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Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
'' is a British soap opera first broadcast on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in 1975, by order of first appearance.
Donna Parker
Donna Parker, played by
Rachel Davies
Rachel Davies is an English actress. She has numerous television credits to her name, including '' Boon'' (1986), '' A Little Bit of Lippy'' (1989), ''Emmerdale'' (1993–94), '' Band of Gold'' (1995–96), '' Hillsborough'' (1996), and '' The C ...
, made her first screen appearance on 14 July 1975. Donna was a love interest for
Alf Roberts
Alfred Sidney "Alf" Roberts, OBE is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Bryan Mosley. He ran a grocery shop at No. 15 and was involved in local politics, including two spells as mayor of W ...
(
Bryan Mosley
Bryan Mosley (25 August 1931 – 9 February 1999) was a British actor, best known for his role as grocer Alf Roberts in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''.
Early life
Mosley was born in Leeds, an only child, to Agnes Basquil ...
). Of Alf and Donna's relationship, Mosley said "no one in the street, only viewers, knew.".
While Donna is working in the canteen at the post office, she meets Alf Roberts. Donna asks Alf if he can retrieve a letter that she regretted posting, but Alf turned her down as he did not want to break the law. Donna and Alf become good friends and he takes her in when she loses her home. Alf becomes infatuated with Donna, but she is only interested in Alf for what she can get out of him. When Donna tells Alf that she wanted to run her own hair-dressing business, Alf gives her £500. Donna suddenly disappears from Alf's life and he refuses to press charges against her. The following year,
Len Fairclough
Len Fairclough is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Peter Adamson between his introduction in 1961 and the character's axing in 1983.
Creation and casting
Adamson was a former extra and t ...
(
Peter Adamson) meets Donna at a club and, recognising her as the woman who fleeced Alf, decides to try to get Alf's money back. When Len learns that Donna wants to buy a new premises for another salon, he gets her interested in The Kabin flat. Donna agrees to pay a £500 deposit for the flat, but when she hands the money over, Len brings over Alf to return the money. However, Alf then reveals that Donna had already paid back the £500 and given him a watch as a thank you.
Monkey Gibbons
Monkey Gibbons, played by Arthur Kelly, made his first screen appearance on 8 September 1975. Monkey was a friend and former cellmate of
Eddie Yeats (
Geoffrey Hughes Geoffrey Hughes may refer to:
* Geoff Hughes (born 1939), Australian tennis player
* Geoffrey Hughes (actor) (1944–2012), English actor
* Geoffrey Forrest Hughes (1895–1951), Australian aviator and pilot
See also
* Jeff Hughes (disambiguation) ...
).
Eddie Yeats and his friend Monkey reunite to case some houses for Monkey to burgle. They store the proceeds of the burglaries at
Minnie Caldwell's (
Margot Bryant
Kathleen Mary Margaret Bryant (8 March 1897 – 1 January 1988), known professionally as Margot Bryant, was an English stage and television actress best known for playing Minnie Caldwell in the soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from its in ...
) house. However, the police quickly catch them and they are sent to prison. When they are released from prison the following year, Eddie and Monkey go to the Rovers Return, hoping to find somewhere to stay.
Ray Langton
Ray Langton is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Neville Buswell.
Development
Ray Langton's departure in 1978 came due to Neville Buswell quitting acting and later leaving to work in Las ...
(
Neville Buswell
Neville Alfred Morris Buswell (20 January 1943 – 25 December 2019) was a British actor, best known for his role as Ray Langton in the ITV Soap opera ''Coronation Street''.
Early years
Buswell attended Belmont Abbey School near Hereford f ...
) tells them that Number 11 is empty and Eddie and Monkey let themselves in and go to sleep. The owners,
Elsie (
Patricia Phoenix
Patricia Phoenix (born Patricia Frederica Manfield; 26 November 1923 – 17 September 1986) was an English actress who became one of the first sex symbols of British television through her role as Elsie Tanner, an original cast member of ''C ...
