Serial murders, fake suicides and now a heart attack …. Is Corrie’s Gail the most unlucky-in-love woman in soap?
Coronation Street's most married character is about to bury her fifth husband and it may be time to give up on romance
WHEN it comes to love, Coronation Street’s Gail must be the unluckiest woman in soapland.
The cobbles most married woman – played by Helen Worth – is about to bury husband number five, Michael Rodman, after he suffered a heart attack while snooping around Phelan’s yard.
Those widow’s weeds must be getting pretty threadbare – she’s seen off four of her five spouses so far.
And she doesn’t half pick ’em.
She counts a serial killer and a conman among her exes and even landed in jail accused of another’s murder.
So as she bids farewell to her latest mistake, here’s a look back at Gail’s doomed love life.
Hubby no. 1
Brian Tilsley married the young Gail Potter in 1979 and they had two kids, Nick and Sarah-Louise.
But they split over an affair Gail had with Brian’s cousin, Ian Latimer, and doubts over Sarah’s paternity.
They got back together and remarried in 1988 – but it was not for long.
Brian (Chris Quentin) was stabbed to death outside a nightclub a year later.
Hubby no.2
Toyboy Martin Platt (Sean Wilson) had barely left school with his two GCSE’s before falling for the femme fatale of the cobbles.
Widow Gail moved on swiftly, giving birth to Martin’s son David on Christmas Day 1990 – just 10 months after Brian’s death.
The happy couple walked down the aisle soon afterwards but after various infidelities and dramas they split in 1999.
At least he managed to walk away and didn’t end up six feet under.
Hubby no. 3
The worst mistake of all was falling for smooth-talking serial killer Richard Hillman who she met, appropriately enough, at a funeral in 2001.
After bumping off ex-wife Patricia, his business partner Duggie, and Maxine Peacock, he attempted to kill Gail’s mum Audrey and ex-husband Martin.
Her love life plunged to new depths when Richard (Brian Capron) then tried to drown the whole family – by driving into a canal.
Gail, David, Sarah and Bethany escaped but Richard went to a watery grave.
Hubby no. 4
Joe McIntyre – dad to Michelle Keegan’s Tina – wooed Gail while pinching money to pay his mounting debts.
The couple married in 2010 and soon afterwards Joe (Reece Dinsdale) decided the only way to get out of trouble was to fake his own death.
As you do.
It all went horribly wrong for Joe when he did actually drown after an argument with Gail.
She was arrested at his funeral and ended up in the dock accused of his murder but was found not guilty.
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Hubby no. 5
Romance blossomed after she found Michael BURGLING her house.
It could only happen to Gail.
After standing up at the wedding, she finally walked down the aisle with him in March 2015.
He left her after discovering she hid a family secret from him, and had a fling with Eileen before coming back to her earlier this year.
Sadly, his snooping around arch enemy Phelan’s building site proved the death of him.
The Inbetweener
While he didn’t get as far as getting a ring on her finger, her fling with male escort Lewis Archer – played by Nigel Havers – proved this woman never learns her lesson.
After trying to con Gail’s mum Audrey out of a fortune, he swooped on Gail and persuaded her to hand over £40,000 to fund a new life together in Italy.
Then he was off to Belize with her life savings.