How Corrie starlet Tina O’Brien’s toddler fixed her up with new love after soap co-star left her to bring up baby alone
WHEN Tina O’Brien first set foot on the Corrie cobbles in 1999, she could have had no idea how much her life was about to change.
Over the past 23 years, the Weatherfield favourite became a household name and a pin-up, with a private life that could be straight from a soap script.
In the latest of our series on Power Women of the Noughties, we trace Tina’s rise from child star to the soap favourite she remains to this day.
Having made her telly debut in ITV kids’ drama Children’s Ward in 1997, she auditioned for the soap aged 16. And taking over the role of Sarah Platt from actress Lynsay King set her on the road to soap stardom.
She recalled: “I think I got a three-month contract to begin with and I was just hoping to get through the first three months and hopefully stay.”
But just a year after her debut, Tina was named Most Popular New-comer at the National Television Awards and won Best Storyline at the British Soap Awards with her screen mum Gail, played by Helen Worth.
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Her storylines have taken her from escaping the clutches of her killer stepdad Richard Hillman, to internet grooming and covering up a murder. But away from the cameras, the Manchester lass’s real life has provided plenty of drama too.
She fell for two co-stars who just happened to play brothers in the soap — Bruno Langley and Ryan Thomas.
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Sloppy kisser
Tina’s short romance with Bruno started when her character Sarah was dating his character Todd Grimshaw in 2003. Then later that year when Tina fell for Ryan — who played Jason Grimshaw — it required some diplomacy behind the scenes.
Tina said: “It was five months later when I got together with Ryan and I was worried about it, as he’s a friend of Bruno. But we worked hard to make sure there wasn’t any tension between the three of us.”
Tina, 38, had already kissed Ryan — as a 13-year-old in a play while they attended a Manchester drama club — but back then any feelings she had for him were quickly crushed. She said: “After the first kiss I thought I was the bee’s knees because I had just kissed Ryan.
“Then a friend of his said, ‘Ryan Thomas says you’re a sloppy kisser’. I didn’t fancy him after that but I still had to kiss him every Saturday for weeks.”
Even so, it was Tina who first started flirting with Ryan on Corrie, and she was the one to make the first move after a night out. Then, when he went to Spain with pals shortly after they got together, they were so besotted he spent more than £2,000 on his hotel phone bill.
They were the sweethearts of soap, regularly appearing in each others’ arms on the red carpet, while separately Tina was in demand for racy photoshoots in lads’ mags — such as the pin-up shot of her in a red bikini with a gumball machine on these pages.
But any potential suitors knew she was taken. After three years together she declared: “Ryan and me are for keeps. I think we’ll be together for ever, fingers crossed.” She likened them to an “old married couple” and said she didn’t even mind when female fans threw themselves at her boyfriend.
She said: “I just think to myself, ‘I’m the one going home with him’.” In December 2007, Tina left Corrie to pursue other projects and ten months later gave birth to the couple’s daughter Scarlett, now 13.
The youngster took after her parents and appears in BBC drama Waterloo Road, in which she plays Izzie Charles, the daughter of her real-life uncle, actor Adam Thomas.
Her parents, however, split in 2009 when Scarlett was just a year old. Tina claimed: “He didn’t love me any more. He said I didn’t do it for him any more. Those were his words.”
He didn’t love me any more. He said I didn’t do it for him any more. Those were his words.
Tina O'Brien
Becoming a single mum to a new baby, with no income, Tina suffered post-natal depression, which she didn’t reveal until 2019. Joining a social media #10YearChallenge, she posted a picture of herself with baby Scarlett from 2009, as well as a recent one.
She wrote: “I wish I could tell the scared and fragile Tina of ten years ago it’s going to be OK. I had very bad post-natal depression. Life felt pretty dark for a little while.”
And life did indeed improve. In 2010 she had a bumper year, with roles in TV mini series The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister, as well as a year in Waterloo Road.
And of course, Strictly. She and pro dancer Jared Murillo were the fourth couple to leave the show, but Tina later joined the Strictly tour.
The following year she found love with personal trainer Adam Crofts, thanks to toddler daughter Scarlett, who wandered over to Adam’s table when they were in a cafe.
Tina recalled: “She said, ‘Hello man’. I thought, ‘Yeah, he’s quite fit’, and we got talking.” In October 2014 they had a son, Beau, and got married on New Year’s Eve 2018, surrounded by Tina’s co-stars.
Ryan, who now has two children with Towie fiancée Lucy Mecklenburgh, was also said to be invited. Tina said at the time: “It took a while for everyone to find a way to make it work, but now it does, really well, in fact.
I wish I could tell the scared and fragile Tina of ten years ago it’s going to be OK.
Tina O'Brien
“It’s taken a lot of years and a lot of biting my tongue. Seriously though, it’s mainly down to Adam and Ryan.”
But this year it seemed all was not well with the former couple when Tina was accused of hitting her ex’s car with a baseball bat, allegedly causing £1,000 of damage.
Neither has commented on the matter and it is thought the police were not involved. Recently Tina appeared on This Morning and viewers couldn’t get over how youthful she looks.
Posts included: “Tina O’Brien hasn’t aged in 23 years,” and “Tina O’Brien doesn’t age at all.” After having Scarlett, she got back to her eight-stone figure with the help of a personal trainer.
Something magic
She had previously fronted a Corrie fitness DVD, Funk Fit, with her then co-stars Nikki Sanderson (who plays Candice Stowe) and Lucy-Jo Hudson (Katy Harris).
To stay trim, Tina does cardio exercises and weights at the gym. She also follows a fitness app, and being married to someone in the industry means she gets recommendations of YouTube exercises from her hubby.
She insists she doesn’t diet, but if she feels the need to cut down she avoids alcohol and white carbs. In 2020 she hit back at trolls who told her she should feel ashamed after she was pictured in hotpants.
She responded: “I should feel ashamed? And we wonder why people, especially women, struggle with self-esteem. Instead I choose to feel love and gratitude for my healthy body that allows me to run around the garden with my son and bounce on the trampoline with my daughter.”
After eight years away from the Street, Tina returned in 2015. Of all the moments she has enjoyed on the soap, her favourites have been with her second family, the Platts. She said: “When we all get to work together, it feels like something magic. I think we are a little family.”
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And she is hoping to stay on the cobbles to mark her milestone quarter of a century in 2024. She said in March: “We tend to be contracted each year, so at the moment I know I’ve got a guarantee of seeing out the year.
“Who knows after that? I’d love to make it to 25 years. I love Coronation Street. I am happy, so fingers crossed.”