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
Cheryl Gray (Coronation Street) said that Cheryl's life "seemed to be going well once she shacked up with kind-hearted cabbie Lloyd." They described her as "silly" for letting her feelings for Chris re-surface. Cheryl Gray (Coronation Street) Cheryl Gray is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, "Coronation Street", played by Holly Quin-Ankrah. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing 9 April 2010. Originally introduced as a love interest for an existing character, Cheryl has been involved in storylines involving lapdancing and domestic abuse since her inception. Cheryl's age was tweaked to accommodate the much younger Quin-Ankrah's real age. In May 2011,