Coronation Street spoilers: Distraught Maria Connor revisits Aidan’s suicide amid son Liam’s tragic decision

Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) makes a shock discovery in upcoming Coronation Street episodes when she finds out that her son Liam (Charlie Wrenshall) is the victim of cruel and merciless bullying by evil Mason Radcliffe (Luca Toolan).

Liam has been suffering so badly that by the time Maria gets to know what’s been going on, her son has already been researching ways to end his life.

Samia Longchambon told us how Maria feels when she makes the discovery.

‘I think when she finds out the extent of how depressed it’s making him and how he feels like he can’t carry on with his life, and he’s been researching ways online of how to end his life, it’s utterly heartbreaking for her,’ she said.

For Maria the situation recalls a previous tragedy, when her former boyfriend Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) tragically took his own life and affects how she deals with the situation with Liam.

‘To think that her own son is considering doing that, especially after what she went through with Aidan, when Aidan committed suicide, and obviously Aidan is a Connor, is part of the family,’ she sighed.

‘And I think she kind of takes it to the nth degree, she won’t let Liam out of her sight. And she does get really paranoid, understandably, because it has been extremely close to home, you know, a family member has ended their life before. So she’s absolutely, understandably horrified by it. And she won’t leave him alone once that happens.’

Heartbreakingly, when Maria sees Liam’s online search history and that he’s been searching for ways to die, she realises that earlier in the day her son had been saying goodbye to her.

‘He comes into the salon, he brings her a coffee, and he’s just being really nice to her and he tells her that she’s a good mum, and that he loves her. And Maria gives him a hug and she’s like, “Oh, what’s brought all this on?” And she’s touched by it,’ Samia said.

‘But she doesn’t for one second think it’s a goodbye from him. But as soon as Gary (Mikey North) comes in and tells her what they’ve discovered on the school laptop, everything makes sense to her.

‘That’s why she runs home as fast as she can to check on him. So I think the thoughts going through her mind at that time is, has history repeated itself, has he done what Aidan did? And when she finds him at home, it’s just like, the floodgates just open, and it’s hugely emotional for both of them.’

Desperate to help Liam, Maria draws on her own experience of being trolled as Samia explained.

‘There’s a really nice scene between Maria and Liam where she does say to him, “I remember when I was going through it with the online trolls and I thought that it would never get better, but it does. And you need to know that it’s not going to be forever, and talk to us and don’t keep this kind of thing to yourself because we can help, and it will pass, basically.

‘So she does try and get on his level because she has been through it herself.’