Coronation Street reached a low of eight million in February 1973, when Pat Phoenix quit as Elsie Tanner, Violet Carson (battleaxe Ena Sharples) was written out for most of the year due to illness, and Doris Speed (haughty landlady Annie Walker) took two months' leave due to bereavement. The audience of ITV's other flagship soap opera "Crossroads" increased markedly at this time, as its established cast, such as Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon), grew in popularity. These sudden departures forced the writing team to quickly develop characters who had previously stood in the background. The roles of Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear), Deirdre Hunt
Paul Maxwell Paul Maxwell Paul Maxwell (12 November 192119 December 1991) was a Canadian actor who worked mostly in British cinema and television, in which he was usually cast as American characters. In terms of audience, his most notable role was probably that of Steve Tanner, the ex-GI husband of Elsie Tanner in the soap opera "Coronation Street" from 1967 until 1968. During World War II, Maxwell served in the Royal Canadian Artillery. He studied at Yale University, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts. Maxwell started as an actor in the U.S., appearing in series such as Dragnet and Alfred