Maria Jane Connor (née Sutherland) is the younger sister of Kirk Sutherland, and the mother of Liam Connor.
Maria originally worked at her parents kennels before getting with Tyrone Dobbs, although their relationship didn't last. After a string of broken relationships, she finally settled with Liam Connor in 2007 and the pair married the following year. But tragedy struck Maria, the pair lost a baby boy in a stillbirth, and a few months later Liam was killed in a hit and run. Maria later discovered she was pregnant, and gave birth to their son Liam in July 2009. She had also grown close to Tony Gordon and they planned to marry, although she found out he was responsible for Liam's murder as he had an affair with Tony's ex-wife Carla Connor. Following Tony's imprisonment Maria moved to Ireland for a new life with Liam's parents, although permanently returned to Weatherfield following Tony's demise in a factory fire.
Maria also dated former domestic abuser Chris Gray, her friend Marcus Dent, and younger man Luke Britton. In 2020 she married Gary Windass, not aware that he was also a killer as he had killed ruthless loanshark Rick Neelan and buried the body in a woodland.
She is played by Samia Longchambon.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Maria Jane Connor was born to Eric and Dotty Sutherland on 5th May 1983. She has an older brother named Kirk.
2000-2009[]
Maria first appeared in May 2000 when she met Tyrone Dobbs when he visited her parents' kennels, which she helped out at. They grew attached to each other and began dating, and Tyrone later got engaged to Maria after proposing to her at Blackpool tower. But Maria dropped the engagement when she discovered that he had snogged Fiz Brown. She got a job on Coronation Street at the salon working for Audrey Roberts.
Maria had a string of bad relationships and she later got back with Tyrone, but he broke off with her. She had also dated Audrey's grandson Nick Tilsley and moved away with him temporarily but later returned when things didn't work out. She briefly reconciled with Tyrone due to her bad relationships, but he later split up with her realising they wouldn't be truly happy in the end.
She was finally able to find love in 2007 when she met Liam Connor and they began going out with each other, although she was unaware of Liam's true love for his former sister-in-law Carla Connor. Liam later proposed to Maria after discovering she was pregnant, although this was also an attempt to stick it to Carla who had began dating businessman Tony Gordon. Maria and Liam married in February 2008, although she had slapped Carla on the day as she was aware of her attraction to Liam and trying to come between them.
Tragedy struck for the Connor couple when Maria gave birth to a stillborn baby boy, whom she named Paul Connor Jr. after his late brother Paul, which caused friction in both Maria and Liam's marriage. He later began to have a secret affair with Carla, although remained when Maria who began to believe her husband was flawless. Maria was widowed in October 2008 when Liam was killed in a hit and run on the stag night of Tony after only eight months of marriage. To make matters worse, Maria found out she was pregnant again and went into town to tell Liam the news, only to find he had been killed.
Liam's death hit Maria hard and she was full of grief. Carla was also affected by Liam's death and temporarily called off her wedding to Tony and left for Los Angeles. Tony acted as support to Maria for Liam's death, "blaming" himself for what happened as he had asked Liam to be the best man, although Maria urged him not to be that way. Unaware to Maria and everyone else at the time, Tony actually orchestrated Liam's death, as he knew about Carla and Liam's affair and wanted Liam out of the way.
Carla returned to Weatherfield and wanted to go ahead with the wedding. It took place in December 2008, and Maria attended the event, although she was still upset over Liam's passing. She took a moment to collect her thoughts, and was followed by Sally Webster who showed Maria video footage of Carla and Liam kissing, as a way to prove to Maria that her husband wasn't completely loyal after all. Maria was enraged by the revelation and attempted to track down Carla to have it out with her, but was too late as Carla and Tony had departed for their honeymoon. After Maria discovered that Tony was aware of the affair and yet chose to ask Liam as the best man, she believed (rightfully) that Tony was responsible for Liam's death. Although other people tried to dismiss Maria's claims, she stuck to her guns.
When Tony returned he visited Maria with the intent to buy her off, and when that didn't work strangle her. Fortunately for Maria Fiz visited the house and Tony left. Maria was visited by neighbour Jed Stone, who had been thrown out of his previous home by Tony and had seen his darker side, especially as Tony caused him to suffer a stroke. Maria was happy that she had finally found an ally in her cause, although many people weren't interested in Jed's story either. Following Christmas Day Jed went mysteriously missing, although his landlady Emily Bishop stated that his stuff had gone so he must have packed and left without saying goodbye. Maria felt otherwise and was convinced Tony had likely killed Jed. After the New Year Maria continued her campaign against Tony, such as defacing outside his factory and scratching his face in the Rovers, although this only made her look "mad" to the neighbourhood. Maria confronted Tony about Jed, and Tony claimed he did actually kill Jed after strangling him on Christmas Eve. Maria attempted to report this to the police, but they wouldn't do anything due to lack of evidence, and also because Maria had reported Tony to them multiple times. An upset Maria tried to kill Tony by running him over in the street, but only clipped him with the car and she crashed in front of the factory. Maria recovered quickly and so did Tony, although he refused to have her charged, feeling she needed help.
Tony dismissed Maria's claims that he killed Jed by presenting the old man to the packed pub at night. Maria walked in on Jed happily drinking at the bar and was confused, especially as Jed sung Tony's praises. Maria was embarrassed and she believed that she was "unhinged", which was possibly down to her grief. But a few days later Carla visited Maria and probed her for information on Jed, but Maria was past caring about the situation and wanted to move on. She later witnessed Carla fleeing the factory on a rainy night and with a heartbroken Tony trying to stop her, but to no avail. The next day Maria and Leanne went to see Tony to get to the bottom of why Carla fled, but Tony told Maria straight to her face that the marriage ended as Carla still loved Liam. Shortly after the incident Maria visited Liam's grave and was surprised to find Tony popping by to visit, where he broke down in tears over his marriage. Maria felt bad and consoled Tony, and he later gave her a lift back.
