I was really nervous about speaking out, but everyone has been so supportive

Viewers have been watching Maria setting up her own secret salon behind Audrey’s back. Do you like getting to show her naughty side? IT’S really nice to have a storyline that’s not involving a man. I’m not in the middle of a love triangle, and it’s just been me and Sue Nicholls (Audrey) and now Rula Lenska (Claudia) and just lots of nice salon stuff. It’s been nice seeing a different side to Maria, one that’s not just focused on men. I THINK Maria really wants to go for it, because by that point it’s got so sour with Audrey. Audrey’s chucking her out of the flat and everything.

But then, just as Claudia offers Maria the chance to franchise the salon, Audrey comes in the Rovers and says, ‘I’ve been a bit harsh on you, I admit it. You don’t have to move out of the flat’, and just as she says that, Claudia comes in and says, ‘Ooh, we’re going into business together!’ So it’s one step forward, and two steps back. SHE does, yeah. But then actually, she makes a point to Audrey, ‘I did want to invest with you, and make more of myself. I’ve got Liam to think about’.

She’s at a time in her life where she wants to do a bit more than what she’s doing, and Audrey’s stopping her really. So she says to Audrey, ‘I can’t keep being held back, I’m not doing anything wrong.’

It’s just a bit of ambition that’s kicked in. When we were young: Samia with Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) back when Maria worked at her parents’ kennels and, below, with Audrey in the salon