Coronation Street's Maria is terrified that losing her baby will mean losing Liam too. Actress Samia Smith tells us more about the heartbreaking storyline... Samia, how was it for you, filming the scenes where Maria loses her baby? "It's so, so sad. I found filming the scenes incredibly draining and emotional – the hardest I've ever done." Maria suspects something is wrong when she mentions to Marcus that she hasn't felt the baby kicking lately... "Marcus is worried and persuades her to go and get things checked out. But she goes without Liam." Why doesn't Maria take Liam with her? "It's not that she doesn't want him with her. She does. But it's all connected with Carla – as usual." What's Carla done this time? "The night before they'd been to a dinner party at Carla's, and Liam's still hung over when Maria rings him and doesn't answer." Surely Maria doesn't go to the hospital alone... "Marcus has got Maria worried and she wants to have a scan immediately so he says he'll go with her." It's then that the midwife breaks the tragic news to Maria that she can't find a heartbeat and the scan reveals her baby has died. "Maria's world comes crashing down around her. She's numb with grief. She's told she'll have to come back the next day and deliver the baby through induced labour." And yet still she doesn't tell Liam… Why not? "She just can't bring herself to tell him. He's being so sweet, kissing her tummy, talking to the baby and saying how much he's looking forward to being a dad and she just can't tell him." But that's not the only reason she can't tell him, is it? "She's scared stiff she's going to lose Liam too. She's convinced he only married her because she was pregnant and that without the baby he won't want her any more." She must know that Liam has a right to know, to be there when she delivers his baby? "Maria is her own worst enemy and always has been. The viewers will be screaming at their TVs in frustration." So, is this the beginning of the end of Maria and Liam then? "She doesn't believe he loves her and there is a point where she virtually tells him to go to Carla. But he does love her. It's not the end…"
