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
Dennis Tanner return. Lowrie left "Coronation Street" on 21 February 2014, along with his co-star Sue Johnston, who played Gloria Price, but he returned again on 18 April 2014. Dennis remained in the soap opera until 30 July 2014, when his storyline finally reached its conclusion. Dennis Tanner Dennis Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, "Coronation Street", played by Philip Lowrie. The character was created by writer Tony Warren and was introduced in the very first episode on 9 December 1960. Lowrie remained in the role for just over a year before being written out unexpectedly in