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
Elsie Mackay (actress) Australia. Thereafter, she often performed with her English-born second husband Max Montesole. In 1920 Mackay became the second wife of actor Lionel Atwill, but they divorced in March 1928, after he had detectives raid an apartment on Manhattan's 68th Street in 1925, where Mackay was found with actor Max Montesole. Mackay and Montesole married in 1933 and moved to Australia in late 1934 where they worked together, often on radio. Montesole died in Perth in 1942. Mackay died in Hawthorn, Victoria in 1963. Elsie Mackay (actress) Elsie Gertrude MacKay was born on February 20, 1893, in Roebourne, Western Australia, to