Coronation Street star Kate Ford: ‘Why I want Tracy and Steve’s marriage to last’

Coronation Street Steve and Tracy
(Image credit: Mark Bruce)

The fictional pair tied the knot last year

Coronation Street actress Kate Ford, who plays Tracy McDonald, says she wants her character’s marriage to Steve to go the distance, because she doesn’t want to be separated from Simon Gregson, who plays her fictional husband.

Tracy and Steve tied the knot in a typically chaotic Corrie wedding last year. Shortly after the ceremony, Tracy discovered that her other half had bedded Leanne Battersby in the run up to the big day, after he’d mistakenly believed that his fiancé had given him a ‘free pass’ to sleep with someone else. Steve hadn’t realised at the time that the ‘pass’ in question was actually for a local spa.

Coronation Street spoilers: Amy Barlow tells Tracy and Steve that she’s pregnant

Steve and Tracy face tough times in Coronation Street after finding out their daughter is pregnant

Kate admits she was surprised to see the pair get together, as Steve had previously been disinterested in the florist.

She tells us: “Steve McDonald never fancied Tracy, ever. She wore him down! Sometimes he quite fancied having sex with her, but he never fancied her as a girlfriend, so I don’t really know what happened. I think he realised she was probably the best option he had, and he’s just gone with it now.”

But the Weatherfield star says that now the couple are finally Mr and Mrs, she doesn’t want them to ever split up.

“I really enjoy working with Simon (Gregson),” she says. “We don’t want to be separated because we have a right laugh. He’s just a funny guy; he’s got funny bones. I don’t think he even knows he’s doing it.

“He’s fun to be around, and that rubs off. You have a great day when you spend it with Simon.”

[Young star Elle Mulvaney on the Amy pregnancy storyline]

Tracy and Steve are currently involved in a dramatic storyline in which they have discovered that 14 year old daughter, Amy, is pregnant. Forthcoming episodes will see the couple offer to adopt the baby and raise him or her as their own.

But Kate says that, should the plan go ahead, she won’t be looking forward to having a newborn in the McDonald flat.

“Working with babies is hard!” she reveals. “You rehearse it and it goes really well, and then they hand you the baby and everything just goes out of the window – you can’t remember your dialogue and the baby’s crying. And when they’re toddlers, they just wander off!”

Coronation Street continues on ITV.

Alison Slade
Soaps Editor
Alison Slade has over 20 years of experience as a TV journalist and has spent the vast majority of that time as Soap Editor of TV Times magazine.  She is passionate about the ability of soaps to change the world by presenting important, issue-based stories about real people in a relatable way. There are few soap actors that she hasn’t interviewed over the years, and her expertise in the genre means she has been called upon as a judge numerous times for The British Soap Awards and the BAFTA TV Awards.

When she is not writing about soaps, watching soaps, or interviewing people who are in soaps, she loves going to the theatre, taking a long walk or pottering about at home, obsessing over Farrow and Ball paint.