Maria Connor

Maria Connor
Maria Connor
Maria Connor.jpg
Samia Smith as Maria Connor (2009).
Coronation Street character
Portrayed by Samia Smith
Introduced by Jane MacNaught
Duration 2000—
First appearance 19 May 2000
Classification Present; regular
Book appearances Coronation Street:
The Complete Saga
Profile
Date of birth 5 May 1983
Home 2a Coronation Street
Occupation Hairdresser

Maria Jane Connor (née Sutherland), is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, portrayed by actress Samia Smith. The character first appeared on-screen on 19 May 2000.[1] During her time on Coronation Street, Maria has been the centre of storylines such as giving birth to a stillborn baby, sleeping with her best friend's boyfriend and being widowed after eight months of marriage. She works as a hairdresser at Audrey's Salon. She worked for Carla Connor (Alison King) as her PA for a couple of months in early 2011 but returned to Audrey's Salon.

On 21 April 2009, Smith announced she was pregnant and taking maternity leave in autumn 2009. Maria was off-screen from November 2009 until June 2010.

Contents

Storylines

2000–09

Maria arrives in Weatherfield as the love interest of Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall). Tyrone and Maria become engaged after he proposes on Blackpool Tower. However, Tyrone is led astray by Fiz Brown (Jennie McAlpine), and Maria ends the relationship. She is annoyed when her brother Kirk (Andrew Whyment) begins dating Fiz, though the two eventually become best friends and share a flat for a period of time with Candice Stowe (Nikki Sanderson). In 2002 Maria is attracted to John Arnley (Paul Warriner), the lecturer boyfriend of her friend Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor). They have a one-night stand which results in her becoming pregnant. Maria has an abortion and initially claims that John raped her. When Toyah discovers the truth, she moves to Sheffield and Maria becomes an enemy of Toyah's mother Janice (Vicky Entwistle). When Toyah's step-sister Leanne (Jane Danson) returns to Weatherfield in June 2004, she seeks revenge for Maria's betrayal of Toyah, sabotaging her burgeoning relationship with Nick Tilsley (Adam Rickett). After a string of brief affairs, Maria becomes close to Tyrone again, and eventually the pair reunite. Tyrone breaks off their second engagement after realising that Maria will never be happy with him. Although upset, Maria accepts his decision.

Maria later has an affair with builder Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward) in 2006, who is dating Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) at the time. Charlie becomes quite obsessed with controlling Maria, going so far as to set up a security camera outside her flat to monitor her movements and even stages a burglary at the flat. After a couple of months, Maria's guilt over their secret relationship becomes too much to bear and later confesses to Tracy what they have been doing, leading to a catfight between the two women on the street. When Tracy later murders Charlie, as revenge for humiliating her, Maria testifies against her in court, helping to have her convicted. Maria then begins dating local entrepreneur Liam Connor (Rob-James Collier) in late 2007, who had previously been warned off her by Charlie. Maria discovers she is pregnant, and Liam proposes. Liam's sister-in-law Carla Connor has feelings for him, which causes Maria some anxiety, but they eventually marry happily in February 2008. Two months later, Maria is horrified to realise that her unborn baby has stopped kicking.[2] She is told that the baby has died and she must have her labour induced. She gives birth to a stillborn baby boy, named Paul after Liam's late brother.

Maria daubs the factory wall in red paint in an attempt to prove that Tony murdered Liam

Unbeknownst to Maria, Liam later cheats on her with Carla. The affair is discovered by Carla's fiancée Tony Gordon (Gray O Brien), who has Liam murdered in a Hit and Run attack on the same night Maria discovers she is once again pregnant on 17 October 2008. Maria goes on to learn about Liam's affair, when a drunken Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor) shows her video footage of Carla and Liam kissing at Carla's wedding to Tony. Maria becomes suspicious of Tony when she discovers that he already knew about the affair before marrying Carla, and suspects him of involvement in Liam's death. She begins a harassment campaign against Tony, who considers killing Maria to silence her, and also tries to bribe her, offering to provide for her baby. Maria almost runs Tony over in her car, causing him minor injuries, and he refuses to press charges against her. She later accuses Tony of murdering pensioner Jed Stone (Kenneth Cope) when Tony confesses to it in a psychological mind game but later Tony brings Jed into the Rovers and Maria is forced to eat humble pie and withdraw all her accusations.

