List of Coronation Street characters introduced in 1961
Coronation Street is a British soap opera, initially produced by Granada Television. Created by writer Tony Warren, Coronation Street first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters introduced in the show's second year, by order of first appearance.
Originally written by Warren, the series is produced by Stuart Latham until July and then by Derek Granger from July onwards. In January, Latham introduced four new regular characters, the first batch to arrive since Warren's initial creations at the start of the series a month earlier. These were factory workers Sheila Birtles and Doreen Lostock, timid shop assistant Emily Nugent and an extension to the Walker family, Annie and Jack's son Billy Walker. Derbyshire departed from the role of Emily in 2016.
January also saw the introduction of Len Fairclough, a character who would become one of the series' central figures and the show's most prominent alpha male. Adamson continued in the role for twenty-two years. Bryan Mosley also made his first appearance as Alf Roberts later in February; originally a recurring role, Alf was not made a regular until 1971. In April, petty criminal Jed Stone moved in. June saw the show's first birth, as Paul Cheveski was born to parents Linda and Ivan.
Granger took over as producer in July; he introduced Valerie Tatlock in early August, followed by Bill Gregory in his first of four short stints in October.
Sheila Birtles
Arnold Tanner
Arnold Tanner is the first husband of Elsie Tanner. In January 1961, he turned up on the doorstep of number 11 after an absence of fifteen years in order to meet his two children and ask for a divorce from Elsie so he could marry his new girlfriend Norah Dawson. At first Elsie refused, but was persuaded otherwise when Arnold threatened to cite her wartime romances in their divorce. He was last seen in June 1966.Dot Greenhalgh
Dorothy "Dot" Greenhalgh is first seen as the long-time best friend of Elsie Tanner. The pair worked together at Miami Modes, a local clothes shop, and eventually Dot was given a promotion to supervisor—but left soon after to work at a department store. Dot had several flings in her time despite being married, and in 1969, her husband Walter finally finished with her; and on top of this she lost her fancy new job. Miami Modes took her back, but when she stole stock and then blamed Elsie, her life in Weatherfield came to an end. She admitted her guilt, got the sack, and Elsie refused to speak to her ever again.Joe Makinson
Joe Makinson is a plumber who arrives early in 1961 to carry out work for Christine Hardman. Having just dumped her boyfriend Malcolm for his lack of support following her mother's death, and on discovering that May had unpaid debts, Christine's struggle sparked sympathy from Joe, who paid for the plumbing bill himself. Joe then asked Christine for a date and they became an item. After a few months Joe asked Christine for her hand in marriage and they became engaged, but soon afterward Christine decided she needed more excitement in her life, and subsequently broke up with him. Joe was heartbroken.Joe briefly returned in 1963 and resumed his affair with Christine, but he ended it when he realised he meant nothing to her. He returned again in 1970 to settle a debt with Alan Howard.
Beattie Pearson
Beatrice "Beattie" Pearson is the daughter of the late Albert Tatlock, played by Gabrielle Daye. Beattie was first seen on Coronation Street in 1961 visiting her father. Beattie's visits were quite rare; she usually came to the street when she wanted something. She attended the wedding of Ken Barlow to her cousin Valerie Tatlock in 1962, and also attended Val's funeral in 1971. She moved in with Albert for a few weeks when she left her husband, Norman, but Albert soon sent her back. In 1975 she along with the rest of the Street attended Albert's 80th Birthday street party. In 1981, on another visit to Coronation Street, Beattie was afraid that she would have to have Albert live with her because Ken and Deirdre Barlow were thinking of leaving the street, but she was glad when they decided to stay. Beattie's last appearance was after Albert died in 1984. Beattie gave Ken his First World War medal at his funeral, saying that Albert always looked upon him as a son.Doreen Lostock
Doreen Carole Lostock and her friend Sheila Birtles first appeared when they worked at Elliston's Raincoat Factory. Doreen briefly dated Billy Walker before he left for London in August 1961, and became the third Rovers barmaid that year. Due to the Equity Actor's Strike, Doreen was absent from the Street from November 1961 until June 1962, but like many others the absence was left unexplained upon her return. Eventually, two weeks after Sheila's suicide attempt forced her to leave the Street, Doreen herself found she had nothing left in Weatherfield and went to join the Women's Royal Army Corps. She reappears as part of a dream sequence of Elsie Tanner in February 1970 when Elsie reminisces about her relationship with Bill Gregory.Len Fairclough
Billy Walker
Billy Walker was the son of Annie and Jack Walker and first appeared 27 January 1961. He was played by actor Kenneth Farrington.Farrington was originally tested for the part of Dennis Tanner; producers felt that he did not suit the role and it later given to actor Philip Lowrie. Farrington told Ken Roche of TVTimes that "they did not think I was right for it, so the wrote me into the series as the son of Annie Walker ". The actor had spent time away from Coronation Street pursuing other projects; he told Roche that he enjoyed the breaks because each time he would return she felt "refreshed".
