Carmel Finnan Carmel Finnan was a student nurse classmate of Martin Platt ' s who babysat Nicky , Sarah Louise and David in September 1992 . As she proved to be good with the kids , Gail and Martin started calling on her regularly and soon trusted her enough that they left her to watch them when they went away for a couple of days . Carmel lived alone at the nurses ' home after moving to England from Ireland . She was born out of wedlock to a fifteen - year - old mother and brought up by her grandparents as their own child . When she found out the truth about her parentage at fourteen , she disowned her family and took up with the McGuires , who owned the neighbouring farm to her own family ' s . There , she became obsessed with Michael McGuire and accused him of fathering her ( non - existent ) child . Her grandparents placed her in hospital which she left after a year apparently a fine , cheerful woman who had put her dark past behind her . Now leading a lonely life in another country , Carmel started to get her feet under the table at the Platts ' . When she was frightened by a prowler at her digs one night , Carmel was invited by Gail to stay at 8 Coronation Street . Gail and Martin then invited Carmel to lodge with them until she found other accommodation , sharing Sarah Louise ' s room , and she happily accepted . Over the following weeks , Gail and Martin realised there was another side to Carmel . Martin became Carmel ' s new obsession and she convinced herself that he was secretly in love with her . Firstly , she " forgot " to tell Martin that Gail was coming home late , leading to an argument between them although neither of them realised Carmel had orchestrated it . Carmel told Sally Webster that Gail and Martin were having marriage problems , which Sally knew wasn ' t true , but when Sally confronted her about telling lies , Carmel started crying and accused Sally of wanting to cause trouble and told Gail that Sally didn ' t like her . Gail didn ' t know what to believe but was growing tired of Carmel constantly being around and monopolising the kids . Further concern was raised when Percy Sugden , as Bettabuy ' s Father Christmas , overheard Carmel telling a woman that David was her son . Carmel explained it away that she had pretended so that a woman wouldn ' t get at her for being a baby - sitter . When Alf Roberts was in hospital with food poisoning , Gail and Audrey stayed overnight there . Carmel was laying in Gail and Martin ' s bed when a drunken Martin got home late , unaware that Gail was away , and it wasn ' t until morning that he realised he was in bed with Carmel . He demanded an explanation but Carmel frustrated him by acting like it was normal , and then thanking him for a wonderful night and confessing her love for him . Martin couldn ' t remember what had happened but was sure he ' d never be unfaithful to Gail and made Carmel leave for Christmas in Ireland early . Carmel returned suddenly on Christmas Day , telling everyone she had missed the boat to Ireland but admitting to Martin that she had returned as she missed him . She resumed her campaign to get Martin to tell Gail it was over , but Martin told her she was living in a fantasy land and threatened to tell her parents and her tutor if she didn ' t move out of No . 8 . Don Brennan helped Martin out by putting him onto a bedsitter , but when Martin took Carmel to a bedsit , she made a move on him and asked him to live there with her , refusing to believe that her feelings weren ' t mutual . Martin had to fight her off and , back in Coronation Street , he threw her bags at her , telling her to leave . Carmel told Gail that she and Martin loved each other but Gail thought she was trying to cause trouble and threw her out . In the New Year , Carmel ignored Martin at college , much to his delight . Carmel however was deeply upset and in March she turned up at No . 8 and told Gail and Martin ( and Ivy Brennan ) that she was carrying Martin ' s baby . Gail didn ' t believe it at first but Ivy found out from Don that Martin had woken up in bed with Carmel and told Gail , who began to doubt Martin ' s honesty . After convincing Gail he ' d been faithful , Martin decided to give up his course as it seemed the only way to cut Carmel out of their lives . When Carmel found out , she accused Gail of making Martin leave college and told her she ' d take Martin from her . Carmel tried to snatch David while Sally Webster was minding him but left when Sally threatened to phone the police . On learning about the incident , Gail confronted Carmel at her bedsit , only for Carmel to deny the incident had occurred . They had a scuffle on the stairs which ended with Carmel falling down and breaking her leg . Gail was worried that she ' d hurt Carmel ' s baby but when examined it was revealed that Carmel wasn ' t and never had been pregnant . Carmel conceded that she wasn ' t pregnant but pressed charges against Gail , telling the police that Gail had pushed her down the stairs in a jealous fit . Martin had to be escorted out of her ward when Carmel told him and Gail that she knew one day she and Martin would have a baby , still unable to accept the truth . A short time later , her grandfather John Finnan arrived in Weatherfield to question the Platts . When he realised the similarities to Carmel ' s obsession with Michael McGuire , he apologised to the Platts and told them that he would get Carmel to drop the charges and take her home to Ireland to get the care she needed .