List of Coronation Street characters introduced in 2000
The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 2000, by order of first appearance.
Debs Brownlow
Debs Brownlow is the hairdresser sister of Natalie Barnes who first appears in The Rovers Return after working on a cruise ship for a number of years. She soon begins a relationship with resident Duggie Ferguson, despite his hesitation due to the memory of his dead wife Laura. Debs supports Natalie when the body of her murdered son Tony Horrocks is discovered, and subsequently in August 2000 when gangster Jez Quigley stands trial for the killing. Debs soon tires of Duggie's reluctance to have sex with her and has a one-night stand with Dev Alahan in April 2000.Debs reunites with Duggie and they consummate their union. In October 2000, Duggie moves into No. 6 with her but she soon tires of him prioritising work over her and she orders him out. When Debs shares her relationship woes with Natalie's boyfriend Vinny Sorrell over a bottle of wine they sleep together. Duggie catches them in the act and tells a devastated Natalie. She throws Debs out of No. 6 and she subsequently leaves Weatherfield with new lover Vinny, returning to her old work on the cruise ship.
Dennis Stringer
Dennis Stringer was played by Charles Dale. Dennis is introduced in February 2000 and develops from a biker close friend of Les Battersby into the partner of Eileen Grimshaw later in 2000.In late 2001 Dennis and Janice Battersby form an affair and leave their respective partners to live together. Following this, Les attempts suicide by getting drunk and gassing himself in his car on 1 January 2002. Dennis tracks him down and prevents the suicide, but while driving Les to hospital, crashes head on into another car. Les suffers minor injuries but Dennis is badly injured and dies in hospital shortly afterwards. Janice's daughter Toyah and Les both give readings at his funeral.
Geena Gregory
Geena Gregory is played by Jennifer James. Suranne Jones, who would later be cast as Karen McDonald, also auditioned for the role, though had a suspicion she would lose to James after seeing her at the audition.Geena arrives when friend Vinny Sorrell needs help in the Rovers Return. She is well qualified for the job and her good looks and cheeky banter make her popular with the customers. She is made maid of honour at friend Linda Sykes' wedding to Mike Baldwin, and although she knows about her affair with Mike's son Mark Redman, Geena remained loyal to Linda and said nothing.
Geena has a complicated love life. Dev Alahan proposes to her but her mother, Gill, is determined to put a stop to it and set him up with Karen. Her plan fails, but Geena breaks off their engagement when she discovers he cheated on her with his employee Deirdre Rachid. She is soon seduced by handsome former prison convict, Joe Carter, and the two enjoy a fun relationship until a jealous Dev goads Joe into beating him up. Joe is scared of going back to prison and admits he loves Geena. By this time, she has completely fallen in love with him and agrees to talk to Dev. Dev tells Joe that if he is to end his relationship with Geena publicly, he would drop the assault charges against him. Joe does so and Geena is left shattered and humiliated by two men who claimed to love her. She flees the street after saying her goodbyes to her friend, Shelley Unwin.
Marion Stowe
Marion Stowe, portrayed by Paula Simms, is the mother of Candice Stowe, who usually led her best mate Sarah-Louise Platt astray. Oblivious to Candice's bad behavior, Marion disapproved of Sarah, especially when she discovered the young girl was expecting a baby at the age of just thirteen. She demanded Sarah to stay away from her daughter, causing Sarah's mother Gail to angrily turn up on her doorstep and give her a piece of her mind before the door was slammed in her face.Five months later, Marion gate crashed Sarah's daughter Bethany's christening party as she was furious with her daughter for going to such a "charade" when she had forbidden her to go. She insulted the party guests, Sarah, and vicar Jessica Lundy, who also gave her a piece of her mind. She physically dragged Candice from the house, and had a row with Gail and Sarah's adoptive father Martin Platt outside the front yard. Almost a year later, Marion turned up at the Platt house again and dragged Candice away as she didn't want her to go on a camping trip with the family, afraid that her daughter might also end up pregnant as Candice's then boyfriend Todd Grimshaw was also tagging along.
In the winter of 2001, Candice's troublecausing was finally revealed when Gail found expensive shopping in Sarah's bedroom, and Sarah told her the items belonged to Candice. Candice tried to put the blame on Sarah until Sarah revealed that Candice had gotten an evening job in a factory, which is how she got the clothes in the first place, and that Candice had convinced Sarah into letting her copy her homework. Marion finally realized the extent of her daughter's bad behavior, and angrily had a row with her and dragged her out of the Platt house.
