Tina O’Brien has been busy on the cobbles again. She’s about to find herself at the center of another major plot in Coronation Street. The actress is best known for her role as Sarah Barlow – née Platt – in the ITV soap, but only joined when matriarch Gail Platt’s daughter turned 12.
The character was originally played by then-babies Leah King and Lynsay King in 1987, when Sarah was born to Gail Platt and Brian Tilsley. Sarah and her older brother Nick were later adopted by Martin Platt when he married Gail in 1991. Lynsay remained in the role until Sarah turned twelve on screen in 1999, when Tina, then 16, joined the cast.
And over the years she has dealt with a series of intense storylines – from the birth of her first child, Bethany, at the age of 13 and being kidnapped along with her family by her psychotic stepfather Richard Hillman; to the loss of a child when her son, Billy, died shortly after birth, to the attack by Callum Logan and witnessing his murder by sister-in-law Kylie.
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More recently, viewers have seen how she had an affair behind her husband Adam Barlow’s back before suffering a tragic miscarriage with Damon Hay’s child. He has since been put behind bars and ended his relationship with Sarah. After he pays off her daughter’s recently returned groomer, Nathan Curtis, she will soon take matters into her own hands and try to frame him for the murder of Lauren Bolton.
Speaking about her involvement in the big storyline, which started in February when teenager Lauren, played by Cait Fitton, disappeared, and whether she’s enjoying it, Tina recently said: “Absolutely, originally Sarah was quite separate from the Lauren storyline, it seemed to have nothing to do with her, but from the moment Nathan resurfaced, she ended up in the group.
“It’s this want and need to find Lauren, to know if she’s alive or dead and to know if it’s Nathan who did this to her. So I’m really excited to be a part of that.”
Sarah’s long stint in Weatherfield has meant viewers have also seen the Rusholme-born actress grow up on screen. But it wasn’t Corrie where her career started.
Before taking on the role of Sarah Platt in Corrie more than twenty years ago, Tina played the role of Claire in CITV favorite Children’s Ward in 1997. She then joined the Salford soap in 1999 and her character was part of a shock pregnancy storyline. at age 12, after which she gave birth to daughter Bethany.
Tina, now 40, left the role in 2008 and on why she quit at the time, she said: “This was an extremely difficult decision to make. I love playing Sarah and have had a wonderful seven-and-a-half years in Coronation Street, but I feel like the time has come to see what else is possible for me as an actress.”
She went on to star in other shows, most notably as pupil Bex Fisher in the BBC One school drama series Waterloo Road. She also appeared in Casualty, Doctors, Blue Murder and Clocking Off before returning to Corrie in 2015, where she still appears today. She told The Mirror in 2021: “I think I got a three-month contract to start with and I was just hoping to get through the first three months here and hopefully stay. I feel incredibly lucky to be where I am and to be part of such an amazing family.”
Off the cobbles, Tina dated co-star Ryan Thomas, who played former on-screen husband Jason Grimshaw from 2003 to 2009. They became an item just after Tina ended a year-long romance with Bruno Langley, who played Ryan’s on-screen brother Todd in Corrie before being replaced.
Speaking to The Mirror in 2007, Tina said: “It was five months later when I got together with Ryan and I was worried about it because he’s a friend of Bruno’s. But we worked hard to make sure there was no tension between the two. three of us.” Tina and Ryan enjoyed a long-term romance off-screen, dating for six years. They also had a daughter named Scarlett before splitting in 2009.
Scarlett has followed in her parents’ footsteps. Last year it was announced that the now 14-year-old would be joining her real-life uncle Adam Thomas and cousin Teddy Thomas in the brand new reboot of Waterloo Road. While Adam reprized the role of Donte Charles, Scarlett and Teddy took on the roles of his on-screen children, Izzy and Tommy.
Tina has since moved on from Ryan and is now married to Adam Crofts. The couple tied the knot at the ultra-luxurious King Street Townhouse in Manchester on New Year’s Eve 2018, after welcoming their now eight-year-old son Beau into the world four years earlier.
And Tina showed she was more loved than ever last year when she shared a gushing tribute to her husband on social media. The mother of two shared a number of photos and videos of Adam, some alone and some together. It showed them when they got married, were on holiday and had a night out together.
There were also plenty of appearances from Scarlett and Beau, from when they were younger to now, including on a trip to Disney. “I love this incredible human being, Mr. Adam Crofts, so much,” Tina said. She then added: “It’s not his birthday or our anniversary. Just because.”
With a long stint on the cobbles under her belt, Tina has many bonds with her current and former co-stars. Tina is the real-life godmother of Emily Walton, who played the original Bethany Platt. Emily played Sarah’s on-screen daughter from 2000 to 2007 before the role was taken over by Lucy Fallon in 2015.
Last March, Corrie fans also remembered how Tina and co-star Ciaran Griffiths appeared together in Waterloo Road in 2011, when Tina starred as Rebecca “Bex” Fisher and Ciaran played porn-obsessed Dylan. He forced Bex to live with him for 18 months, making films of her and posting them on a porn website before she finally went home. But because Dylan couldn’t get Bex, he went after her sister Jess Fisher.
Although her character often faces drama on the cobbles, Tina found that her real life was also subject to it. Soap bosses reportedly gave her a week off work last month after it emerged she had become involved in a brawl ‘over boys’ outside her Stockport home as a ‘victim of an unprovoked incident’.
Greater Manchester Police were investigating reports of an attack outside the soap star’s home in Bramhall on March 15. Footage of the alleged incident appeared to show Tina in the middle of a fight.
The Manchester Evening News understands that no arrests have been made following the incident. It is understood that police have now ended their investigation, as the MEN reported in April. A spokesperson for Tina told The Sun last month: “Tina was the victim of an unprovoked incident outside her home which she reported to police.”