) and David (Jack P. Shepherd).

Over his stint, Richard ends up leaving his business partner Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe) to die after the latter ends up having a fatal accident, murders his ex-wife Patricia (Annabelle Apsion) with a shovel when she attempts to expose his fraudulent dealings, clashes with Gail's ex-husband Martin (Sean Wilson) on certain family occasions, swindles neighbours Jack (Bill Tarmey) and Vera Duckworth (Liz Dawn) from their life savings in an investment scam and kidnaps Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden). Richard later begins plotting to kill his mother-in-law Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) by setting her house on fire, after which he exploits his failure to doing so with the conclusion that she has Alzheimer's disease, and then murders Audrey's co-worker Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw) with a crowbar after using it to unsuccessfully murder Norris' roommate Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire) and frames Sarah's ex-boyfriend Aiden Critchley (Dean Ashton) for the crimes.

Richard confesses his crimes to Gail in a two-hander episode on 24 February 2003. He seemingly departs Weatherfield after Gail denounces their marriage, and the extent of his illicit activities subsequently became public knowledge, but Richard returns weeks later with the intent of killing his stepfamily and himself. He abducts Gail and her children, along with Sarah's infant daughter Bethany, from their house and attempts to kill them all in their garage. However, after Audrey and Martin discovered his last-ditch familicide plan, Richard drove off with his captive stepfamily and ends up plunging their Ford Galaxy into a canal; however, they survived, while he drowned.

Richard's popularity on the show caused the character to be referenced multiple time and play a posthumous role in several storylines. Capron played the role of Richard's cousin Dickie in the 2010 direct-to-DVD film ''A Knight's Tale'', which paid homage to the Richard character. In December 2024 it was announced that Capron would return as Richard's "ghost" in order to tie into the upcoming exit of Gail. Provided by Wikipedia