Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon has revealed that her character Maria Connor’s marriage to Gary Windass could soon be in serious trouble.

To celebrate her impressive 25 years on the cobbles, Samia joined us at Inside Soap for an exclusive chat about Maria’s highs, lows, loves and losses – and teased that her current relationship might be about to come to an end.

“Maria and Gary have a rocky patch ahead,” she told us. “They’re about to be tested and I’m not sure how they’ll make it through – but I hope they do…

“They’ve been through thick and thin over the last six years. Maria always has her guard up because of Gary’s history with Sarah, who he still has love for. She does get jealous!”

There’s now another woman in the picture, as Gary has recently lied to Maria about secretly buying Mick’s van to give Lou some extra cash.

Maria is already wary of Lou and tensions have recently boiled over, resulting in a physical altercation between the two women where Maria was arrested for assault.

This rivalry is set to put pressure on Maria and Gary’s marriage, but will Gary be pushed closer towards Lou?

Maria’s had a fair few love interests over her years on the ITV soap, so we asked Samia who she thought was the love of her character’s life.

“One of the Corrie writers asked me that the other day, and straight away I said Liam,” she said. “Maria was besotted with him, obviously he didn’t feel the same because he had an affair with Carla! When Liam was murdered, Maria was absolutely devastated.”

Despite this, Samia is a big fan of the stable relationship Maria and Gary have formed in recent years – even though things may soon take a dramatic turn.

“She does love Gary,” Samia insisted, “but more in a practical way because of the family unit they’ve built. Liam gave her butterflies, but with Gary it’s a more grown-up relationship. They support each other and make a good team.”