Samia Smith and Maria's Corrie baby story

I'm sure I wasn't the only one with a lump in my throat watching Maria deliver her dead baby on Coronation Street this week. It was heartbreaking to watch, and contrasted horribly well with Liam and Carla, carefree and drinking in the Rovers. It can't have been easy for Samia Smith to act out those scenes either, as she was using personal experience gained from her own mum.

To be honest, Maria's never been a favourite Corrie character of mine, I've always seen her as a bit of decorative fluff on the Street, and rather needy. But she's going to need all the strength she can muster to carry her through the next few months, what with losing the baby, arranging the funeral and then losing her feckless husband to Cruella Carla's talons too.

We'd better buckle our seatbelts, it's going to be a rather nasty ride.