Coronation Street He had worked on Granada comedy productions prior to his appointment. Stan (Bernard Youens) and Hilda Ogden (Jean Alexander) were often at the centre of overtly funny storylines, with other comic characters including Eddie Yeats (Geoffrey Hughes), Fred Gee (Fred Feast), and Jack Duckworth (William Tarmey) all making their first appearances during the decade. In 1976, Pat Phoenix returned to her role as Elsie Tanner and, after a spate of ill health, Violet Carson returned on a more regular basis as Ena. "Coronation Street's" stalwart cast slotted back into the programme alongside the newcomers, examining new relationships between characters of
Elsie Tanner still holding the hand of her husband, Bill Gregory. Elsie apparently died as she had lived - never doing anything by halves and had been lucky to have 20 happy years living the high life in the Algarve. She was 81. In May 2012, Dennis' gave his fiancee, Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox) - who had previously been married to Len Fairclough, Elsie's close friend - Elsie's engagement ring. In Dorothy Catherine Anger's book ""Other worlds: society seen through soap opera"" she brands Elsie a "tarty woman" who has the ability to "attract men like bees to honey". In Larry Warren's