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Stella Price (previously Munro) is a former Rovers Return landlady and mother of Leanne Battersby and Eva Price.

Daughter of Gloria Price, Stella had Leanne when she was eighteen. She was prevented from seeing her daughter by the child's father Les Battersby after she decided to leave him and return for Leanne. As a result, she missed out on nearly thirty years of her daughter's life. In the interim, she raised a second child, Eva, became a publican and began dating taxi driver Karl Munro.

In 2011, Stella accepted a job managing the Rovers Return and revealed herself to Leanne as her birth mother. Leanne was initially hostile but eventually came round and accepted Stella. She went on to buy the Rovers but heartbreak followed when Karl had an affair with barmaid Sunita Alahan. The couple revived their relationship when Karl saved Stella from a devastating fire at the Rovers, marrying later in 2013. However, when Karl was exposed as the arsonist behind the fire and Sunita's killer, Stella swiftly divorced him and persuaded Karl to turn himself over to the police.

Selling the Rovers back to the McDonalds, Stella spent a short period as a waitress at Nick's Bistro before heading to New York, eventually settling in France.

Biography

1963-2010

Stella Price was born on 11th August 1963 to Gloria Price. She began a relationship with Les Battersby as a teenager and fell pregnant with his child. She gave birth to a little girl in July 1981, Les wanted to name her Betty after his mother but Stella vetoed that option and chose Leanne. The pair were initially happy until Les began neglecting his duties as a husband and father leading to Stella walking out on him and Leanne for a man called Mike as she couldn't cope. However, she later returned and attempted to reclaim her daughter but Les' mother refused to let her see Leanne, leaving Stella heartbroken. Stella moved away and while running a pub in Warrington one of her regulars, Bill, cornered her while she was closing up and threatened to tell her boss about the secret lock-ins she had been hosting. Stella was raped after refusing Bill for sex and, feeling that she was to blame for the incident, decided against contacting the police.

After moving back to Manchester, Stella had another daughter, Eva, in February 1988. She oversaw a string of pubs including The Seven Giants, The Yew Tree and the Duck & Dagger alongside her partner Karl Munro. Karl was unfaithful and took many lovers, such as barmaid Sharon Lomax from The Yew Tree, but Stella ultimately forgave him for his dalliances.

2011-2014

Stella was given a job as manager of the Rovers Return Inn by Steve McDonald after impressing him the most compared to the other applicants. Tracy Barlow however was none too pleased about this, as she thought Steve had promised her the vacancy instead. Stella started her first shift the next day, and her down-to-earth nature seemed to appeal to both the staff and the customers. Steve had also allowed Stella a room at the Rovers as part of her conditions of her taking on the job. He did not however expect first her partner Karl Munro and then her daughter Eva to move in also. Nevertheless, he agreed (although he didn't really have much choice). A week into her tenure, Steve headed away for a few days for his birthday leaving Stella solely in charge. Matters were made messy though when Steve's estranged wife, Becky, moved back into the Rovers and declared herself in charge. When Steve later returned, he found the pub completely trashed and a window smashed as a result of a brawl breaking out. Blaming Stella, he sacked her on the spot, but later calmed down and realising what his volatile spouse was like, asked Stella to stay on, which she agreed to do.

Stella seemed to take quite a keen interest towards Leanne and jumped to her defence on several occasions be it a row between Leanne and Eva or even tackling an armed robber in Barlow's Bookies. Because of this, Leanne's husband Peter started to become suspicious of Stella - even more so when he spotted a picture of his wife in the landlady's purse. When confronted, Stella revealed that she was Leanne's mother. With her 30th birthday approaching, Stella wanted to make amends to her secret daughter, and begged Peter not to say anything just yet. He agreed, but for Leanne's sake.

However, Eva began to think there might be something going on between her mother and the married bookie after catching the pair sharing a secret conversation in Roy's Rolls. That night, Leanne celebrated her 30th birthday with a surprise party held at the Rovers. While the celebrations were taking place, in the pub's back room Eva demanded to know what exactly was going on between Stella and Peter. He in turn told Stella that the time had come for her to reveal all to Leanne - with the lady herself walking in at that precise moment.

