Coronation Street star Samia Ghadie – who was formerly Samia Smith until she divorced and reverted to her maiden name – has revealed that she’d like her character Maria Connor to fall victim to some misery this year.

While speaking to Take It Easy magazine, Samia explained that she finds her character’s suffering more interesting to play than upbeat storylines!

She said of her Corrie ambitions, “There are loads of things I’d like to do. I’d love a storyline I can get my teeth into.

“I’ve been quiet lately, but the plus side is I’ve been able to spend quality time with [my daughter] Freya, so it’s been like having the best of both worlds.

“I’d like to play Maria being happy, but the downside of that is it’s rather boring…

“I mean, Maria is never really happy and it’s when she’s at her saddest that it’s the most fun for me to play her.

“I’m a bit of a sadist in that way, because it’s more dramatic. It’s great when everything is going right – but it’s more challenging when everything is going wrong.”

Samia – who’s also starred in Cracker, Heartbeat and Doctors – also revealed that next week, we’ll see Maria take the stand at Frank Foster’s (Andrew Lancel) rape trial. As you may recall, Frank attempted to rape Maria last year.

Of the courtroom drama, Samia said, “Frank tried to rape Maria about a year ago before he raped Carla, so I have to go in the witness box.

“As it unfolds, there’s a lot more to the whole thing and it gets very dark.”

You can read more about the rape trial here.