Coronation Street crimper Maria Connor is to lock lips with her gay best mate Marcus Dent. Samia Ghadie, who plays hairdresser and single mum Maria in the ITV1 soap, revealed that her character's long-running crush on her midwife pal develops into something more after he supports her during a breast cancer scare. The actress, who has been on Coronation Street for more than 12 years, said the pair end up kissing after Maria gets upset about finding a lump in her breast. Samia said: "She doesn't tell anybody about it. And then Marcus comes in and finds her crying on the sofa at home and kind of gets it out of her, what's wrong with her." Referring to Maria's feelings for Marcus, played by Charlie Condou, she said: "I think Maria's secretly quite pleased about it, that it's Marcus who has found her. He's the perfect person who she'd want to be with in this situation. "At the end of the week, they're having a drink after what's been going on... I can't reveal the outcome! It's really emotional, the emotions take over and they end up kissing." But what about poor builder's mate Jason Grimshaw, who has been dating Maria in recent weeks? Samia teased: "This is the other thing, the other spanner in the works. She's kind of been throwing herself into this relationship with Jason and told him he can move in and stuff. "That makes it even more complicated when she realises that Marcus may have feelings for her, because I think that's why she's throwing herself into the relationship with Jason. She just thinks 'Well, there's no way that Marcus will ever feel what I feel'. And now, obviously, things have changed."
