Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon reveals Maria Connor’s terror as murderer Gary Windass ‘set to’ kill evil bully Mason

Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) and Gary Windass (Mikey North) discover the extent of the bullying that’s being endured by Maria’s son Liam (Charlie Wrenshall) in upcoming Coronation Street episodes. They suspected that Liam was being bullied – but when they finally get conformation the extent of the horror he’s been going through is all too apparent.

‘She’s been suspecting for a while, both her and Gary, that he’s being bullied,’ Samia Longchambon told us.

‘She knows it’s been bad because obviously he’s not been going to school and telling them that he has. She knows that he’s been keeping stuff from her, but I don’t think even she imagines how bad it has actually really been for him. It is a big shock. It’s horrible.’

Samia added that almost the worst part, for Maria and Gary, is that Liam tried to cope with the bullying on his own without talking to his parents.

‘It’s heartbreaking for her to see what her son’s been going through and that he’s not felt that he can talk to her and Gary. I think that’s what hurts her as well that she’s like, “Why hasn’t he told us? we could have been helping him.” And he’s been going through this all by himself, which just makes it even more heartbreaking.’

Maria’s initial reaction is that she wants to do all she can to keep her boy safe.

‘It gets to the point where Maria is thinking, “I’m going to homeschool him because then I can keep him safe, I’ll keep my eye on him.” But then obviously, that has repercussions because that means that she can’t work, so it affects the whole family.’

Gary’s reaction to the news is exactly what you would expect – and Samia said this was a worry for Maria.

‘Obviously, Gary can be quite hot headed,’ she pointed out. ‘And his initial thought is, I’m going to kill Mason – probably literally, knowing Gary’s history! So that is a concern for Maria.’

Gary’s history is, of course, quite dramatic. He was responsible for the Underworld roof collapse which led to Rana Habeeb’s death, and also murdered Rick Neelan and buried his body in the woods.

Although Gary is now a settled family man and apparently reformed character, he can often react in a hot-headed way when he thinks his loved ones are under threat. Maria has to try to ensure Gary doesn’t go down the path of violence and make things worse, according to Samia.

‘They do have these conversations where Gary’s like, “I’m gonna go and find him,” and Maria says, “Much as I’d like you to do that, I’d happily throttle the pair of them” – meaning Mason (Luca Toolan) and Dylan (Liam McCheyne) – “we can’t, because we’re gonna get in trouble if we do that. We need to do it all the proper way, because it’s just gonna make it worse for Liam if we don’t.”’

Will Gary pay attention to Maria’s words? Or will he take justice into his own hands?