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
Joe McIntyre (Coronation Street) Joe McIntyre (Coronation Street) Joseph “Joe” McIntyre is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, "Coronation Street". The character was portrayed by actor Reece Dinsdale. Joe was introduced as the father of Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan), and made his first appearing on-screen during the episode that aired in the UK on 26 May 2008. After Dinsdale quit the show in 2009, the character was killed off in February 2010, when Joe tried to fake his own death in order to claim insurance money, but died in a boating accident when he was knocked overboard by the sail, and