Karen Tracy Popular Books

Karen Tracy Biography & Facts

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. However, over Christmas 2003, Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) told Steve that he was the father of the baby she was expecting, not Roy Cropper's (David Neilson), following a one-night stand when he and Karen were apart. Unable to accept that Steve didn't want her, Tracy cancelled the flowers for the wedding and the venue. Steve found out in time and managed to book another venue that Karen had wanted without her knowing. The second wedding day arrived and most of Weatherfield went. Tracy also went, determined to get her baby back and ruined the ceremony by blurting out that Steve was the baby's father when the Croppers insisted that the baby was staying with them. Karen was distraught that her dream wedding was ruined and that Tracy is on a mission to break Steve and Karen up but they eventually remarried when Steve convinced Karen that Tracy meant nothing to him. When Karen learned about what Tracy had done to ruin her wedding, she was furious. Wanting revenge, she went to Amy's (Rebecca Pike) christening, determined to spoil the Barlows' day. The two women brawled in the church and Karen punched Tracy. In August 2004, Karen's father, Malcolm Phillips (Richard Bremmer), turned up at her and Steve's flat. He informed Karen that her mother, Margaret, was dying and asked Karen to visit her but she refused and threw him out before telling Steve about her childhood. Karen's mother died a week later, sending Karen on an emotional rollercoaster. In November 2004, Karen went to Dublin to spend some time with Linda. Steve was tricked by Tracy and Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard) into going to London and find that the "McDonald-Barlows" were to appear on a new quiz show called "Top of the Tree". Steve conceded defeat and agreed to appear on the show and the family won a car, thanks to Karen being Steve's "Phone a Friend" and providing the winning answer, (yet she didn't realise that it was a game show). When Karen found out about the game show, she was fuming. At the Underworld Christmas party, Karen started to have stomach pains and it was later confirmed that she had miscarried. Grieving, Karen was emotional and when she discovered that Liz had told Tracy about her miscarriage, she was furious. She took the car won on the game show, not realising that baby Amy was in the back, and set fire to it on the Red Rec. Tracy and Steve were frantic, thinking that Amy was dead, and this led to Karen and Tracy fighting on the roof of Underworld. Karen had dropped Amy off at the Croppers but didn't tell Tracy that, wanting to hurt her. The next day, Steve ended their marriage and told her to leave. Heartbroken, Karen pleaded for another chance but Steve refused so Karen left Weatherfield on Boxing Day 2004. Karen later filed for a divorce which was finalised in January 2006. Casting Suranne Jones was cast as machinist Karen by then producer Jane Macnaught in early 2000, having previously appeared briefly in April 1997 as Mandy Phillips, the girlfriend of Chris Collins (Matthew Marsden). In May 2004, just days after winning the award for 'Best Actress' at The British Soap Awards Jones announced that she was leaving the serial to pursue other projects with Granada TV. Development Steve McDonald Rick Fulton of the Daily Record noted that Karen vows to be more "wily" with her romantic interests after seeing her friend Bobbi "wrapping boyfriend Vikram around her little finger". Her friend and colleague Janice makes a series of bets with Karen regarding how new boyfriend Steve treats her: this culminates in Janice betting Karen that she can get Steve to propose to her. Of the storyline, Suranne Jones stated that: "Karen can't believe she's on the verge of getting married for a bet". She characterises Karen as "not the type of girl to back out of a tricky situation" and states that she and Steve find themselves "in a game of bluff" with each "waiting for the other to pull out." Karen was the 53rd female character to get married in Coronation Street. Simon Gregson, who plays Steve, felt the marriage was "quite fitting" and that his character "thinks it's a bit of a laugh". The wedding scenes were filmed on 6 May 2001 and screened on 30 May 2001. Billy Sloan of the Sunday Mail stated that the scenes were "guaranteed to provide a bit of light relief" after serious storylines such as the rape of Toyah Battersby and Alma Halliwell's cancer diagnosis. Suranne Jones felt that Steve was "definitely the man for Karen" as the two characters had "similar personalities". She stated that Karen had dumped her previous boyfriend, Vikram, because he "wasn't racy enough and doesn't have the edge Steve ha.... Discover the Karen Tracy popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Karen Tracy books.