Storylines
In 2008, Mary begins to visit Norris (Malcolm Hebden) regularly after initially being his rival in a series of competitions. Norris's fellow lodger, Jed Stone (Kenneth Cope), enjoys flirting with her, but Mary only has eyes for Norris. Norris invites her to his home for Christmas. Near the end of January 2009, Mary returns, telling Norris they have won a motor home. Norris is pleased, but begins to be concerned about how far she wants to take their relationship. On 13 February, in the Rovers, they say an awkward goodbye to each other, Mary is expecting a kiss or a hug from Norris, but gets nothing, leaving her devastated.
In March, she returns and she asks Norris if he would like to go travelling. This leaves his friends Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire) and Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox) unsure how they'd feel if he left. In April, Mary tells Norris that her mother has died but she admits that she feels a sense of relief as she had been a very domineering woman. On 15 May, she and Norris say goodbye, as she sets off to travel around the world. She drives off in the motor home, but not before promising to keep in touch with Norris via postcards.
Norris begins doing competitions with Emily's niece Freda (Ali Briggs), and they both win £1,000. They get a picture taken before splitting the money and Freda leaves the street. However, Mary reads it and returns to Weatherfield and surprises Norris. After briefly meeting him, she goes up to Scotland, but returns a few days later. When Norris begins getting tired and needing a break, Mary suggests that she does some work in The Kabin so he can take a break. Mary enters a competition for them and if they win, they would win a week at a cottage in the countryside. She manages to win it and persuades Norris to attend, which he agrees to. Norris is delighted when Rita returns to Weatherfield and offers her a job at The Kabin. She volunteers to look after the shop when he goes away with Mary. During a night at the cottage, Norris thinks that she is trying to ensure that he cannot escape, like Paul in the Stephen King novel Misery. He even witnesses Mary saying that the two of them are married - a horrific thought for Norris. He becomes even more scared of Mary's antics when he hears her talking to her "dead" mother who it later transpires is alive. Norris then calls the police and Mary is taken to the station for holding Norris against his will. However, just when Norris thinks he has evaded Mary, she is released from the police station and returns to Weatherfield to try to make amends with Norris who wants nothing more to do with her. She also has made several attempts to try to talk to Norris since the event but he refuses to listen.
On 10 May 2010, she attends Blanche Hunt's (Maggie Jones) funeral and also tries to talk to Norris. However, he leaves to go to The Kabin. On 31 May, she turns up at Gail Platt's (Helen Worth) trial for the murder of Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale), and sits behind Norris in the court and again tries to talk to him. Mary and Norris quickly begin gossiping about the trial and are present for the duration, much to the annoyance of the Platts and Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan). On the day of the verdict she bets Norris £5 that Gail would be found guilty. She then forms a friendship with Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh) and offers her assistance with the preparations for her forthcoming marriage to Roy Cropper (David Neilson). Mary quickly begins to hijack the situation - picking very expensive venues and dresses. Hayley tries to tell her to back down but finds it very difficult, much to Roy's annoyance. On 30 August, Mary, upset at not being invited to Roy and Hayley's wedding, unbuckles the bolt keeping Hayley's carriage on the steam train that they were travelling to the church in. Later, Mary's motor home was stolen, and she launches her own investigation, believing Gary Windass (Mikey North) is responsible. Kylie Turner (Paula Lane) turns out to be the one responsible for the theft but the motor home is returned the following morning to Mary's delight.
Realising there is no possible romance with Norris, in the summer of 2012, Mary begins playing chess with Roy but her feelings run deeper than the game. She develops feelings for him but he does not notice. Anna Windass (Debbie Rush) does and she warns Mary to stay away from Roy. However Mary later realises that Roy deeply and truly loves Hayley and so Mary decides to stop pursuing Roy. When Mary sends Roy and Hayley away on a holiday, she manages the café. Mary attempts to get more customers in by doing a Spanish-themed evening, which is a success. As Mary starts doing more themed nights, this angers Nick Tilsley (Ben Price), Gail Platt (Helen Worth), David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) and Kylie Platt (Paula Lane) as they lose customers at their Bistro. When Kylie calls Mary a 'greasy spoon', she decides to do her themed nights daily which angers Anna. When Mary decides to do seating upstairs in Roy and Hayley's flat, Anna walks out on her, so Mary employs Norris for 'French Night'. As Mary bosses Norris around, he mocks her and walks out on Mary, much to the delight of David and Kylie.
After Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati) dies suddenly, Mary helps out at the Alahan household by babysitting Sunita's children, Aadi (Zennon Ditchett) and Asha (Tanisha Gorey). Mary also helps Sunita's husband Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) through grief and the children take a shine to her.
Read more about this topic: Mary Taylor (Coronation Street)