At the same time, Carla discovers Maria was right all along and flees Weatherfield in February 2009, leaving Tony a broken man. When Maria finds Tony mourning at Liam's grave on her wedding anniversary, Maria calls a truce with him and in a sharp twist in the saga the two form a close friendship. Tony helps her through the later stages of her pregnancy, and they establish a firm friendship. When Maria goes into labour three weeks late as the two walk along a deserted beach, Tony delivers the baby on 3 July 2009, which she names Liam Anthony Connor, after Liam and Tony. Their relationship later becomes romantic after a 7 month close friendship which is very frowned upon by Maria's in-laws (the Connors) leading to much conflict as Liam's mother Helen (Dearbhla Molloy) brands Maria 'a tart' though they eventually bury the hatchet and accept Tony. On the anniversary of Liam's death, Tony proposes to Maria by Liam's graveside, and she accepts. Maria finally discovers the truth about Tony when he suffers a heart attack and confesses to Roy Cropper (David Neilson) that he had Liam murdered. Roy's wife Hayley (Julie Hesmondhalgh) informs a heartbroken Maria. At first Maria refuses to believe it but during a dramatic final scene between Tony and Maria, Tony confesses all to a furious Maria. This causes her to have an emotional breakdown. She does not believe that she is a fit mother to her baby. After a lot of moral support from Liam's grandparents Barry (Frank Grimes) and especially Helen, Maria finally accepts that she is a fit mother to Liam and that she will take good care of him before deciding that she wants to accept an offer from Barry and Helen to stay with them in Ireland with baby Liam.

However, she gets an unexpected guest at her front door - Carla has returned. Carla demands an explanation of why Tony has been arrested even though she knew that it's part of his involvement with Liam's death. At first Helen refuses Carla to come in, but Maria decides to do so. The two women have a heart-to-heart in which Maria questions Carla on the circumstances of her mysterious disappearance almost a year earlier and what the fight between her and Tony was about on the night she vanished. Maria tells Carla of how she had witnessed Carla and Tony's fight spill on to the street and was suspicious that Carla knew he had murdered Liam. Carla lies and said it was because she had told Tony she'd always loved Liam, Maria then tells Carla she loved Tony and the two call a truce. Maria then leaves for Ireland on 26 November 2009, the day before Tony's hearing and she and Carla exchange glances in her final scene. In December 2009, Maria is informed off-screen that Carla was in fact lying.

2010—

Maria returns to Weatherfield on 7 June 2010 to meet with Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) and Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati), who are buying her house. She goes to visit Carla who is in the factory. However, when she arrives, Tony, who has just escaped from prison, answers the door and pulls her inside the factory, threatening her with a gun. Tony, still in love with Maria, does not tie her up like he has done with hostages Carla and Hayley, and he tells her that he will not harm her. Instead, he tries not to do anything dramatic while she is there, telling her constantly he is sorry she had to witness the whole situation. After a few words with Tony, knowing that he will not shoot her, she walks out of the door and runs across the street to the Rovers for help and telephones the police. Clearly shocked by the ordeal and finding out that Tony died in the subsequent explosion at the factory, Maria flies back to Ireland the following day. She rents out Audrey's (Sue Nicholls) Salon flat and pays three months rent in advance so that Kirk has a place to stay. Just before her departure to Ireland, Maria meets up with Carla in the charred remains of Underworld. Maria tells Carla that she can never forgive her but whatever she does will mean nothing to her, they finally call a truce and depart peacefully; bringing an end to their rivalry.

Maria returns again on 23 July 2010 for Audrey's surprise 70th birthday party, announcing her intentions to remain in Weatherfield. She moves in with Kirk in the salon flat. Her colleague Natasha Blakeman (Rachel Leskovac) also finds out that Maria was once engaged to her boyfriend Nick when they start talking in the Rovers, causing jealousy. Maria, Natasha and David compete at the salon in hopes that Audrey will pass the salon onto one of them when she leaves. After Lewis Archer (Nigel Havers) runs away without Audrey, Maria alongside Natasha and David remain as hairdressers as Audrey returns to the Salon and remains as owner.

