She's a favourite among Coronation Street fans and you couldn't blame them for worrying that Carla Barlow - nee Connor - could be on her way out of Weatherfield. Viewers of the ITV soap have been left horrified as the Underworld boss, played by Alison King, has become the latest target for serial killer Stephen Reid.
In recent scenes, after learning of her previous psychosis from his niece Sarah Barlow, Stephen saw an opportunity to start drugging the businesswoman. He has been slipping LSD into her coffee at work and even added some to her wine when he popped round to the flat she shares with husband Peter.
And things later took a turn when she knocked Paul Foreman over while in the Underworld van. First, Stephen made out that Carla had cancelled an important meeting with one of their big clients, leaving her to panic and rush to get to the meeting. Abi Webster wouldn't let Carla take her car which had been in the garage for an MOT, so she decided to get in Underworld's delivery van.
As she sped off down the cobbles, her vision became blurry and ended up smashing into Paul who was trying out Peter's new motorcycle. And she has now been left fearing that she'll loose everything if Paul decided to sue.
And while Carla is much-loved for playing the Weatherfield woman now, Corrie wasn't Alison's first stint on-screen. After studying drama at Groby Community College and working for four years as a dental nurse, the fledging actress landed a role in the now-cancelled soap, Brookside.
She appeared in one episode of the Channel 4 show in 1998 as a character named Helen. She has also even previously appeared in Coronation Street in a different role as Mrs Fanshaw in 2004 and later appeared as Lynda Block in the Sky One drama series Dream Team before she eventually joined Corrie in her more familiar role as Carla two years later.
But before appearing on the small screen, Alison was best known for her modelling career. The actress was the face of Boddingtons beer in 2004 and she also famously appeared in the recurring Daz soap opera ad Cleaner Close, which made her a household name.
Away from the cobbles, Alison keeps a very low profile but she has had her fair share of drama in her real life too. While her character has been involved in some hard-hitting storylines over the years, Alison has experienced ‘immense guilt’ following the birth of her daughter, has reportedly suffered a stalking ordeal, and fallen head over heels in love with three engagements.
The coronavirus pandemic meant she had to postpone her wedding to fiancé David Stuckley, however, it has since been reported the pair have split last year, three years after getting engaged. After keeping his identity a secret, the Corrie star introduced the IT salesman to the world in 2019 in an OK! exclusive.
David proposed to Alison, who he met through their personal trainer, with a ring he designed himself during a Mediterranean cruise a few days after their one-year anniversary of getting together. The award-winning soap star had already been engaged twice before, previously to Corrie sound technician Adam Huckett.
She and Adam began dating in 2007 and announced their engagement four years later, but split the following year. They share a daughter, Daisy, who is now 14. Before this relationship, in 2006 she got engaged to Dream Team co-star Jim Alexander. However, they called it off soon after.
Alison also had a five-year relationship with former Corrie actor Philip Middlemiss, who played Des Barnes, in the ITV soap and she briefly dated fellow soap actor Louis Emerick following her split from Jim.
The mum-of-one is also said to have felt 'immense guilt' when she gave birth to Daisy, as it was the same day close pal and former Corrie colleague Kym Marsh lost her baby son in 2009. He tragically died moments after he had been born, 21 weeks and five days too early.
Kym has said Alison couldn’t properly enjoy being a new mum over the torment she felt knowing what her friend was going through. She said on BBC's Morning Live show: “My friend Alison King, a really good friend, of mine, gave birth to her daughter on the very same day that I lost my son – literally hours apart. And the immense guilt that she felt at the fact that she’d delivered her baby so safely and I’d lost my son, was such a hard time for both of us."
Alison has also previously shared how she had had cosmetic surgery on her teeth. The 49-year-old was left conscious of her gnashers after sucking her thumb as a child and underwent corrective surgery during her drama school days.
In 2015, she had more surgery on her teeth, telling dentistry.co.uk: "As an actress on-screen I'd begun to notice how my top and bottom front teeth had been pushed into the middle where my thumb has been. It was during my time at drama school that I decided to undergo cosmetic surgery at a dental practice in London, however I wasn't completely satisfied with the final result and always felt there was room for improvement."
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