When Leanne rejected her and refused to believe her reasons for her disappearing act, Stella planned to leave Weatherfield. However, Peter managed to stop her by accusing her of abandoning Leanne for the second time. Over the next few weeks, Stella continued to make amends with both of her daughters. She supported Leanne when she suffered a miscarriage after falling down a set of stairs and took Eva out for some "retail therapy" and supported Carla Connor through her rape ordeal due to her own experience. She wasn't pleased when Peter cheated on Leanne, so threatened Carla and doubted she got raped as she previously lied about who ran her over.

She was also later cheated on by Karl with her friend Sunita Alahan. She soon embarked on a relationship with builder Jason Grimshaw, who was twenty years younger than her. After a blazing fire in the Rovers that almost claimed Stella's life, she and Jason split up. She later reconciled with Karl after he saved her life but was unaware that he was the arsonist who started the fire in an attempt to frame Jason, as he was working on the fusebox in the cellar at the time. Stella was upset to realise that Sunita had passed away, believing the fire to be the cause, although it was really Karl who dislodged her breathing tube as she lay in intensive care. Karl and Stella then decided to get married. Shortly after their wedding, Karl hit Sunita's widower Dev Alahan with a bottle when he discovered that Karl caused the fire. He confessed that he murdered Sunita a few months prior and Stella was briefly held hostage by him. Karl then decided to release Stella and was soon arrested for arson and murder.

Following Karl's arrest, Stella filed for divorce, sold the Rovers to its previous owner Steve McDonald and moved into 13 Coronation Street. She spent the next few months working as a waitress at Nick's Bistro, but after Jason and Eva began a relationship, she decided to move to New York City for a fresh start away from Weatherfield.

In February of the following year, Jason planned on a surprise trip to visit Stella with Eva, however this was averted when the pair split after Todd manipulated Jason into believing Eva was having an affair with his father Tony.

In July 2016, Eva saw her mother when she went away on a two week break to France.

Personality

Duckworths 1983
"If you've owt to say, spit it out before it flamin' well chokes yer"
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Relationships

Duckworths 1983
"If you've owt to say, spit it out before it flamin' well chokes yer"
This article or section is unfinished.
Please edit this article to fill in the missing parts and remove this message when done.

Background information

Michelle Collins was added to the cast of Coronation Street as Stella to coincide with the departure of previous Rovers landlady Liz McDonald. Soon after, it was announced that Stella would be revealed as Leanne Barlow's biological mother.

Soon after Stella's arrival, Collins was criticised for her broad northern accent and dialect, however producer Phil Collinson declared that he would not be toning it down as he preferred it.

The character was credited for the first time as "Stella Munro" in Episode 8211 (11th September 2013) when she got married to Karl Munro, however reverted to her original surname of Price on Episode 8214 (16th September 2013) after Karl's downfall and exit aired during the previous episode.

Collins quit the role in August 2013 after two years in the role. Following the exit of Karl Munro (John Michie) the following month, Stella and her family were removed from the Rovers Return to make way for the reintroduction of Liz McDonald, who resumed her role as landlady. The character's remaining time on the show saw little storylines being provided for her, with Stella's scenes mostly being at Nick's Bistro where she went to work. Her exit aired in Episode 8356 on 2nd April 2014.

First and last lines

"If you wanna ask her out, ask her out. All this innuendo, you sound like Austin Powers." (First line, to Tommy Duckworth, concerning Tina McIntyre).

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"Oh I erm... I forgot this. Look after her, eh?" (Final line)

Appendices

Duckworths 1983
"If you've owt to say, spit it out before it flamin' well chokes yer"
This article or section is unfinished.
Please edit this article to fill in the missing parts and remove this message when done.

List of addresses

Address Duration
Rovers Return Inn 17th June 2011 to 20th March 2013
13 Coronation Street 24th March 2013 to 26th May 2013
Rovers Return Inn 26th May 2013 to September 2013
13 Coronation Street September 2013 to 2nd April 2014
New York April 2014 to around 2015 or 2016
France 2015 or 2016 onwards

See also

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