In October 2010 Maria goes on a date with builder Chris Gray (Will Thorp), however, this ends when Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles) tells Maria about Chris having hit his estranged wife Cheryl (Holly Quin-Ankrah). Maria later decides to give Chris another chance and they begin a relationship.

During the tram crash on 6 December 2010, Maria supports close friend Fiz when she goes into premature labour. She also comforts ex-fiance Tyrone after his wife Molly (Vicky Binns) is killed in the disaster.

After Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh)'s departure, Carla offers Maria a job as personal assistant at Underworld, to which she eventually agrees, getting fed up of being treated below David at the salon. Her arrival at the factory isn't well-received by the factory girls, who believe they are more capable of her job position. Maria's first big challenge is to attract new client Frank Foster (Andrew Lancel) to do business with the factory, Carla sends Maria to Frank's house all dressed up for an informal meeting, having to lie to Chris about where she was going. The evening starts off well, but after a few drinks and misreading signals, Frank forces himself on to Maria despite her telling him she has a boyfriend, she manages to escape and rushes home crying and shaken.

Over the next few weeks, Maria has to put up with Frank's appearances at Underworld, Maria informs Carla of what he did, but after numerous apologies, Frank agrees to business with the factory. In April 2011, Maria reaches breaking point when Carla announces that Frank has bought into the business and will be a new partner, she slaps Carla and quits her job after Carla says that Maria provoked the attack on herself. Seeing that she isn't herself, she tells Chris about the attack who causes a scene at Underworld and threatens Frank, but is stopped by Maria. Having reached the end of her tether, Maria eventually reports Frank to the police. Frank is arrested the next day, but there isn't enough evidence so the police do not press any charges. Maria then returns to her old job as a hairdresser at Audrey's Salon, alongside David and Audrey.

In August 2011, Chris begins acting strangely, such as forgetting to pick up Liam from nursery and having severe mood swings. After Maria confronts him about his strange behaviour, he trashes her flat and leaves her petrified. A few days later, after coming to see Maria (so he can confess that the root of his problems are that he has been diagnosed with a brain tumour) Maria tells him that she cannot be with him and tells him their relationship is over. After an argument, Chris tells Maria about his tumour, causing her to become sympathetic and wanting to help him through his illness. However, he tells her he doesn't want to be with her any more and they split, much to Maria's heartache.

Maria receives a phone call from a distressed Carla, on the eve of her wedding to Frank in September 2011, asking her to come over to her flat. Upon arrival, a shocked Maria finds Carla cowering on the floor, revealing that Frank has raped her. Maria puts her feud with Carla to one side and is immediately supportive, helping Carla as she reports the attack to the police.

Creation and development

Casting

Maria was created as a love interest for Tyrone Dobbs, and first appeared working as a kennel maid at her parents' kennels. Auditions were held for the role in 2000, and actress Samia Smith beat several rivals, including Kimberley Walsh and Suzanne Shaw, to win the part.[3] Describing Maria's development as a character since her arrival on Coronation Street, the official website states: "Maria has blossomed from working as a kennel maid to one of the Street's most glamorous young women. She laps up the male attention that her good looks bring her but playing footloose and fancy-free with the men in her life has gained her a bit of a reputation."[1] Jenny Cockle, writing for the Sunday Mirror, has similarly observed that during the character's duration on the show, Maria has evolved from a "dowdy kennel maid" to a "sexy siren".[4]

Maria as she appeared in 2001.

