Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Corrie wedding: To have but not to hold
Samia: Scenes were tricky as we had to keep our distance...
CORRIE star Samia Longchambon says filming her character Maria’s wedding to Gary Windass was “really tricky” due to social distancing.
Gary, played by 33-year-old Mikey North, and Maria had to appear to be touching, despite the actors having to remain two metres apart.
Samia, 38, said: “The director shot it really cleverly so hopefully it doesn’t look like we’re too far apart saying our vows.
“It was a bit tricky making it look like we were closer together – and putting the ring on, that was really tricky.
“It actually looks like we’re putting the ring on to each other’s hands but the camera cuts away and obviously we were nowhere near each other. You just see me have the ring and reach towards
Mikey and then you see him fiddling with it as though I’ve put it on his hand.”
The soap’s first wedding since postlockdown restrictions were applied to filming is due to be aired on Monday next week.
Viewers will watch in dismay as Maria marries Gary without knowing he is responsible for the deaths of Rick Neelan and Rana Habeeb.
Samia said Maria is always unlucky in love and has now unwittingly married a double killer – although Gary bumped off villainous Rick in self defence and Rana by accident when he tampered with the factory roof and it collapsed. Samia said: “I think she’d be furious and devastated she’s potentially about to be married to a murderer.
“Especially after her first husband, Liam, was murdered and she got engaged to his killer.
“She’s not got a great track record with murderers. I think she’d run a mile if she actually found out the truth.
“She doesn’t learn from her mistakes and trusts people too quickly considering what she’s been through. My advice to her would be to stay away from men. She’s very naive.” Gary has told his ex
Sarah Barlow, played by Tina O’brien, that he still has feelings for her even though he is about to marry Maria.
Samia said: “Hopefully it’ll work out with Gary but I think with everything going on with Sarah in the background there will be trouble ahead.”
She added she has loved returning to the ITV show after lockdown, acknowledging that many actors are still waiting for their work to resume.
The mum of two said: “Apart from my maternity leaves it’s the longest I have had off in 20 years.
“It’s nice to come back to a big storyline and it was interesting to see how the wedding had changed in the scripts because of social distancing.”