Coronation Street 1983, and both Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) and Jack Howarth (Albert Tatlock) in 1984. In 1983, antihero Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson), one of the show's central male characters since 1961, was killed off, and in 1984, Stan Ogden (Bernard Youens) died. While the press predicted the end of "Corrie", H. V. Kershaw declared that "There are no stars in "Coronation Street"." Writers drew on the show's many archetypes, with established characters stepping into the roles left by the original cast. Phyllis Pearce (Jill Summers) was hailed as the new Ena Sharples in 1982, the Duckworths moved into No.9 in 1983
The Riordans on RTÉ. A spin-off series, "Bracken" was launched around "Pat Barry" (Gabriel Byrne), and which featured Irish actor Niall Toibin, Mick Lally and former "Coronation Street" actor Joe Lynch (who had played a lover of the Street's "Elsie Tanner"). After two series, that show was replaced as planned by its own spin-off, "Glenroe", which followed the Lally and Lynch characters as they moved from the fictional townland of Bracken to the outskirts of the fictional town of Glenroe. The axing of "Glenroe" in 2001 brought to an end the tradition of rural soap operas on RTÉ. Since the axing of