Coronation Street fans rejoiced as former best friends turned lovers turned not-as-close friends, Samia Longchambon (Maria Connor) and Charlie Condou (Marcus Dent) reunited recently, sharing a sweet snap to their Instagram stories.

The two were attending the Attitude awards when they took a picture, with Charlie sharing it to his Instagram story captioned: ‘I love this woman so much’, with Samia later-sharing it to her own story.

Charlie’s stint on the cobbles saw his character, Marcus, deeply entwined with Samia’s character, Maria as viewers watched the pairs close friendship develop into something much steamier.

Did it end well? Well, kinda…

Marcus and Maria

Their Corrie characters, Maria and Marcus initially interacted when Marcus, a sonographer, gave pregnant Maria a scan after she’d stopped feeling her baby kicking.

Tragically, Maria had miscarried and Marcus supported her as she was booked in to have labour induced and give birth to her stillborn baby.

The two later became much more entwined, when Maria developed romantic feelings for Marcus, despite Marcus always having identified as gay.

Though Maria moved into a relationship with Jason Grimshaw (Adam Thomas) while Marcus had not long broken up with Sean Tully (Antony Cotton), she continued to yearn for him.

When she discovered a lump in her breast, Maria attended the hospital with Marcus and, upon discovering that it wasn’t cancerous, the two shared a passionate kiss, leading the two sleeping together.

Despite disbelief from their respective friends and families, things seemed to be going well for the couple, with Marcus stepping into a parental role with Maria’s young son, Liam.

Enter Todd…

The return of Todd Grimshaw, however threw an almighty spanner into the works of their fledgling relationship.

While the Todd who’d previously left the cobbles was a sensitive and kind young man, the Todd who returned was cold, manipulative and scheming, and despite Eileen Grimshaw’s (Sue Cleaver) stark warning to leave Marcus alone, Todd couldn’t resist a ‘challenge’.

Todd later succeeded in his mission of seducing and sleeping with Marcus, who’s sheer guilt lead him to search for a house in which he, Maria and Liam could move in to.

Undeterred, Todd’s next scheme involved engineering a situation in which Maria would catch he and Marcus in the act. Inviting Maria to a show-home, Todd seduced Marcus again, leading to Maria walking in to find Todd and Marcus in a passionate clinch.

Marcus desperately pleaded with Maria for a second chance, but she was having none of it, telling him to pack his bags and kicking him out of their flat.

Marcus departs

After a brief sojourn to London, Marcus returned to the street and hooked back up with Todd, who’d admitted to Tony Stewart (Alan Igbon) that he had very little, if any, interest in Marcus, was merely using him and would finish with him once he’d gotten everything he wanted.

After continuing to manipulate him, Todd cheated on Marcus and cruelly dumped him, with Marcus determining to leave Weatherfield for good.

Before he did, however, Maria visited him and the two put their past behind them, allowing Marcus to leave on good terms with his former best friend/ex-girlfriend.

Will we see Marcus again?

While Maria has remained a fixture of Coronation Street, fans haven’t seen Marcus since his departure. Is there any chance we see him back on the street?

When asked previously about a possible return to the street, Charlie said: ”I would never say never. I think, on a show like Coronation Street – I don’t know how long I was there altogether, five years or something? You always feel like you’re part of that family, and it is a family there, because people have been there for so long.

‘I left because it wasn’t working for my life at the time. My family are down here. My kids were small. They’re based in London, and it felt like it was time to go, and I wanted to do other things. I’d never planned on being there for a long time. But my kids are older now, and yeah, I think if there was a reason for Marcus to come back, yeah, sure. Why not?’