Hannah arrives in Hollyoaks with her parents, Neville and Suzanne, and brothers Rhys and Josh. She plays pranks on Josh and their cousin Fletch by pretending to be the fabled Hollyoaks Beast. Hannah becomes friends with Sarah Barnes and Nancy Hayton. One night, Hannah and Nancy are babysitting Tony and Mandy Hutchinson's daughter Grace, who dies from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Hannah is traumatised and guilt-ridden from the experience. Hannah begins dating classmate, John Paul McQueen. Hannah falls in love with him and they lose their virginity to each other. Hannah is devastated when John Paul breaks up with her and is even more upset when she learns he has feelings for Sarah. Distraught by everything, Hannah binges on food and becomes sick. John Paul and Hannah later get back together, but then Hannah catches him kissing their friend, Craig Dean, at a school dance (Craig was actually the person John Paul had feelings for). In the heat of the moment, Hannah announces to everyone what she saw. Afterwards, Hannah tells John Paul they can just pretend the kiss never happened, but John Paul says they cannot and he has realised he is gay. Hannah is devastated and becomes convinced she "made" him gay because of how "repulsive" she is. Hannah develops bulimia and begins regularly binging and purging. Hannah becomes friends with Sarah's model friend, Melissa Hurst. Under Melissa's influence, Hannah's bulimia turns into anorexia. Melissa, herself a bulimic turned anorexic, offers her some tips on how to starve herself and hide her disorder from others. All of Hannah's friends become suspicious of her weight loss and change in behaviour. Sarah misinterprets a conversation between Hannah and Melissa and believes that Hannah is taking drugs. Sarah tells Suzanne about Hannah's "drug use" and Suzanne confronts Hannah about Sarah's accusations. Hannah denies using drugs and is furious with Sarah for meddling in her life. Rhys's best friend, Gilly Roach, also becomes convinced that Hannah is taking drugs. Annoyed with Gilly's interference, Hannah threatens to falsely accuse him of sexually assaulting her if he does not keep his mouth shut. The situation comes to a head when the Ashworths have a barbecue and Melissa refuses to let Hannah eat anything, causing Rhys to kick her out. Melissa collapses on the street and is rushed to hospital where she is put in intensive care. With Suzanne still convinced Hannah was taking drugs,