{"id":117902,"date":"2025-05-20T19:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/117902\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:59:12","slug":"coronation-street-star-samia-longchambons-health-fear-on-set-as-midwife-stepped-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/117902\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon’s health fear on set as midwife stepped in"},"content":{"rendered":"

From having her hair yanked out during a cat fight to giving birth on a beach, Maria Connor star Samia Longchambon has done it all. Celebrating 25 years on the cobbles this month, she reveals what keeps her on her toes<\/p>\n

19:57, 20 May 2025Updated 20:11, 20 May 2025<\/p>\n

\"MariaMaria Connor – played by Samia Longchambon – is a Coronation Street stalwart(Image: Mike Marsland\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

From catfights with Tracey McDonald to giving birth on a beach, during 25 years on the cobbles there is little that hairdresser Maria Connor hasn’t done.<\/p>\n

Still at the centre of the biggest storylines, alongside her husband Gary and son Liam, Maria – played by Samia Longchambon<\/a> – is a Coronation Street<\/a> stalwart.<\/p>\n

Yet Samia, 42, who joined as kennel maid Maria when she was just 17, says she is too superstitious to decorate her dressing room in case she is \u201ctempting fate.\u201d<\/p>\n

She tells The Mirror<\/a>: \u201cI feel like if I decorate it then it\u2019s as if I\u2019m getting a bit too comfortable and I\u2019m tempting fate and something might happen. Some people have literally wall-papered their dressing rooms and covered them in pictures and posters and fairy lights. Mine looks quite plain.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Coronation Street fans baffled as Mick actor Joe Layton’s real accent revealed<\/a>\"Samia'sSamia’s character is at the heart of the show’s biggest storylines<\/p>\n

“Maybe I\u2019m superstitious, but in the back of my mind I feel if I get too settled, the rug might be pulled from under my feet. If I decorate my dressing room it might look as if I\u2019m taking it for granted that I\u2019m going to be here. I don\u2019t feel that way. Every year when I get my new contract, I have a glass of wine to celebrate. It\u2019s such a special show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corrie also gives her the perfect balance between work and family. She continues: \u201cThere have been times over the 25 years when I\u2019ve thought \u2018oh, maybe it\u2019s time to move on.\u2019 I was young and ambitious and hungry to act. But that was more so before I had my kids. Because since I\u2019ve had them, it\u2019s been a brilliant place to work. I get great storylines and I also get to go home and tuck my kids into bed every night. That\u2019s priceless to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On screen Maria has enjoyed several steamy affairs. However, in real life, Samia lives happily in Cheshire with her husband, Dancing on Ice<\/a> star Sylvain Longchambon, 44, and children, Freya, 15 and Yves, nine. But Maria feels like a friend, says Samia, who adds: “She\u2019s annoyed me at times, she\u2019s made me cry, she\u2019s made me laugh and she\u2019s made me cringe. I know her very well. She almost feels like a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back over her quarter century in Weatherfield, Samia\u2019s standout moments include making her debut as a kennel maid in 2000. \u201cThe brief for the audition was that Maria was a female version of Tyrone Dobb,\u201d she says. \u201cI spent about a year like that and then Maria had a bit of a style make-over. So mini-skirts and high-heels replaced the fleeces and wellies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SamiaSamia was only 18 when she went to my first BAFTAs.(Image: Press Association)<\/p>\n

A year later she went to her first BAFTAs in 2001. \u201cI was only 18 when I went to my first BAFTAs. I wore a pair of jeans with \u2018I love freedom\u2019 and the American flag across the bum and a blue corset top. What the hell was I thinking? And I had these awful blue clip-on hair extensions, which I thought was a good idea at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her other on screen highlights include living with Jack and Vera Duckworth in 2001. \u201cMaria lived with the Duckworths for a while and Bill Tarmey (Jack) and Liz Dawn (Vera) were more than just work colleagues; they were literally like a second family. They were always there to help. The thing I\u2019m most grateful for is that when I was a teenager Bill told me to start a pension. I\u2019m super thankful for that now!\u201d<\/p>\n

And in 2006 she got into a brawl with Tracy Barlow. “I remember Tracy she threatened to rip out Maria’s hair extensions. I don\u2019t have hair extensions, but Kate Ford (Tracy) properly went for it, pulling my hair. We do have good fight coordinators, but I\u2019m not going to lie, it did hurt. It\u2019s got to look real, so there are a few bumps and bruises afterwards. I ached the next day!” Then in 2009 Maria gave birth to Liam.<\/p>\n

\"MariaMaria (then known as Samia Ghadie) moves in with Tyrone (Alan Halsall) and the Duckworth’s – Vera (Liz Dawn)(Image: Granada Television)<\/p>\n

“At the time I was giving birth to my screen son Liam, I was actually four months pregnant with my daughter Freya. Corrie said they needed my midwife on set, because for me to pretend to give birth, I had to push to make it look real. My midwife was concerned that I didn\u2019t push too much, as she didn\u2019t want me to harm my actual baby.”<\/p>\n

And she reveals how she once nearly cut off Tracy Barlow’s hair because she was concentrating on her lines while holding a pair of scissors. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult sometimes to multi-task and I once almost chopped off Kate Ford\u2019s fringe,” she adds.<\/p>\n

“I had the scissors and comb in my hands. I was concentrating on my lines and I put the scissors really close to her scalp – I was a millisecond away from closing them. She\u2019d have been left with just a tuft of hair. Now I stick to straightening hair or folding towels, which is safer!\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Samia’s other highlights playing Maria include:<\/p>\n

Kissing scenes (any year)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cKissing scenes are always cringe. They\u2019re always choreographed and you know how long you\u2019ve got to do it, so it\u2019s very technical and although it might look very romantic, it\u2019s definitely not. In the early days, Maria was with Tyrone, so I had to kiss Alan Halsall<\/a> loads. That was weird<\/a> because Alan is literally like a brother to me; I\u2019ve known him since we were kids. \u201d<\/p>\n

2016 \u2013 fountain fight with Eva Price<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey got me a stunt double, because Eva (Catherine Tyldesley) threw Maria into a stone fountain and they were frightened I might hit my head. But I actually wanted to do it myself, so the main part of the fight was me and Cath. We were literally in there all day. They were bringing us cans of coke for sugar to keep us going. She kept dunking me under again and again – for three days after I could smell pond water in my nostrils!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MariaMaria covered in chocolate milk<\/p>\n

2017 \u2013 Maria covered in chocolate milk<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMaria hit a pinata in the Rovers and Eva had put chocolate milk inside it. I was covered in it for a good part of the day \u2013 they just keep pouring it on you between scenes to make it look like it\u2019s still dripping. It wasn\u2019t nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

2024 \u2013 Maria’s son Liam contemplates suicide<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big responsibility to get this storyline absolutely right. Unfortunately, bullying is a common occurrence. I was bullied myself and being a mum you worry about your own children. It\u2019s quite draining when you have to cry repeatedly day after day, but it was a brilliant storyline that helped a lot of people. We got a lot of messages saying thank you and that their children had opened up to them as a result of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coronation Street is on ITV1 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm or can be streamed on ITVX.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From having her hair yanked out during a cat fight to giving birth on a beach, Maria Connor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[236,77,960,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-117902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-coronation-street","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-soap-operas","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114541937686354910","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}