Maria's torment continues in Coronation Street as online trolling gets worse
The recently elected councilwoman has been receiving a constant stream of abuse recently, but will she be able to banish the trolls?
Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) was devastated in tonight's Coronation Street (Wednesday 29th June), as her online trolling ordeal worsened after a trying day.
The recently elected councilwoman has been receiving a constant stream of abuse recently, as her campaign for cleaner air and better conditions for the environment led to extra dustbins for Weatherfield - which in turn caused a strike amongst the refuse workers.
When Maria was interviewed over her stance, someone turned the clip into a joke by creating a rap out of her words in order to mock her. But when son Liam got into a fight at school, Maria was horrified to find out there was another video doing the rounds online - a deep fake clip in which her head had been attached onto a naked body.
The video was so convincing that Maria knew people could fall for it, and she began to receive death threats online. With the support of husband Gary Windass (Mikey North), she reported it to the police tonight. Later, despite seeing more hate on a forum about her, she resolved to go ahead with a press conference to calm the strike situation and reiterate her intentions on recycling.
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When Maria was repeatedly heckled by Jimmy, the refuse team leader, a police officer asked him to leave - but Gary couldn't contain his rage and tried to attack Jimmy. The officer took Gary away and he was lucky to avoid being charged, while Maria was left more upset than ever and planned to quit her role.
However, when former councilwoman and mayor Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor) found out that Maria was close to giving up on her career, she implored her not to let the online bullies win. Sally acknowledged the injustice that female candidates face, and her insightful advice did the trick as Maria had a change of heart, instead planning to stay away from social media.
But she couldn't help looking at her phone as it continued to ping with hateful notifications, leaving her traumatised.
Will Maria be able to overcome the vile abuse she is being subjected to, or are things only set to grow more sinister?
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Authors
Laura Denby is a Freelance Soaps writer covering all the latest news in the Dales, Cobbles and East End for Radio Times. She's a soaps nerd with a love for comedy drama, and has also written for Digital Spy, Metro UK and Yahoo UK.
