Corrie’s Carla star Alison King’s rocky love life – from famous exes to sad toyboy split

Coronation Street star Alison King is best known for playing Carla Connor, but the actress has had her fair share of drama off-screen too, from becoming engaged to her recent split

Coronation Street’s Carla Connor, a familiar face to ITV soap fans, has been portrayed by Alison King since she first arrived in Weatherfield back in 2006. Thankfully, Alison’s real life is quite different from her character’s when she’s away from the soap.

The actress, originally from Leicester, got her start on the Channel 4 soap Brookside before landing a role on Sky One’s Dream Team. It was during this time that she and co-star Jim Alexander had a brief romance and even became engaged. In 2006, Alison secured a permanent role as Carla Connor on Coronation Street. Away from the cameras, she got engaged for the second time to sound technician Adam Huckett, who also worked on the ITV soap.

**Alison King is best known for playing Carla Connor on Coronation Street** (Image: (Image: Getty))

Unfortunately, the couple never made it down the aisle, but they do have a daughter named Daisy, born in 2009. The Sun reported that the pair split up in 2012. Alison then had a five-year relationship with fellow actor Philip Middlemiss, who played Des Barnes on the show. In November 2018, she was spotted with a “mystery man” who was later identified as David Stuckley, reports the Express.

David, an IT expert nine years Alison’s junior, proposed to her a year later, with their engagement announced in OK! Magazine. However, in May 2022, reports surfaced that the couple had ended their relationship.

The Mirror revealed that Alison and David “grew apart” amid the lockdown chaos, with their dreamy Greek wedding plans turned upside down by the pandemic turmoil. Spilling the tea to The Sun, an insider shared: “Alison and David have sadly decided to separate. They were very much in love for a long time but have ended up growing apart.

**Alison called off her engagement to IT expert David Stuckley two years ago** (Image: (Image: ITV))

“It’s obviously very sad for them both, but they knew they couldn’t continue on together. Both knew that it wasn’t right. They parted amicably and both wish each other the best in the future.”

Alison may be single at the moment but her Corrie alter ego, Carla Connor, is constantly stealing the show with epic plots, from harrowing kidnaps, spiralling into alcohol troubles to evading a cold-blooded serial killer. Last year, Carla was left reeling when her husband Peter Barlow decided to leave Weatherfield behind and join hi friend Mickey on a yacht travelling across the world.

Speaking about her on-screen husband Chris Gascoyne leaving Corrie after 23 years, Alison said in October last year: “I hate it when he leaves me. It’s horrible, but luckily, I just hand him over to his normal wife, let her have him for a bit, and then he comes back, and he can have his on-screen wife for a bit.”