Billy was the son of Jack and Annie, landlords of the Rovers Return Inn. Although he grew up in Weatherfield, Billy moved to London to run a garage in 1961, and only made fleeting appearances in Coronation Street until Jack died in 1970 and Billy returned to help out at the Rovers to ease the burden on Annie. A mechanic by trade, Billy was never happy behind the bar of the Rovers and left Weatherfield several times in the early 1970s to work in London again.
In 1974, Billy became engaged to Deirdre Hunt. With the wedding only weeks away in 1975, Billy called it off and left to take a job in Jersey, which became Billy's new home. In the years that followed, Billy occasionally returned, usually to ask Annie for money for the latest business deal, which interested him as he usually gambled his own money away and was always debt-ridden. He kept tabs on Deirdre, despite her marrying and divorcing Ray Langton in his absence, and unsuccessfully tried to convince her to make a new start with him in Jersey.
When Annie retired in 1984, Billy took over the Rovers licence at her request, but after a short time as landlord he was forced out by the brewery for holding after-hours parties and he left Weatherfield again and returned to Jersey. It is not known what has happened to Billy in the years since his departure due to never being mentioned.
Joan Walker
Joan Davies is the daughter of Jack and Annie Walker. She is one half of the first couple to wed on Coronation Street and moved to Derby with her new husband soon after the wedding. As far as we know Joan and her husband Gordon were still together by the time the last Walker, her brother Billy, left the Street in 1984—making their marriage one of the longest and most successful in the show's history.In 2019, a writer from Soap World included Joan and Gordon's ceremony in their feature profiling soap weddings. They wrote "Joan and the ex-RAF man didn't seem a match made in heaven but went the distance!"
Alf Roberts
Fred Jackson
Fred Jackson was the owner and manager of Jackson's Chip Shop in Victoria Street in the 1960s. He lived in the flat above the shop with wife [|Mary] with occasional assistance from his brother [|Frank].In 1963, Fred told Doreen Lostock that Len Fairclough had inquired about landlord Wormold's address. Elsie Tanner was trying to find out who tipped off the landlord that she had taken a lodger. On 20 March, Fred was bothered by the music from the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, which he incorrectly attributed to the Over 60s club, unaware that four youths who had just left his shop at closing time had descended on the Mission.
Although not appearing after 1966, both Fred and the shop were mentioned until the mid-1980s.
Colin Lomax
Colin Lomax was the son of Bob and Vera Lomax and grandson of Ena Sharples. In the 1960s, Vera occasionally relied on Ena to look after Colin; Ena didn't object, for she could fleece information from Colin about what her family were saying about her behind her back. By 1966, Colin was being raised by Vera alone, although when Vera couldn't cope she left Colin with Bob. Colin and Bob both turned up at Vera's funeral when she died of a brain tumour in 1967.Colin went on to marry Karen and they had a son, Jason. By 1972 the family was living in West Hartlepool. Colin hadn't seen Ena in years, remembering only that he was scared of her, and Ena in turn had no idea that Colin had married or that she was a great-grandmother. In September that year they paid an impromptu visit to Weatherfield and called at Ena's Community Centre accommodation only to be informed by Lucille Hewitt that Ena was away on a Street outing to the Preston Guild and wouldn't be back until late in the evening. With nowhere else to go, they spent the remainder of the evening nursing drinks in the Rovers Return Inn, although as Annie Walker refused to have a baby on licensed premises, Karen volunteered to leave Jason in his pram outside so that she and Colin could stay and wait for Ena. They had only been there a short time when Karen went out to check on Jason and discovered that pram and baby were gone. The police were called immediately, and the Street residents who weren't at the Preston Guild rallied round to help the police with their enquiries while Colin and Karen were looked after by Annie and a policewoman in the Rovers back room. When questioned by a detective inspector, Colin was near-catatonic and Karen hysterical. The kidnapping sparked a large-scale search by the police and the army, but fortunately the baby was found after just two days, his pram abandoned on waste ground with Jason unharmed inside. Ena returned in the midst of the investigation having been summoned home from the Preston Guild. The kidnapper wasn't identified until January 1973, when Christine Peters' suspicious behaviour caused Emily Bishop to investigate and discover that she snatched Jason, for she had lost her own baby and was suffering mentally from the loss.
Ena spent Christmas with the Lomaxes in Hartlepool in 1972 and also visited them from 1977 to 1978. When Ena returned to the Street, she revealed to her friends that Colin and Karen had asked her to stay permanently but that she had graciously turned down the offer.
Colin is notable for having future Monkees member Davy Jones originating the role in 1961.