With their previous issues put behind them, Maria and Tony began to grow close. Maria still attempted to run her own small business Lad Rags with Liam's cousin Tom Kerrigan, who had a crush on Maria but found it hard to tell her how he felt. Tony wanted Tom's share of Lad Rags and also Tom out of Maria's life, as Tony himself began to develop feelings for her. Tony berated Tom for his crush on Maria. Tom felt pushed out by Maria and Tony so sold his shares and left Weatherfield, but not before having it out with the pair of them. In July 2009 Maria gave birth to a healthy baby boy with Tony's help, and she named the baby Liam. Tony began to support Maria and Liam Jr, although Liam's family (especially his mother Helen Connor) didn't approve that Maria appeared to have moved on quickly from her husband. Maria stated that she was still grieving and that Tony was her friend.
Despite this, her relationship with Tony continued to blossom. On the first anniversary of Liam's death, Tony proposed to Maria, which she accepted. On Baby Liam's Christening Liam Sr's parents found out and weren't impressed, but later accepted it as Maria was truly happy. On the day of Liam's Christening Carla Connor secretly returned to the UK, as she found out about the engagement and wanted Tony out of the picture for good, having been aware since her departure that he killed Liam and hence her motivation for leaving. But Tony saw Carla off after setting his henchman Jimmy Dockerson (who also killed Liam) on her, forcing her to return to the United States. Maria continued her relationship with Tony unaware of what he had been up to during the Christening.
Maria began to discover Tony's true colours in the next few weeks. When Maria was away visiting her parents Tony suffered a serious heart attack, although she was saved thank to Roy Cropper getting him medical help. But unknown to Maria Tony had confessed - believing he was dying - to Roy that he had killed Liam Connor. Roy kept the secret but tried to convince Tony to hand himself over to the police. Tony tried to play his claim down to panicking and blaming himself for the stag night, but Roy saw through the facade. Maria sensed tension between the two men and that it was stressing Tony out. When Maria found out about the reason for the conflict, her suspicions of Tony returned and he slipped out the back of the house when he was in the living room. She went to see Roy's wife Hayley Cropper to get the truth, and Hayley stood up for Roy as Tony had been making threats for a while, to the point the Croppers went away on a camping trip for the weekend to get away from him. When this was happening an angry Tony confronted Roy at the canal and tried to drown him, although Tony had a change of heart and spared Roy's life. With the walls having finally closed in, Tony handed himself into the police and confessed to killing Liam. Maria visited the police station and was allowed access to Tony, where he told her his feelings towards her were genuine and he tried to make amends. In tears, Maria told Tony that she hopes he hangs, before then leaving the station.
Unable to remain in Weatherfield, Maria left with Barry and Helen for a new life in Ireland. Before her departure she finds out that Tony has been charged with murder and due to appear in court, although Maria decides not to stick around and leaves with her in-laws.
2010-[]
Maria returned to Coronation Street in June 2010 in order to sell her share of Lad Rags to Carla, as Maria intended to remain in Ireland. Maria called in at the factory and was stunned to find an escaped Tony holding Carla and Hayley hostage. Tony grabs Maria to stop her escaping and getting help. He tries to calm her down but Maria is angry at Tony rather than scared. Maria later walks out of the factory despite Tony's threats, and alerts others to his presence. Hayley and Carla later escape the factory, and Tony dies after setting it ablaze. Maria makes amends with Carla following the incident, and returns to Ireland. Maria permanently returns to Weatherfield the following month and moves above the Salon and continues working as a hairdresser at Audrey's, feeling she can now finally move on from Tony now he is dead.
Maria began dating Chris Gray in October 2010, although Lloyd Mullaney warned that that Chris was abusive towards his previous wife Cheryl. Maria distanced herself from Chris as to not repeat another Tony situation, although reconciled with him after he was caught in a tram accident in December 2010. Unknown to Maria Chris was still jealous of Lloyd and Cheryl's relationship, and only pretended to be loyal to her.
In 2011 Maria began working for Carla as a personal assistant following Michelle Connor moving away, although she found herself out of her depth in the job. Carla tasked Maria with getting a deal out of new client Frank Foster. When visiting Frank's house he attempted to make advances on Maria and also got forceful, which caused her to flee his property in fear. Maria found it difficult to be around Frank and eventually confessed to Carla what he had done. Carla tried to drop the contract but Maria later forbid it, as she realised it would put the workers out of a job and later played the incident down as a misunderstanding. Despite her claims Maria still felt uncomfortable around Frank and quit her job to return to the Salon. When Chris found out about the incident he hit Frank in the factory.
When Frank raped Carla later that year, Maria stood by Carla's side and supported her. Frank was later found not guilty in court, although he was murdered by his mother Anne Foster, who discovered that her son was guilty of raping Carla after overhearing him taunting her in the factory.
In 2012 Maria began dating her friend Marcus Dent despite his previous claims of being homosexual, and he became a surrogate father to her son Liam. Maria felt the relationship was getting serious and at the start of 2014 she hoped they would move into a bigger house. But the plans fell through when Maria walked in on Marcus making out with Todd Grimshaw in one of the properties, ending their relationship. Despite Marcus betraying her, Maria was sympathetic when a cruel Todd dumped him later in the year, and it became clear Todd was only interested in ruining their relationship. Maria remained on good terms with Marcus when he decided to leave Coronation Street to move to London.
Behind the Scenes[]
Appendices[]
List of addresses[]
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Employment history[]
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Memorable info[]
Appearances: 19 May 2000–26 Nov 2009, 7 Jun 2010–21 Oct2015, 11 Apr 2016–