Anna's storylines have included: a rocky relationship to her long-term partner, Eddie Windass (Steve Huison); feuds with the Platt family, Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) and Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor); her wayward son Gary's (Mikey North) decision to enroll into the army; her turbulent relationship with Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies); adopting Faye Butler (Ellie Leach), who later alleges that Anna is abusing her; being blackmailed by Owen's client-turned-business partner Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre) into having sex with him; facing bankruptcy following the end of her relationship with Owen; coping with Faye's underage pregnancy; a relationship with Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell); getting severely burnt in a car explosion unwittingly caused by Gary's old rival David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd); and being framed by Phelan for pushing his apprentice and Faye's boyfriend Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni) off a ladder, which resulted in her wrongful five-years imprisonment, leading to her first departure.

The character of Anna was created as part of a new family unit that new producer Kim Crowther was introducing to the soap opera, consisting of a mother, father, son and uncle.

"[7] Kate Oates, the show's series producer, promised that writers are creating an "exciting" departure plot for Anna, which sees her "fighting for her family and tackling old enemies head-on.

[10] Anna first appears on screen with her long-term boyfriend Eddie (Steve Huison) when they refuse to pay Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale) for a kitchen refit.

As the New Year begins, Anna is dismayed as she senses Eddie sinking back into his con artist ways; she always objected to them and her character shows her desire to live a free life without stealing and scrounging money from society,.

Their relationship goes well, and Anna supports Owen after he discovers his 16 year old daughter Katy (Georgia May Foote) is pregnant and later helps deliver her son Joseph on Christmas Eve 2011.

Anna is stunned to learn that Gary has developed a crush on Tina after discovering he bought her late father's wedding ring at a pawn shop after it was stolen.

Faye is later caught stealing from Dev Alahan's (Jimmi Harkishin) shop by Mary Taylor (Patti Clare) and Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent).

After giving in, Anna enters the café flat with Carla after using her spare set of keys, but to their shock, they find a deceased Hayley on the bed with Roy's arm around her.

The following week Fiz Stape (Jennie McAlpine) - who was the Croppers' foster child a few years before - learns the truth about Hayley's death and shouts at Roy, storming out of the café.

By the time Anna has managed to cope with Hayley's death, she finds herself caught up in Gary and Owen's business partnership with the latter's client: Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre).

When Phelan and his wife Valerie (Caroline Berry) arrange for another dinner meeting with the Windass and Armstrong families in the Bistro, Anna feigns illness and runs back to the house.

On the following day, Phelan retains his promise and has Owen sign the contracts that releases him and Gary from the project - before leaving the street without the family or Valerie knowing what he and Anna had done.

When Anna and Tim discovered this over a phone call, they told an upset Faye, who had a talk with best male friend, Craig Tinker (Colson Smith).

Later on that night, she witnesses Kevin jumping in to save a man's life after nearly getting struck by Jamie Bowman (James Atherton) - a pornographic offender who had just robbed the Bistro and left Carla brutally unconscious.

In October 2016, Anna and Kevin eventually agree to move in together, although she is disapproving of Gary's potential romance with David's brother Sarah (Tina O'Brien).

The locals gather together and manage to lift the vehicle in order to free Gary and Lily, but moments later the car explodes, causing Anna to fall in a puddle of petrol.

Not realizing that she left her earring behind at Phelan's yard, Anna witnesses Seb falling off a ladder whilst cleaning the solicitors' windows and she quickly calls an ambulance.

Eileen disbelieves Anna, even when she points out how the community merely believed Phelan's story that he was a victim in the scam ordeal and that Vinny was the sole fraudster who conned them.

When Gary and Tim visit her later on, Anna is shocked to learn that the victim whom Seb has accused Phelan of murdering was in fact their friend Luke Britton (Dean Fagan).

In May 2018, a month after Ken's son Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) had launched a public campaign for Anna to be released from prison, she returns to Weatherfield when Gary informs her that Phelan had in fact survived the fall.

Anna then appears for the first time in four months when she frees Gary and Sarah from Phelan's captivity, and the trio rush over to Eileen's house following a gunshot.

They find that Phelan knocked down both Eileen and Seb in a failed attempt to take his grandson Zac, shot Nicola in the ensuing struggle, and is currently holding the bistro hostage in a bid to seek medical treatment for his daughter.

While Gary embraces Zac and Sarah attends to Eileen and Seb while awaiting arrival of emergency services, Anna pursues Phelan and enters the bistro through the back entrance.

They come face-to-face when Anna sees Phelan taking Carla's sister-in-law Michelle (Kym Marsh), who was due to marry the restaurant's owner Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill) moments ago, hostage in the kitchen.

In the moment Carla and Robert rush to Michelle's aid and her son Ali Neeson (James Burrows) begins to give her medical treatment, Phelan makes a last-ditch attempt to get one over Anna by implicating her in his "murder".

As Phelan reels over his ultimate loss, Anna walks up to him and taunts how people like him don't get to win in the end - before she then promises that Zac will never know of his existence once she acquaints herself with him.

Actor Mikey North attributed their success as characters to a combination of good writing and prominent plotlines received in a relatively short time period.

[18] Simon Swift of Soaplife magazine stated that at first, he couldn't help feeling that Anna and her clan are a bit too much like original neighbours-from-hell the Battersbys.

[21] In 2016 Laura-Jayne Tyler from Inside Soap praised Rush for her portrayal of the "horrific effects" of Anna's burns, saying that the character's pain "looks and sounds so authentic that you almost feel it".