) and
Gail
Gail may refer to:
People
* Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name
Surname
* Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar
* Max Gail (born 1943), American actor
* Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer ...
(
Helen Worth
Helen Worth (born Cathryn Helen Wigglesworth; 7 January 1951) is a British actress. She is best known for portraying the role of Gail Platt in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' for 50 years from 1974 to 2024. In 2014, she received the ...
), return home and throw them out. In desperation, Eddie and Monkey let themselves back in and fell asleep in the living room. The following morning, Elsie and Gail threaten to ring the police, but Eddie begs her not to and she agrees. Eddie and Monkey find separate lodgings in the area and when Eddie is thrown out of his, Monkey invites him to stay with him. Monkey gets some cheap watches and sells them to Eddie, who then sells them on. When one of the watches stopped working after a few days, everyone assumed the watches were dodgy. Eddie throws the lot down a drain, but Monkey explains that the watches were not stolen and they try unsuccessfully to retrieve them. A few years later, Monkey helps Eddie to get back some items that have been stolen and return them to their owners.
Vince Denton
Vince Denton, played by Mike Heywood, made his first screen appearance on 8 September 1975. When the character returned in 1977, actor Constantin de Goguel was recast in the role. Vince was brought in as a love interest for
Janet Barlow (
Judith Barker
Judith Barker (born 22 June 1943) is an English actress, best known for her role as the upwardly mobile homewrecker Janet Reid in ''Coronation Street'', which she played from 1969 to 1977.
Since her departure from ''Coronation Street'', Barker ...
).
After leaving her husband,
Ken
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer
* ''Ken'' (film), a 1965 Japanese film
* ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine
* Ken Masters, a main character in th ...
(
William Roache
William Patrick Roache (born 25 April 1932) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and is the longest-serving cast member in the series, having appeared in the show continuousl ...
), Janet began dating Vince and they lived together. When Ken picked Janet up in his taxi one night, he let her stay the night with him as Vince was drunk and violent. Ken becomes worried about Janet, but decides not to interfere when Vince arrive to take her back home. A couple of years later, after being thrown out by Vince, Janet takes an overdose and dies. Vince comes to see Ken after the funeral to tell him that the money in Janet's building society account belonged to him. He had asked her to put some money into her account as a tax dodge. Ken does not believe Vince and stalls him by contacting Janet's sister to ask about her finances. Vince assumes Ken wants the money for himself, but Ken finally accepts Denton's story when he sees documents detailing the financial matters. He agrees to give Vince everything, except for Janet's own savings. While Ken does not hide his contempt for Vince, Vince is satisfied with the outcome.
Fred Gee
Frederick "Fred" Gee, played by
Fred Feast
Frederick Feast (5 October 1929 – 25 June 1999) was a British television actor, best remembered for playing the role of Fred Gee in 552 episodes of ''Coronation Street'' between 1976 and 1984.
Early life
He attended the Scarborough High Sc ...
, made his first screen appearance on 29 September 1975.
Fred arrived on Coronation Street in 1975 after his wife
Edna (Mavis Rogerson) died in a warehouse fire.
Annie Walker (
Doris Speed
Doris Speed (3 February 1899 – 16 November 1994) was an English actress, best known for her role as landlady of the Rovers Return Inn, Annie Walker, on the British television soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Speed played this role from the p ...
), landlady of the Rovers Return, was ordered by the brewery to take on a resident cellar man after the pub had been broken into. Annie was instantly impressed by the quietly spoken, dapper Fred with his old world charm and impeccable manners. This, like so much else of Fred, was just a front to cover his true self: idle, ignorant and coarse.
One of Fred's early storylines included a brief fling with
Vera Duckworth
Vera Duckworth is a fictional character from the Television in the United Kingdom, British ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Liz Dawn. Vera is known for her long-standing marriage to Jack Duckworth (Bill Tarmey); ...
