Karen McDonald

Karen McDonald (also Phillips) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Suranne Jones. Karen was created by producer Jane Macnaught as a recurring character and one of the factory girls. She made her debut in the episode airing on 21 June 2000. On 13 May 2004, Jones announced her decision to leave the soap and her final episode was broadcast on 26 December 2004. Karen's storylines have focused on her number of boyfriends including, Vikram Desai (Chris Bisson) and Joe Carter (Jonathan Wrather), also her relationship with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and her miscarriage and her feud with Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), the mother of Steve's daughter, Amy. Storylines Karen arrived in Coronation Street in June 2000 as a friend of Linda Sykes (Jacqueline Pirie) who she used to work with at Wheelers. Karen was taken on as a new machinist at Underworld. She quickly found herself popular with the men of the street and had a fling with Vikram Desai (Chris Bisson). Over Christmas, she was drinking alone in The Rovers Return Inn and ended up spending the night with Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne). In 2001, Karen was dating Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson). Her colleague, Janice Battersby (Vicky Entwistle) said that none of Karen's boyfriends ever took her seriously. Janice bet £10 that Karen wouldn't be able to get engaged, so Karen persuaded Steve to propose in front of The Rovers' regulars. Neither Karen nor Steve would back out but each thought that the other would. They held the reception at The Rovers. Six weeks later, they finally arranged their honeymoon in Florida. Having moved into the flat above StreetCars, Karen soon got fed up and they moved into the flat over The Kabin. Karen soon came up with her latest idea. She and Steve should separate so they could have the wedding of "their" dreams. She decided it must seem like the couple have fallen out so she staged arguments in The Rovers and threw his belongings out into the street, setting many residents against him. After many pleas, he had finally had enough and told her that the separation would happen but there wouldn't be another wedding. Karen tried desperately to stop the separation but was too late. She was surprised when Steve prepared a romantic night on a canal boat and proposed. They set a date for February 2004.