Earlier this year, the affair between Coronation Street characters Maria and Aidan was re-sparked, despite the latter being in a relationship with Eva.

Speaking to press who visited the set of the soap, the actress said: “Maria is a massive fool, I feel like banging her head against a wall. When I read the scripts, it’s so frustrating because I’m thinking: ‘She should have learned by now, she should have learned about 16 years ago when Tyrone cheated on her with Fiz!’

“But she does think that Aidan is going to dump Eva because he keeps telling her he’s going to, but there’s always a reason why he doesn’t do it. To Maria, it seems like a valid reason at the time, but David is like her conscience on her shoulder. He keeps saying, ‘Stop falling for it, he’s just stringing you along, you should know better’. Which she should!”

Asked how she felt about Maria being the one who reignited the affair, she replied: “Yeah, I’m not even gonna defend that! At the time, I actually questioned that in the script. I was like, ‘would she really do this?’ Me and the story editors had a chat about it, because I thought, ‘she’s just got out of prison, she’s come out stronger, she said to him before that she’s not happy being his bit on the side’.

“But actually, when we talked it through, it’s because Maria does believe that there’s a chance for them and that’s why she does it. She’s thinking, ‘Yeah, I’ll say I’m happy to go along with an affair, but by doing that, you’re gonna realise that I’m the woman of your dreams’.”

Exactly where the affair goes remains to be seen, but with Eva sniffing out the rat in her relationship, she’s determined to punish Aidan before letting him know that she’s on to his shady ways with Maria.

Coronation Street continues throughout the week on ITV.