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 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