Commenting on the relationship between Maria, Liam and Carla prior to Maria and Liam's wedding, Smith assessed: "I think Liam loves Maria but he is in lust with Carla."[5] Discussing the scenes in which Maria give birth to a stillborn son, Smith described the research she put into filming the storyline to ensure authenticity: "It was so important that I got it right and it wasn't too overdramatic. They were both the hardest and easiest scenes I've ever had to do, because the situation was so sad. I was absolutely emotionally drained at the end of it all. The midwife has a lot of experience of attending stillbirths, and she helped me work out how to play it so that it seems real. It scared me personally, though, because the idea of going through something like that is petrifying. They were the most challenging scenes I've ever done."[6]

On filming the delivery scene itself, she explained; "There was a prosthetic baby, but the director didn't show it to me until filming started so I'd get the full impact. It looked so real and I just broke down."[2] Smith also gave the insight that filming the storyline affected her on a personal level, leading to the discovery her own mother had gone through the same situation: "Because of my mum, I wanted to do the scenes well but they left me feeling exhausted and drained. I know mum will be watching it at home, as will thousands of women who've been through it so I need to do it justice for them."[2] In an interview for the Inside Soap Year book 2009, a point was made about the fact nothing nice seems to happen to the character and asked Samia about it, she replied "I'd love Maria to be happy for a change! I sometimes wonder if the Corrie scriptwriters think I've got a dodgy smile or something, because Maria hasn't smiled for months".[7]

Asked how she felt about Maria's romance with Tony Gordon, the man responsible for Liam's death, Smith commented: "It's freaked me out to be honest! It is a bit creepy, we can't deny that, considering everything that's happened between them! I think the writers have done a brilliant job in making it a slow burner and making it as realistic as possible to allow them to fall for each other. They have actually got quite a bit in common. They've both had their hearts broken by two people who they were very close to and considered the loves of their lives. Ultimately, they've forgotten everything that went on earlier this year with the accusations of murder and everything - that's all been brushed under the carpet.."[8]

Reception

In 2006, the character won the Inside Soap 'Best Dressed' accolade.[9] Grace Dent, writing for The Guardian, has been highly critical of Maria during her time on the show. In February 2006, she highlighted the unlikeliness of Maria's relationship with Tyrone Dobbs is very romantic , writing: "Maria Sutherland is one of those shiny, lithe, capricious, tidily-kept hairdresser girls who flutter around the Trafford Centre's Karen Millen store on Saturdays, trying on sparkly halter frocks, dreaming about snaring Rio Ferdinand. Tyrone Dobbs, on the other hand, looks like one of the Flumps."[10] Following the death of Charlie Stubbs in January 2007, she deemed Maria to be the Street's "local loose-knickered simpleton",[11] and has also referred to her as being "such a tit",[12] and "a pretty, perky, easily beddable dimwit".[13]

References

  1. ^ a b "Maria Connor". itv.com. 21 August 2007. http://www.itv.com/soaps/coronationstreet/characters/m-pcharacters/mariaconnor/. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  2. ^ a b c Nathan, Sara (2 April 2008). "Maria's baby boy is stillborn". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article987834.ece. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  3. ^ "Samia Smith". Hello!. http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/samiasmith/. Retrieved 2008-08-12. 
  4. ^ Cockle, Jane (21 November 2004). "Interview: 'I won't strip off for the lads' magazines'". Sunday Mirror. Trinity Mirror. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20041121/ai_n12909775/?tag=content;col1. Retrieved 2008-08-12. 
  5. ^ "Corrie girls in catfight?". The Metro. 5 February 2008. http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=94619&in_page_id=7. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
  6. ^ Woodward, Kate (26 April 2008). "Real-life reflections". Inside Soap: pp. 25 
  7. ^ Carmichael, Nicole (December 2008). "Star of February". Inside Soap: Yearbook 2009: pp. 19 
  8. ^ Green, Kris (28 July 2008). "Coronation Street - Interview - Samia Smith (Maria Connor, Corrie)". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a167620/samia-smith-maria-connor-corrie.html. Retrieved 2009-08-03. 
  9. ^ "Brad cleans up at soap awards". The Metro. 26 September 2006. http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=20202&in_page_id=7. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
  10. ^ Dent, Grace (11 February 2006). "Grace Dent's world of lather". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/feb/11/tvandradio.theguide. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  11. ^ Dent, Grace (27 January 2007). "World of lather". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/jan/27/tvandradio.theguide. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  12. ^ Dent, Grace (26 January 2008). "Grace Dent's world of lather". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/26/television.culture. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  13. ^ Dent, Grace (8 March 2008). "Grace Dent's world of lather". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/08/television.culture. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 

External links


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