In late August 2003, Marion showed selfishness when she began dating Gerry Burton, and didn't believe her daughter's claims that Gerry was sexually harassing her. This caused Candice to sleep in the flat above Audrey Roberts' hair salon, and Audrey took pity on her when she discovered the girl's problems. Marion tried to get her daughter to come home, but when Candice refused, it was very clear that Marion would choose her boyfriend over her daughter when she gave Candice a bag of her belongings. Audrey sent Marion away with a flea in her ear, and Candice and her mother never made up since then.
Whenever Candice would mention her mother, it was very clear she used to have a good relationship with her. However, Marion would always give Sarah negative comments, such as telling her it was "bad luck" to buy things before the baby was born, and also making Sarah emotionally offended when Candice mentioned to Sarah she wasn't allowed to bring boys up to her bedroom any more.
Marion was referred to as just "Mrs. Stowe" in end credits, but on her last appearance, her full name was credited.
Bobbi Lewis
Bobbi Lewis was played by Naomi Ryan. She is employed as a machinist at Mike Baldwin's Underworld factory. In 2002 the character was axed by producer Kieran Roberts as part of a drive to revitalise the show, as it was being regularly beaten in the ratings by rival soap EastEnders at the time.Bobbi starts work at Underworld in March 2000 when she takes over Linda Sykes' machine. She has an initially turbulent start when Linda sacks her for producing substandard work but is soon reinstated by Mike. She moves to the Street when she rents the salon flat with barmaid Geena Gregory.
In October 2000, Bobbi is furious to discover that sales rep Harvey Reuban has been dating her and Karen McDonald at the same time. When the two women confront Harvey he smugly shrugs them both off. After they discover that he has a fiancée, they are determined to get revenge. A shameless Harvey turns on the charm to Bobbi, promising her he thinks she's special, also doing the same with Karen. They both play along but know the score. With the help of the other Underworld girls they organise a farewell party for him, where they get Harvey drunk and phone Saskia, his fiancée, to pick him up. They graffiti his car, pour baked beans over him, sew the words "Slime Ball" on to the back of his suit jacket and tell his fiancée all about his womanising.
Karen and boyfriend Vikram Desai set Bobbi up on a date with Steve McDonald, but it does not lead to anything further. After Karen and Vikram break up, Bobbi starts going out with Vikram in March 2001. After playing hard to get for a couple of months, Bobbi eventually sleeps with Vikram and they begin a serious relationship. In early 2002, Vikram cheats on Bobbi with Hazel Wilding. Having fallen in love with Hazel, Vikram soon dumps Bobbi but she takes revenge by filing a false complaint against Vikram's taxi business, StreetCars for sexual harassment. With the business facing possible closure, and with employees' livelihoods on the line, Bobbi realises that her scheme has backfired. She subsequently withdraws her allegations and leaves Weatherfield in shame.
Emma Taylor
Emma Taylor is played by Angela Lonsdale, and first appears on 10 April 2000. At the beginning she is credited as Sgt Emma Taylor. She is a police officer who helps solve the case when corrupt DC Simon Cavanagh is stalking Colette Graham and Curly Watts.On 12 October 2000, the police, including Emma, surround the Freshco's supermarket as a siege develops inside. When they eventually burst in, Emma shoots the main gunman, Dean Sykes —who dies in an ambulance on the way to hospital. Due to her licence to kill, a trial is not undertaken. Dean had in fact fired a shot and Emma had responded.
Curly takes her out for a night on the beach and later asks her out to dinner. Curly proposes to Emma on a bateau mouche in Paris and they marry on 24 December 2000. Their honeymoon to New York is delayed because Curly's daughter, Alice, cannot return to his ex-wife Raquel when planned. Emma becomes pregnant shortly after their marriage and gives birth to their son Ben on 26 December 2001.
Emma later gets involved in a feud between one of her colleagues, Mick Hopwood, and Les Battersby. Mick had been dating Les's wife Janice. Les is very jealous and they spend a lot of time winding each other up. Things escalate one night when Mick and Emma stop Les in his taxi on a minor traffic offence and after Les insults Mick, Mick beats him quite savagely but Emma promises to back Mick up even though Les did not really deserve the attack. When Curly finds out, this causes a lot of tension and the couple split up temporarily. Emma feels very guilty and plans to confess the truth to her superiors but at the last minute decides to back Mick up. She commits perjury at Les's trial for assaulting Mick and Les was wrongfully imprisoned for three months.
Near the end of Les's wrongful incarceration, Emma is put forward for promotion to Inspector in Newcastle. This would involve moving house and Curly is afraid he'd never see Ben. He swallows his principles and, in order to reconcile and be able to live in peace, they put Number 7 on the market and move to Newcastle upon Tyne.
In the 2010 spin-off DVD special Coronation Street – A Knight's Tale, Curly reveals that his marriage to Emma has ended since their departure from Weatherfield.