Coronation Street revisits violent death in Sam story

Residents of Coronation Street were stunned two years ago when villainous Harvey Gaskell (Will Mellor) murdered and killed Natasha Blakeman (Rachel Leskovac).

Unfortunately for Natasha, the Halloween party attire she was wearing was the same Morticia Addams costume that Leanne (Jane Danson) was sporting. This meant that instead of killing Leanne as the evil Harvey intended to do, he shot Natasha.

Sam (Jude Riordan) was severely traumatized by this, and it took him a long time to accept his mother’s passing and go on with his life. Sam convinced Nick (Ben Price) and Leanne that he wanted to see his mother’s murderer in prison, which brought up horrifying memories of Halloween 2021.

Although the family does not celebrate Halloween very often, Sam is adamant that Nick and Leanne have a party this year. He makes the argument that his mother would have approved of it. Though it’s obvious that we’ll never know if he’s correct, we do know that Nick and Leanne would stop at nothing to ensure Sam is happy, so they accept.

Excited, Sam extends an invitation to Hope (Isabella Flanagan) to attend the celebration that will take place at the restaurant. Sam is thrilled when Hope agrees to this as their friendship has been a little bumpy lately and he feels it would be an opportunity for a fresh start.

**Harvey planned to shoot Leanne, but murdered Natasha instead (Picture: ITV)**

At Halloween, Hope is probably in her element. Iain MacLeod, the head of Corrie, said of her, “She’s maybe wired a bit differently than most kids her age.” He proposed that Hope’s “innocent pre-teen romance” with Sam would reveal a new aspect of a character who has shown signs of odd behavior thus far in her Corrie career.

Hope, the daughter of serial murderer John Stape (portrayed by Gene Hawley), was enthralled with her father and his heinous crimes. One of her professors resigned early after she acted out his murder of Charlotte Hoyle.

**Sam and Hope broke up recently, but will they reunite at Halloween? (Picture: ITV)**

In addition, we’ve seen her use the stuffed weasel from the barber’s to pretend to be a dog bite on her arm in an attempt to get revenge for the death of her beloved chinchilla.

Will Hope reveal this side of herself at a Halloween party where the ghost of Natasha Blakeman’s death is already present?

Or will we witness the ‘down-to-earth’, more realistic Hope that Iain MacLeod prophesied?