Anne Foster was Frank Foster's mother, and killer.
Anne arrived in Weatherfield in September 2011 from France with her husband Sam to meet Carla Connor, who was betrothed to her son, Frank. Tension arose when Carla got drunk in Nick's Bistro and left after having an argument with Anne. Anne and Sam visited Carla in hospital after she ran down Stella Price and crashed her car into Barlow's Bookies.
Anne and Sam were invited to the wedding later that month, but Frank contacted them when Carla called off the wedding. They later appeared at Frank's court case when he allegedly raped Carla. When Frank was denied bail and his case was postponed, Anne lunged at Carla when she dubbed Frank a rapist, but Sam held her back.
Frank's appeal for bail was granted in October 2011, and he was released. He appointed Anne as proxy at Underworld, much to Carla's horror. When Carla overreacted after a client flirted with her, the business lost out on a big order. In retaliation, Anne hired removal men to take 49% of the materials and machines from the factory, as Frank owned part of the business. Following this, Carla plucked up the courage to confront Frank, but Anne threw her and Maria out of his house.
After taking control of a large portion of the factory, Anne helped Frank set up his faction of the business by persuading Sally Webster, a longstanding seamstress at Underworld who had been one of the workers made redundant by Carla due to the loss of material, to work as supervisor. Anne and Sally later turned up at Underworld after a box of silk which was intended for Foster's was accidentally delivered to Carla. Carla and Michelle claimed that no such silk had been delivered to them, although later in the Rovers, they played a practical joke on Anne and Sally by wearing the silk; leaving them furious.
Anne began to realise how the stress of Frank's upcoming trial was getting to him. She made Carla a proposition: drop the charges and Frank would stop running his business and she would never hear from him again. Carla angrily threw her out of her flat.
Sam died in January 2012 of a sudden heart attack, whilst he and Anne were on holiday abroad. Anne blamed the stress of Carla's "lies" for his death and went storming round to Underworld, berating her. Anne then stood by Frank at his trial, at which he was acquitted of all charges. Anne then wanted to press charges against Carla but Frank decided not to pursue the matter further, although as neither Frank nor Carla were willing to sell their share of the factory, they worked alongside each other at Underworld. Anne's support for Frank wavered when she found out he was having an affair behind Sally's back with Jenny Sumner. Anne urged Frank to come clean with Sally but Frank threatened to throw her out if she kept sticking her oar in. Anne broke the news to Sally anyway, nearly scuppering a deal between Frank and Carla in which Carla was selling her share of the factory to Frank and setting up on her own with a big order from Jenny. When Sally found out about the deal, she realised Carla was being conned into selling her share for a fraction of it's value, but she was too late to warn as she had already signed the contract. Later that day, Anne overheard an exchange between Frank and Carla in which Frank gloated about defeating her and raping her. Frank's admission of rape startled Anne and once alone with Frank she confronted him, accusing him of as good as killing Sam, but Frank was no less derisive towards Anne than to Carla. In a heated moment, Anne grabbed a nearby bottle of whisky and hit Frank over the head, killing him instantly.
The police investigation into Frank's death was mainly focused on Carla and Peter Barlow. Anne hadn't meant to kill Frank and doing so had broken her, but her odd behaviour in the weeks after his death was passed off by everyone as grief. Sally felt sorry for Anne having to cope on her own and supported her at the funeral, where she surprised Carla by coming over to her and apologising on Frank's behalf. A wake at Frank's house was planned but Anne cancelled it and left the funeral early. Worried that Anne was going to harm herself, Sally followed her to the house where she found Anne cradling Frank's watch, which had been missing from Frank's personal effects. Sally realised that Anne was the murderer and tried to run away but tripped and fell, knocking herself out. Anne was then visited by Carla, who wanted to know if she knew about the rape. Anne tried to bluff her but Carla found Sally's body and was about to call for an ambulance when Anne grabbed a knife and threatened her with it. Anne had a nervous breakdown in front of Carla as she confessed to everything. She dropped the knife when Kevin Webster surprised her from behind. She then made a full confession to the police and was taken into custody, while Sally was taken to hospital where she made a full recovery.
- The character's appearance in Episode 7700 (26th September 2011) was uncredited.
- In a possible continuity error, Frank stated in Episode 7547 (3rd March 2011) that his mother was dead.
- Anne's exit involved her murdering Frank as part of a "whodunnit" styled storyline. In the build up to the murder, the suspects listed during the promotion for the story involved Carla Connor, Peter Barlow and Michelle Connor, however Anne was not included.
List of appearances[]
2011
2012