Six-year-old Lucia Aliu has joined Kimberly Hart-Simpson on Coronation Street as Maisie Wheatley and the newcomer has already been hailed a 'little star' by fans. Lucia plays the young daughter of former sex worker Nicky Wheatley who has just moved in with Daniel Osbourne after losing her job at Weatherfield High School.
Lucia, from Liverpool, made her debut in the ITV soap on April 11 and she impressed as she featured in comical scenes on Monday night (April 25) as Nicky had an angry showdown with a journalist for the Weatherfield Gazette about reporting on her past. Nicky told Maisie to cover her ears and the youngster dutifully did as she was told.
A proud Kimberly shared a photo of the pair on the street on Instagram and wrote: "@luciaofficial smashed it lasy night. Well done gal." Lucia's official Instagram account shared a photo of the row as praised her co-stars.
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'Mess with my Mum, you mess with me, you tell her Mum!' #THEWHEATLEYS," the post was captioned. And it added: "Lucky to share the screen with these two wonderful women." Soap watcher jlf_1974 commented: "Just amazing! We are behind here in Canada can’t wait to watch her." And Sarah Lawrence, who plays reporter Viyona Lahiri, told her: "You are amazing little one so professional and kept us laughing in the rain."
Lucia was trained at the Hoylake School of Dance Wirral and principal Clare Calder-Behzadi applauded: "So proud of our little star." Lucia's father is retired professional basketball player David Aliu, who last played for Cheshire Phoenix in the British Basketball League.
Sharing a montage of photos of Lucia in the show and her name on the credits he tweeted: "Still so overwhelmed and proud of my baby girl." Ahead of Lucia's debut Kimberly wrote: "My show daughter Maisie debuts tonight - she is unbelievably confident, caring and talented. Good luck Lucia."
Nicky has watched her fresh start in Weatherfield crumble around her after returning last month to pursue a career in teaching. But her past has come back to haunt her after she landed a job as a teaching assistant working alongside her ex Daniel Osbourne, who paid her to dress up as his late wife Sinead after she died of cervical cancer in 2019.
She and Daniel have struck up a friendship again, much to the annoyance of Daniel's girlfriend Daisy Midgley. However, just as things started to look up for Nicky with a new job and being able to find a new home for her and her daughter vengeful pupil Max Turner leaked photos and videos from her time as a sex worker and she was sacked.
Max overheard Daniel and Daisy rowing in the street about his relationship with Nicky and her past work. Taking what he heard back home, Max did some digging and found the images.
His actions led to her being hauled into Mrs Crawshaw's office and ultimately losing her job. Then on Monday things got worse as viewers saw Nicky find out the Gazette was publishing an article about her.
