Coronation Street fans have noticed something particularly eerie about Maria Connor’s love life.
Wednesday night’s episode saw her pass on her condolences to the Nazir family after the death of Luke Connor, played by Dean Fagan.
Eagle-eyed social media users were quick to develop a theory about the Weatherfield resident and her some of her previous boyfriends.
Poor Luke – who Maria was once engaged to – met a grisly end last week when he was murdered by Pat Phelan.
And Corrie fans began to quickly realise that he wasn’t the only one of Maria’s exes to have met a terrible end, comparing her to a “black widow”.
Charlie Stubbs and Maria were having an affair behind the back of his girlfriend, Tracy Barlow.
But when the builder decided he wanted to tell Tracy their relationship was over, she insisted of performing a lap dance for him – and hit him in the head with a heavy ornament.
He later died in hospital in 2007.
Maria went on to date – and later marry – Liam Connor, and the pair were happy for a little while.
That is, until then-co-owner of Underworld, Tony Gordon, arranged for Liam to be murdered after finding out about his affair with his fiancée Carla.
When out on a pub crawl with Tony and some others, Liam realises he left his wallet behind in the last bar they were at – and Tony urges him to return to get it.
But when Liam stepped off the curb and started across the road, he is hit and instantly killed by a car driven by Jimmy Dockerson, whom Tony had hired to kill his love-rival.
Unaware that Tony was the one behind Liam’s death, Maria eventually grew close to him – and the pair started a relationship.
He was killed two years later, in 2010, when the Underworld factory burst into flames with him still inside.
Some of her former flames have survived to tell the tale – like Tyrone Dobbs and Marcus Dent.
But the trend may end up spelling some bad news for Aidan Connor, who recently had an affair with the Weatherfield hairdresser – despite his relationship with Eva Price.
Shayne Ward confirmed late last year that he would be exited the soap “in a dramatic storyline in the spring”.
The show’s bosses are remaining tight-lipped on how exactly this will play out.
An ITV source told Metro:
“Shayne is an incredibly popular member of the cast and his exit in spring will bring high drama,”
“There is still a long way to go for Aidan from now as the character will remain on screen for another six months.
“But bosses have lined up a big leaving storyline for the character.”
