Corrie's Samia tells of traumatic birth scenes

Coronation Street's Samia Smith has revealed how hard she found it filming her character's still birth scenes.

The soap actress plays hairdresser Maria Connor, who is devastated when she loses her unborn baby, but then has to go through labour.

Samia told New magazine: "There are no two ways about it - it's been awful as it's a really heartbreaking storyline.

"I'm really tired now! When we filmed the scenes where Maria has to give birth to a stillborn child, the set went eerily silent. I needed quite a bit of time to compose myself after doing it, too."

She added: "We had done research through Sands, an organisation that helps people in that situation, but it was still awful - even though it wasn't real."

The 25-year-old star also revealed her own mother had gone through the same traumatic experience.

"I don't want to go into it too much," she said. "It was 30 years ago, before me and my brother, Tariq, were born. The shocking thing is that nobody really knows why it happens. There is no reason - it just happens."

Despite the nature of the storyline, Samia insists that her mum will still be watching.

"She does watch everything I do. She is my worst critic, actually!"