List of Coronation Street Characters (2009) - Martha Fraser

Martha Fraser is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She is portrayed by Stephanie Beacham. Her first appearance was 26 January 2009. Beacham described her character as living a very solitary and lonely life. A set was built specially for Beacham's scenes, which meant, to her regret, she didn't get to appear in the Rovers.

Ken Barlow (William Roache) is walking his dog, Eccles, near the canal when the dog chases after some ducks and falls into the freezing water. As Ken tries to get Eccles out, Martha extends a fishing net from her boat and manages to save her. Martha offers Ken and Eccles a place to warm up, and Ken gratefully accepts.

Martha and Ken bond quickly over their shared love for literature. She tells him she has been living on a boat for seven years, ever since she split from her philandering husband. Ken confides in her about his troubled son, Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne). When Martha asks about Valerie Barlow (Anne Reid), Peter's mother, Ken tells her she is dead. Martha assumes that Ken is a widower, and Ken keeps quiet about his marriage to Deirdre. Ken visits her again several days later, and learns that she is now starring in a local production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

In March 2009, Martha and Ken finally kiss. Ken tells Martha that he is married on 2 April 2009. She is devastated and tells him to leave. However, he keeps pestering her to admit that she has feelings for him as he tells her that he is in love with her. Despite this, she isn't interested, especially when she discovers that Deirdre didn't know about their affair. Their relationship is discovered by Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls), after her ex-partner Ted Page (Michael Byrne), who had known about the affair, is forced to admit it. Audrey tells Ken's son Peter.

On 1 May 2009, Ken visits Martha again, where she tells him that she loves him too and they sleep together. As Ken is leaving, she tells him that she will soon be moving as she is working on a new play, and asks him to go with her. On 4 May, Martha is delighted when Ken arrives with a suitcase, saying that he is ready to join her. As she sails away, she looks back and sees Ken standing on the bridge; he changed his mind at the last minute.

She is still frequently mentioned, most often by Deirdre (Anne Kirkbride), clearly illustrating just how much her affair with Ken has stained their marriage. She was most recently spoken of when Ken discovered that Deirdre had kissed Lewis Archer (Nigel Havers) and refused to talk to her, to which Deirdre reminded him that what she'd done was nowhere near as bad as what he'd done with Martha. They quickly made up.