Michelle Connor (also McDonald) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, portrayed by former Hear'Say singer Kym Marsh.

[1][2] Michelle's storylines have included a romantic relationship with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) during which he had an affair with Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly); discovering that her son Ryan (Ben Thompson) was not her own and had been swapped at birth with Alex Neeson (Dario Coates/James Burrows); the death of her eldest brother Paul (Sean Gallagher) in 2007; and the murder of her other brother Liam (Rob James-Collier) in 2008.

Other storylines have focused on the relationships with her sisters-in-law, Carla (Alison King) and Maria (Samia Ghadie) and her cousin-in-law Rob Donovan (Marc Baylis); her failed engagement to Ciaran McCarthy (Keith Duffy); surviving a minibus crash caused by Steve; becoming pregnant with Steve's baby and delivering their stillborn son, Ruairi, before learning that Steve has also impregnated Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson); a relationship with Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill); being kidnapped and stalked by her ex-boyfriend Will Chatterton (Leon Ockenden); getting shot by Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre) on the day of her wedding to Robert and being terrorised by Ronan Truman (Alan McKenna).

Michelle auditions as a background singer for Vernon Tomlin's (Ian Reddington) band and also gets a job as a barmaid at The Rovers Return Inn.

After having a brief fling with Steve, Michelle begins dating Sonny Dhillon (Pal Aron) but ends it after discovering he is bisexual and having an affair with Sean Tully (Antony Cotton).

He "loses" Steve's daughter Amy Barlow (Amber Chadwick) and barricades himself in the pub, but Michelle feels obliged to send him back to his adoptive mother, Wendy Neeson (Jane Slavin).

This infuriates her and she confides in Michelle and her cousin Tom Kerrigan (Philip McGinley), confusing them as they thought she had the wrong idea about the situation.

The night before she left, she sleeps with Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) and she and Ryan walk in on Maria and Tony kissing and furiously storm out.

She later apologises to Maria and helps her tell Michelle's parents, Helen (Dearbhla Molloy) and Barry Connor (Frank Grimes) about her new relationship.

Michelle and Ciaran return and are shocked when a shaken Carla tells her that while she was away, her partner, Frank Foster (Andrew Lancel), raped her and that he is on bail, awaiting trial.

In July 2012, Michelle is overjoyed when Ryan (now played by Sol Heras) returns from university but is angered when he sets fire to Steve's backside while helping Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent) paint the house.

Michelle eventually realises that Ryan is lying when Rob and Leanne's sister Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) expose his deceit by making sure she sees him doing a dance.

Whilst driving the Underworld staff to an awards' ceremony, Steve is chased by some boy racers who eventually cut him up and cause him to swerve.

In January 2017, Michelle falls ill at hers and Leanne's shared baby shower moments after Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill) confesses his love for her.

In August 2017, Will returns to Weatherfield as a potential love interest for Maria, while Michelle is left shaken after witnessing Chesney Brown (Sam Aston) being stabbed with a glass bottle in The Bistro by Rich Collis (Fraser Ayres).

Due to this, Michelle robs The Bistro but is hit over the head with a glass bottle by Carla's sister, Kate Connor (Faye Brookes), who is unaware that it is her.

In May 2018, Michelle is distraught when Carla and Kate's brother Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) commits suicide and considers postponing the wedding but doesn't although Robert then has a heart attack due to steroid use.

He drags her into the kitchen, where he finds himself confronted by Anna Windass (Debbie Rush) - whom Phelan had blackmailed into sleeping with four years earlier before going on to frame her for pushing Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni) off a ladder a year earlier, which resulted in Anna's four month imprisonment until she was released at the time Phelan's crimes were exposed on the week Michelle proposed to Robert.

They proceed to tend to Michelle's aid, ignoring Phelan as he pulls the knife out of his chest and vows to have Anna imprisoned for his eventual demise.

Although Phelan blurts out to Michelle that in doing so would risk her facing the possibility of prison, Michelle states that she would task the risk for Anna's sake and for that of Phelan's two murdered victims: Andy Carver (Oliver Farnworth) - whom Phelan had locked in his old house's cellar a year earlier since he left his “father” Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis) to die of a heart attack, before killing him after forcing him to execute his friend Vinny Ashford (Ian Kelsey) - and Luke Britton (Dean Fagan), the brother of Andy's girlfriend Steph Britton (Tisha Merry).

A couple days later, Michelle is horrified to discover Ray Crosby (Mark Frost), who once made sexual advances towards her, is the new owner of The Bistro.

In March 2023, Michelle is mentioned by Alya to be having an operation, which was why she was unable to visit Ryan in hospital after he was hurt protecting Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan) from an acid attack by her stalker Justin Rutherford (Andrew Still).

[4] The Inside Soap Magazine announced that a Coronation Street spokesperson had denied reports that Kym Marsh is leaving the show to go to Hollywood.

[8] During a magazine interview, Marsh spoke about the effect her relationship with Steve had on her character stating: "I'd like to see a lot more of the old, feisty Michelle.

Upon her return in November 2011, Michelle announced that she was engaged to Ciaran, she learns of Carla's rape ordeal culminating in confronting Frank and taking charge of Underworld.

In January 2015, it was revealed that Michelle would reunite Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) in the aftermath of the upcoming minibus crash storyline.

With Michelle now focused solely on helping Steve to get better with his depression following their reconciliation, she faces opposition from his mum Liz as it becomes apparent that they have very different approaches.

A statement from Executive producer John Whilston said "We will be really sad to lose her when she goes but totally understand that, after dedicating herself to the show for so long and so brilliantly, she now fancies trying something else for a while.

[16] The baby-swap storyline, which Michelle was central to, was largely panned by both fans and critics, columnist Grace Dent said of the plot; "...It feels like something ripped from a copy of Pick Me Up magazine and read to me laboriously over 22 weeks".

[21] In 2009, Ruth Deller of entertainment website Lowculture who runs a monthly feature of the most popular and unpopular soap opera characters, profiled Michelle, criticising her personality stating: "She’s continuing to get more and more entitled and unbearable, but we’re not sure the Coronation Street writers have noticed how much we all hate her yet…"[22] Later that year Deller criticised Michelle again, writing, "It really is the month for all our old hate figures to resurface.