a relationship with his older brother, Max Cunningham (Matt Littler). They get engaged, but have an on-off relationship fraught with frequent arguments. Steph's friend, Niall Rafferty (Barry Sloane) falls madly in love with her and attempts to come between them. She and Max eventually marry, but on their wedding day, Niall accidentally runs Max over, killing him. After a period of intense grief, Steph has sex with Niall. He is revealed to be a villain, holding his family hostage and killing his sister, Tina Reilly (Leah Hackett). A frightened Steph goes to stay with Craig in Scotland. Niall follows her, and takes Steph, Tom and Craig hostage. After a stand-off in which Craig makes Niall acknowledge the hurt he has caused, Niall throws himself off a cliff to his death. After a long holiday with Tom, Steph returns and begins to put her life back together. She falls for dance teacher Fernando Fernandez (Jeronimo Best), inspiring jealousy in Gilly Roach (Anthony Quinlan), who has feelings for Steph. She and Fernando become engaged, as do Gilly and Cheryl Brady (Bronagh Waugh), Steph's employee. Realising that she loves Gilly, Steph breaks up with Fernando, but due to loyalty to Cheryl, refuses to date Gilly when he breaks up with her. Gilly briefly becomes engaged to Jem Costello (Helen Russell-Clark), but ultimately leaves her to be with Steph. Steph discovers she has cervical cancer, and has a hysterectomy. In the aftermath, she decides to pursue a singing career and applies for The X Factor. Despite using her cancer as a sob story, she is rejected at her audition. Her cancer spreads, and though Steph has chemotherapy, she is later told that her condition is terminal. Gilly struggles to cope with her diagnosis, almost causing Steph to cancel their wedding. It goes ahead, however, and after their honeymoon, Steph begins to make plans for her impending death. When Il Gnosh, a local Italian restaurant catches fire, Steph saves Amy Barnes and her children, but chooses to remain inside and die. After Steph's funeral, her family and friends watch video messages she recorded for them prior to her death. On 11 March 2011, Cindy returns and Darren tells her about Steph and plays her the goodbye message. On 26 December, Steph made a one-off appearance as a ghost to Doug Carter (PJ Brennan). Development Casting and characterisation Stenson originally auditioned to play a friend of