Alina Pop is the former girlfriend of Tyrone Dobbs, who initially came to the country from Romania in 2019 as a victim of human trafficking.
After being transported from her home city of Brasov, Alina was illegally employed by Rachel Healy at beauty salon Sparkle Lounge, where she lived in squalid conditions while Rachel, one of the trafficking leaders, kept hold of her passport. Thanks to intervention by an inquisitive Seb Franklin and undercover police informant Jan Lozinski, the trafficking ring was exposed, and Alina was able to go home.
Once rehabilitated, Alina returned to the UK to renew her friendship with Seb. She soon moved into 2a Coronation Street and got a job as a telesales agent at Underworld factory. In 2021, she became romantically involved with the much older Tyrone Dobbs, with Tyrone ending a nine-year relationship with Fiz Stape to be with her.
Shortly after the pair moved in together, they found out that Alina was pregnant with their son, however she lost the baby after Tyrone's daughter Hope started a fire at their flat. When Alina discovered that Tyrone had hid Hope's history of pyromania from her, she left him and, already pregnant again, she moved to Hastings where she had their son, Dorin. In 2024, she visited Weatherfield to testify against some of the people traffickers, and allowed Tyrone to see his son for the first time.
Biography
1998-2020: Trafficking victim
Alina Pop was born in Brasov, Romania. She had a younger brother, Andrei. In 2019, she was brought to the UK illegally by Nikolai Frankowicz and Rachel Healy and forced to work at Rachel's chain of salons.
2021: Trafficked to the UK, Alina makes a friend in Seb Franklin
In March of that year, handyman Seb Franklin took a fancy to Alina while doing a job at Nail Sparkle. He took her to a St. George's Day party at the Rovers Return and then out for a meal, but she was scared off when she saw one of the traffickers, Jan Lozinski, drinking at the pub with Seb's landlady, Eileen Grimshaw. By April, Alina had been moved on to the Sparkle Lounge, but she continued to see Seb, letting him believe that she was legally employed.
Seb's suspicions that Alina was holding something back were first aroused when he turned up at the nail bar to make sure she was okay after they spent the night together. The concerned girl asked him to leave before Rachel returned and it was clear to Seb that she was afraid of her. In July, Alina asked Seb to keep away from her, and Rachel told him that she had quit her job. However, she was spotted still working there by Sally Metcalfe and Abi Franklin and Seb, confronting her, discovered that Alina lived backstage at the salon in a makeshift bedroom. Alina shared her story: she was "employed" by Rachel to repay a debt to her and Nikolai, who had her passport so she couldn't leave. After a tip-off from Seb, the police raided the Sparkle Lounge and the people trafficking ring was smashed. Alina and the other girls were given refuge in a Salvation Army house pending the trial, and with the traffickers behind bars, she returned to Romania the following month.
Alina was unable to find work in her home country, so she moved back to the UK as a legal migrant and took up a friend's offer of some bar work. She looked for Seb in Coronation Street, but was told by Amy Barlow that he was happily engaged to Emma Brooker. However, while applying for a telesales job at Underworld, she found out from Eileen that the couple had only recently started dating, and weren't engaged; Amy had lied to protect her half-sister. When Alina got the factory job, she accepted Seb's offer to move into his spare room at 2a Coronation Street. Emma was concerned that Alina and Seb still had feelings for each other, but Alina assured her that there was no interest on her part.
In March, David Platt got drunk and went back to Alina's flat with her for sex. Seb interrupted them and put Alina off David by informing her that he was married and had children. David sensed that Seb was motivated by jealousy, and riled him in the Rovers to the point where Seb punched him. Emma warned Seb to decide whether he wanted to be with her or Alina, and when she later walked in on an argument between Alina and Seb, she mistook Seb's motives and ordered him to move out. Even though she did have lingering feelings for Seb, Alina chose not to act on them so as not to upset Emma.
Alina got mixed up in another marriage spat in November, when she agreed to go on a date with a separated Adam Barlow. She declined to see him again, heeding Carla Connor's warning not to come between him and Sarah.
2020 to present: Affair with Tyrone Dobbs
In December 2020, Audrey Roberts sold the salon and flat to Hexappoint Properties for the Victoria Tower development, and Alina was evicted the following month. Tyrone Dobbs offered to let Alina stay with him and his family at 9 Coronation Street, and she accepted the invitation. While Fiz was initially unhappy with the addition to the crowded household, Alina proved a useful buffer between Tyrone and Fiz and their daughters Hope and Ruby. Tyrone felt uncomfortable sharing his house with a stranger though, and within a few weeks with the Victoria Tower development falling through he arranged with the salon flat's new owner, Debbie Webster, for Alina to move back in.
