 Marsh took maternity leave in January 2011, and the character returned on 3 November 2011.On 24 February 2019, it was announced that Marsh would be leaving the soap after 13 years and Michelle's final episode aired on 27 December 2019.Michelle's storylines have included a romantic relationship with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) during which he had an affair with Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly); discovering that her son Ryan (Ben Thompson) was not her own and had been swapped at birth with Alex Neeson (Dario Coates); the death of her eldest brother Paul (Sean Gallagher) in 2007; and the murder of her other brother Liam (Rob James-Collier) in 2008.