(
Elizabeth Dawn
Sylvia Ann Ibbetson (''née'' Butterfield; 8 November 1939 – 25 September 2017), known professionally as Elizabeth Dawn or Liz Dawn, was a British actress, best known for her role as Vera Duckworth in the long-running British soap opera ''Cor ...
) and brought her back to the Rovers to have afternoon tea with Annie, but nothing came of the relationship.
Fred was unlikeable and devious, and often did things for the sheer devilment, such as tossing bread on top of
Eddie Yeats's (
Geoffrey Hughes Geoffrey Hughes may refer to:
* Geoff Hughes (born 1939), Australian tennis player
* Geoffrey Hughes (actor) (1944–2012), English actor
* Geoffrey Forrest Hughes (1895–1951), Australian aviator and pilot
See also
* Jeff Hughes (disambiguation) ...
) dustcart to attract pigeons in order to ruin his chances of winning the Best Kept Dust-Cart competition. Despite the fact that he liked to think he was in charge of the pub, Annie dominated him,
Bet Lynch
Elizabeth Theresa "Bet" Lynch (also Gilroy) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Played by Julie Goodyear, the character first appeared on screen during the episode airing on Monday 25 May 1966. Appear ...
(
Julie Goodyear
Julie Goodyear (' Kemp; born 29 March 1942) is an English retired actress. She is known for portraying Bet Lynch in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. She first appeared as Bet for nine episodes in 1966, before becoming a ...
) ridiculed him and
Betty Turpin
Betty Williams (also Preston and Turpin) is a fictional character from the ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', portrayed by former music hall star Betty Driver. Driver was cast as Betty in 1969, after first auditioning for ...
(
Betty Driver
Elizabeth Mary Driver (20 May 1920 – 15 October 2011) was a British actress and singer, best known for her role as Betty Williams in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', a role she played for 42 years from 1969 to 2011, app ...
) did nothing to hide her contempt for him; the only person he did carry some clout over, cleaner
Hilda Ogden
Hilda Ogden (also Crabtree) is a fictional character from the Television in the United Kingdom, British ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the serial, whose name became ...
(
Jean Alexander
Jean Margaret Hodgkinson (11 October 1926 – 14 October 2016), known by the stage name Jean Alexander, was a British actress. She was best known to television viewers for her long running role of Hilda Ogden in the soap opera ''Coronation St ...
), spoke to him with sarcasm and only begrudgingly obeyed him, after being prompted by Bet or Betty.
Billy Walker (
Kenneth Farrington
Kenneth William Farrington (born 18 April 1936) is a retired English actor. He first came to fame playing the role of Billy Walker, wayward son of publican Annie, in ITV's longest-running soap opera, ''Coronation Street''. Following a brief per ...
) sacked Fred after goading him into punching him. Fred made his last appearance at
Stan Ogden
Stan Ogden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Bernard Youens. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 29 June 1964 and remained for twenty years until his death on 21 November 19 ...
's (
Bernard Youens
Bernard Arthur Popley (28 December 1914 – 27 August 1984), better known by his stage name Bernard Youens, was an English character actor of stage and television, and briefly appeared in radio plays and had cameos in film. He was also a TV ...
) funeral in November 1984. In 1999,
Eunice Gee (
Meg Johnson
Meg Johnson is an American poet and lecturer. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including '' Midwestern Gothic'', '' Slipstream Magazine'', '' Word Riot'', ''Hobart'', and many others. Her first collection of poems, ''Ina ...
) returned for a brief time and announced that Fred had died of a heart attack some months previously.
Feast himself died five months later, from cancer.
Sarah Mulford from the ''
Daily Record'' called the character a "grumpy, hapless barman".
Others
References
*
External links
Cast and charactersat
itv.com
itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers the ITVX streaming service, with sections for ITV News, ...
Cast and charactersat the
Internet Movie Database
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coronation Street Characters, List Of
Television characters introduced in 1975
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...