Samia Smith, who’s recently returned to her Coronation Street role as Maria Connor, has revealed that she was “upset” by media reports that said she’s been axed from the show.

Speaking to the Daily Star, Samia said, “If anyone read that they were going to be axed they’d find it upsetting.

“Being off on maternity leave made it even worse, as I was completely out of the loop.

“I put a call in to work and asked what was going on and they reassured me that the rumours were not true.

“Whenever a new producer comes in, my name always seems to be on the list of possible characters that is going to be axed…

“It’s really quite upsetting.”

“I was gearing myself up to return for the special episodes and suddenly it was like my whole world was collapsing.

“It really stressed me out. I was always going to return after having Freya and had organised for Matthew’s mum to look after her while I worked.

“Fortunately, the rumours about me weren’t true.”