In March, Seb tried to take up with Alina again, comforting her when she received news of the death of her beloved dog Romulus, but she told him she'd moved on and hinted that she already had her eye on someone. Meanwhile, keen to develop her beautician ambitions Alina took up a college course and set up a pop-up beautician's in the vacant salon, buying a car for her business which Tyrone helped her work on. Alina confessed to Tyrone that she was falling for him and the pair kissed, but both parties regretted it; scared of his feelings for Alina, Tyrone told Fiz what had happened, and he started avoiding her.
As word got out that she'd tried to split the Dobbses up, Alina was given a hard time by her factory colleagues, while Maria Connor warned her off Tyrone, and Gemma Winter reported her to immigration for tax evasion to try and chase her out of Weatherfield. These only led Tyrone to defend Alina, and Fiz forced him to admit that he was in love with her. Tyrone was still unsure about giving up his family to be with Alina, in addition to the near-twenty-year age gap which had him worried that she would dump him once the novelty wore off. When Fiz kicked him out of No.9, he began seeing Alina in secret, with Alina putting everyone off the scent by flirting with Lucas Kempton. He tried for a short time to work out a custody arrangement with Fiz before confessing the truth about him and Alina, and moving in with his girlfriend.
2021: Alina attempts to youthify Tyrone with a sexy photoshoot
Tyrone wanted to remain a part of Hope and Ruby's lives, and continued to provide financially for his daughters while also buying the salon flat from Debbie for him and Alina. Alina also encouraged Tyrone to adopt a younger lifestyle. In June, Fiz hit the roof when Alina babysat the girls without her knowledge. Fiz and Tyrone almost ended up going to court for formal consent orders, alarming Evely Plummer as they edged closer to a complete breakdown of civility between them. Peaceful relations were restored when Fiz helped Tyrone deal with his ex-girlfriend Kirsty Soames's estate, but Alina was upset that Tyrone had turned to Fiz in his time of need. Her concerns were exacerbated when she found out that she was pregnant with Tyrone's child. When a drunk Tyrone tried to punch Fiz's new boyfriend Phill Whittaker, Alina demanded he got over his ex or else they were finished.
In August, Alina and Tyrone found out from a scan that their baby was a boy. However, Alina miscarried the baby after being caught up in a fire at the flat. When the police discovered that an accelerant was used in the fire, Alina reported Fiz as the possible arsonist, but with Fiz and Hope going stay with Cilla Battersby-Brown her suspicions transferred to her old people traffickers. The true culprit was Hope, who had tried to burn the baby's new cot in an act of vengeance after hearing Tyrone enthuse over finally having a son. Alina learned the truth when Fiz confessed to starting the fire herself to protect her daughter, having found Alina's flat keys in the girl's toybox and went into hiding in a B&B in Manchester. Wanting Hope to get the help she needed with her aggressive condition, Alina made Tyrone tell the police everything.
As the fallout of the fire continued, Tyrone proposed to Alina almost by accident, and Alina accepted. She later sprung a trip to Romania for him to meet her family and marry there without consulting Tyrone to any great degree. Fearing that Fiz would move away with Phill and the girls, Tyrone used this to get Alina to agree to postpone their Romanian trip, but she was stunned when she found out that Hope had a history of starting fires. She confronted Tyrone about deceiving her all the time with lies and when he admitted he'd kissed Fiz, Alina left him and returned to Romania.
Alina was back in the UK again a few months later, leaving Romania to escape the traffickers. Pregnant again with Tyrone's baby, she settled in Hastings where in 2022 she gave birth to a son, Dorin. In 2024, Alina returned to Weatherfield to give evidence when the leader of the human trafficking group stood trial. She hoped to avoid Tyrone, but he was alerted to his son's existence by Fiz when she bumped into Alina and Dorin at Freshco, and his mother Cassie Plummer engineered a meeting between them where Alina confirmed that Dorin was his. Wanting to get to know him, Tyrone paid for Alina to stay at the Chariot Square Hotel rather than return to Hastings. However, Alina had second thoughts when she began receiving threatening phone calls warning her from testifying, and when a thug linked to the gang broke into her hotel room and threatened her, she decided to go into hiding until after the trial. Fearing that Dorin was also in danger, she left the boy with Tyrone and Fiz until it was safe to return.
Personality
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Background information
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First and last lines
"Is something wrong?" (First line, to Seb Franklin)
Appendices
List of addresses
| Address | Duration |
|---|---|
| Romania | Until 2019 |
| Sparkle Lounge | May to August 2019 |
| Romania | August to December 2019 |
| 2a Coronation Street | February 2020 to 6th January 2021 |
| 9 Coronation Street | 6th January to 3rd February 2021 |
| 2a Coronation Street | 3rd February to 16th September 2021 |
| Romania | September 2021 to late 2021 or early 2022 |
| Hastings | Late 2021 or early 2022 to present |
Employment history
| Role | Institution | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Stylist | Nail Sparkle | April 2019 |
| Stylist | Sparkle Lounge | May 2019 |
| Barmaid | Unknown bar | Early 2020 |
| Sales agent | Underworld | February 2020 to September 2021 |
See also