| Character Profile | List of appearances |
Robert James "Rob" Hawthorn was the rival of Kurt Benson and ex-boyfriend of his sister Lucy.
Biography[]
1996-1997: Beginning of the Feud[]
Rob encountered old enemy Kurt Benson at the Riverbank College pancake race in February 1996, teaming up with Ruth Osborne who Kurt was dating at the time. Rob took a liking to Kurt's sister Lucy and the pair also began dating. At Lucy's sixteenth birthday party in March 1996, Rob and close friend Dermot Ashton decided to spike Lucy and Natasha Andersen's drinks with ecstasy so they could lure the pair to bed. However, Lucy abandoned her drink whilst Natasha collapsed from an overdose. Natasha died in hospital and the blame was placed solely at Rob's door.
Lucy stood by Rob, but he felt guilty over what happened struggled being with her. After discovering that he was taking drugs himself, Lucy broke up with him until he convinced her to give him a final chance. Rob later took Lucy on holiday, secretly smuggling drugs in her bag. When Dermot began having financial problems, Rob decided to burgle his drug dealers lock-up with him, bringing Lucy and her friend Carol Groves along as alibis. The pair were caught and a car chase ensued, resulting in Rob crashing into the River Dee. Lucy managed to escape and Rob rescued a seriously injured Carol, but Dermot ultimately died.
Rob began receiving threats from the dealers, demanding repayment. After the police refused to charge Rob after Lucy's confession, Kurt, Lucy, Carol and Jambo Bolton kidnapped him and delivered him to the dealers, hunting for him as he failed to pay them back. They threw Rob from the roof of a car park building, leaving him with a serious leg injury. In April 1997, Susi Harrison discovered that Rob was living on the streets and invited him to move in with her. Susi developed feelings for Rob but flew into a jealous rage after spotting the pair together, lunging at Lucy with a climbing pick but accidentally stabbing Rob.
1997-1998: Relationship with Lucy and 'Death'[]
Rob began appearing to redeeming himself after saving Ruth from an attempted rape by her stalker Spike. Lucy discovered that her boyfriend Bazz had cheated on her with Matt Fraser, not long after her brother Ollie was killed in a car accident, and she turned to Rob for support. After she became isolated from her family, Rob began offering her tranquilisers to help her cope, which she became addicted to. Rob began having issues with his legs whilst applying for a lifeguard job, and the discovery that his father had died caused Rob to turn to heroin.
Lucy also began using heroin, but Rob struggled when she became addicted to it too. Lucy began going behind his back to buy it, and tried locking her in a room to make her go cold turkey. However, when Rob was informed that his leg may need amputating in the future, he turned evil and used Lucy to get revenge on Kurt. After having Lucy steal £10,000 from the Benson family, Rob gave her a heroin overdose and tried to throw her off a car park roof until Kurt turned up. Taking the money, Rob attempted to flee to France with Jude Cunningham but was caught by Kurt, who pushed him into the ocean during a fight and left Rob to drown.
1999-2000: Return, Death and Aftermath[]
In November 1998, Jude discovered the £10,000 in the van, but Carol forced her to return it to the Bensons. After Lucy was discharged from hospital, she demanded to know what happened to Rob from Kurt. In July 1999, a skull was found in the Yard and Carol suspected that it was Susi's and Rob had killed her. After Kurt's 'death' in September 1999, Rob kidnapped Lucy at his funeral and lured her friends Ruth, Lewis and Tony to a disused water tank. After trying to drown them all, they managed to escape through a hatch at the bottom of the tank. However, Rob evaded capture as there was no evidence that he had ever been at the tank.
Rob continued to torment the group, attempting to drown Carol in a bath after learning of the fate of the £10,000, and befriending the Morgan family through his relationship (and later engagement) with Beth Morgan. On Christmas Day, Beth broke up with Rob after hearing what he had done to Lucy. On Millennium Eve, a drunken Rob set fire to Finn's Bus during a party but also set himself alight and died in the resulting explosion - the sole casualty. Lucy was initially accused of murder until Rob was confirmed as the arsonist. At his inquest in January 2000, Rob's death was ruled as 'death by misadventure'. Afterwards, Lucy decided to leave the village on an around-the-world trip later in the month, eager to abandon the memories of Rob's reign of terror.
Kill Count[]
Murders[]
- Natasha Andersen, 18th March 1996 - Overdosed after her drink was spiked by Rob and Dermot Ashton.
Attempted Murders[]
- Lucy Benson, 15th October 1998 - Gave Lucy a heroin overdose and attempted to throw her off a multi-storey car park, but was interrupted by Kurt Benson.
- Tony Hutchinson, 13th September 1999 - Tried to hit Tony with his van when Tony tried to stop him from kidnapping Lucy.
- Lucy Benson, 14th September 1999 - Trapped Lucy in a crash simulator at the nautical test facility and lowered it into the water.
- Tony Hutchinson, 14th September 1999 - Pushed Tony into the water of the nautical test facility in an attempt to drown him.
- Carol Groves, 28th October 1999 - Tried to drown Carol in a bath.
- Lucy Benson, 31st December 1999 - Set fire to a bus in an attempt to kill Lucy and everyone else on the bus.
Appendices[]
Residences[]
Employment History[]
Background Information[]
- Rob was the show's first killer.
- The character of Rob Hawthorn was created when actor Ben Hull (who played Lewis Richardson) was unable for filming due to prior commitments.
- Actor Warren Derosa quit the show in 1998 with no intention of returning. However, producers asked for him to return in September 1999, which he agreed, and departed in December 1999 when the character was killed off.
- Despite always being credited as "Rob Hawthorn", many of the official books and other content on Hollyoaks refer to Rob as "Rob Hawthorne".
Quotes[]