Her brief return in May 2010 saw the character lie about Gail Platt (Helen Worth) confessing to murdering late husband Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale).

She received her daughter Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney) back and attempted to steal Steve from his wife Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly) and failed.

She will make a beeline for womanising bookie Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne), her own stepbrother, before moving on to former sailor Ciaran McCarthy (Keith Duffy) and knicker factory boss Joe Carter (Jonathan Wrather).

"[6] Explaining the decision to bring Tracy back as an antagonist, writer Daran Little commented: "You only have to look at a character whose parents got divorced when she was very young and then pulled either way to find out this woman is very flawed and has a chip on her shoulder.

A Coronation Street spokeswoman said Ford, fresh from London's Webber Douglas Academy but originally from north Lancashire, was "thrilled" to have landed the role.

In need of an ego boost, Tracy bet Bev Unwin (Susie Blake) 1p that she could bed Roy Cropper (David Neilson), to prove that she could have any man she wanted.

Her original intent was to keep quiet but, when confronted by a furious Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh), Tracy blurted out that she was pregnant with Roy's baby.

Brian Capron, who played notorious serial killer Richard Hillman from 2001 to 2003, warned Ford and Ward that the murder plot could harm their careers due to the storyline being so high-profile.

"[11] The storyline saw Tracy spending weeks staging arguments, locking herself in the house, and even burning herself with an iron, in order to convince neighbour Claire Peacock (Julia Haworth) that Charlie is abusing her.

On 30 December 2010, after Tracy has complained to Deirdre, Ken, and Peter about being deprived of sex, David Platt confronts her at home about her conduct towards his mother.

On 19 May 2011, Ford revealed that the main thing driving her Coronation Street alter-ego Tracy Barlow is the desire to have a family with daughter Amy and former husband, Steve.

"[22] In December 2012, it was announced that an upcoming storyline would see Tracy begin a dangerous relationship with Rob Donovan (Marc Baylis), the brother of Carla Connor (Alison King).

Speaking of the storyline a Coronation Street source said: "Tracy and Rob are a match made in soap hell, They will be fiery, passionate and out to cause trouble.

"[24] Asked about the kind of a dynamic between Rob and Tracy, Baylis told Digital Spy: "There's a lot of joyful banter – they challenge each other in a fun way.

However, although Tracy believes she can keep Tony at arm's length once they become business partners, Ford thinks her alter ego could have her work cut out.

With Tracy grieving following her mother's sudden death and also newly single after splitting from Tony Stewart, she quickly seeks comfort by falling back into Robert's arms.

Deirdre is subjected to further resentment when she takes up with Dave Barton (David Beckett), who rescues Tracy when she accidentally sets the kitchen on fire.

Caught between Ken and Deirdre, Tracy starts to rebel by playing truant from school, going instead to the amusement arcade with twin brothers Steve (Simon Gregson) and Andy McDonald (Nicholas Cochrane).

Not surprisingly, this causes a feud between her and Karen but Roy is persuaded by Ken to return Tracy's daughter, whom she renames Amy (Holly Bowyer and Rebecca Pike).

Only Steve's insistence that Amy is safe with Roy and Hayley, makes Tracy stop and he ends his marriage to Karen, reminding her that he is grieving too and could have lost two children.

Short-lived flings with Ciaran McCarthy (Keith Duffy) and Nathan Harding (Ray Fearon) follow, until Tracy starts to date Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward) in December 2005.

In January 2007, she seduces him, then hits him twice on the head with a metal ornament, taunting him as she does; she tries to convince the police that it was self-defence but fails and is charged with murder after Charlie dies.

In financial ruin, Ken and Deirdre can not pay for an appeal, leaving Tracy to serve her sentence, while Amy (now played by Amber Chadwick) is sent to live with Steve.

She antagonises several residents on the street, seduces David and Nick Tilsley (Ben Price), and demands access to Amy against Steve and Becky's wishes.

Tracy learns that Becky stole £5,000 from the Corner Shop on the night of the tram crash to buy Max Turner from his mother Kylie (Paula Lane).

Tracy is furious when Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) tells her that Rob kissed Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) and that his elder sister Carla Connor (Alison King) knew about it.

When Tracy was blackmailed by David, Steven Perkins of Lowculture commented: "It's very incredibly wrong, and yet they're both so vile that it goes right around the loop and goes back to being a thoroughly great idea.

He deemed her trial testament to the show's writers, as, even with a character who has been part of Coronation Street since birth: "they've come up with an exit storyline that outdoes all her previous exploits and dragged in half the cast to enjoy the fun.

[42] Discussing her they stated: "Qualifying as much as a soap villain as a bunny-boiler, grown-up Tracy in her final incarnation displayed enough deranged behaviour to have Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail bounding for the hills.

A reporter writing for the Inside Soap Yearbook 2017 named Tracy and Carla's feud as one of the "best bits of February", describing the pair as "sworn enemies".