Carla Connor has been fighting to save her relationship with Lisa Swain on Coronation Street, all while reeling from Becky’s shocking return. Just as viewers brace for more heartbreak on screen, Alison King has quietly opened up about a very real chapter from her past that connects her to a well-known face from Weatherfield in a way no one ever expected. And once fans discovered who it was, they couldn’t believe they’d missed it all these years.
A Different Coronation Street Connection
Long before Alison became Carla Connor back in 2006, she already had a hidden link to Coronation Street, only it wasn’t on screen. A resurfaced newspaper clipping from the mid-90s has revealed that Alison once dated Philip Middlemiss, the actor who famously played Des Barnes. At the time, Alison wasn’t even in showbusiness. She was working at Fat Willy’s Surf Shack in Paignton, Devon, when she met Philip while on holiday in Tenerife.
According to an old interview, Philip said he “loved her to death” and liked that she wasn’t starstruck, she was actually more into Brookside than Corrie. Their relationship wasn’t a brief fling either. They were together for five years, travelling long distances to see each other and even taking trips to Dublin. But as careers changed and Alison later moved to London, the distance took its toll. By around 2000, the relationship came to an end, and the two quietly went their separate ways.
The House, the History and Speculations
What really surprised soap fans was the strange coincidence that Alison lives in the exact house Philip’s character once occupied. Carla and Lisa recently moved into No. 6 Coronation Street, the very same house where Des Barnes lived and died. One fan posted, “Is she really living in the house where Des died?” while another joked it was part of a long-running Corrie plan. Someone even pointed out that Vicky Myers made an uncredited appearance in Des’s death episode as a nurse.
With that, viewers started wondering if fate had stitched this connection together years before anyone realised. Photos from the late ’90s show Alison attending Corrie parties long before she joined the cast. Some fans now believe she was always destined for Weatherfield, just not in the way anyone expected. Des Barnes was one of Corrie’s biggest names between 1990 and 1998, known for his complicated love life, boat obsession, and fiery romances.
Alison now lives a far more private life. She shares a daughter with Corrie sound engineer Adam Huckett, though they split in 2012. She was later engaged to IT consultant David Stuckley, but that ended three years ago. Whichever direction her life takes now, we will keep you posted. Until then, stay tuned to Soap Opera Daily for more Coronation Street updates.