Elsie Tanner Elsie Tanner Elsie Tanner (also Grimshaw, Howard and Gregory) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, "Coronation Street", played by Pat Phoenix from the series inception in 1960 to 1973 and from 1976 until 1984. Elsie Tanner was one of the original core characters on "Coronation Street" and appeared in the first episode. She is considered something of an icon in soap history and regarded as one of "Coronation Street's" greatest ever characters. Her final appearance came in January 1984, when Elsie emigrated to Portugal. Phoenix decided to quit the series in 1983 to pursue other projects.
Coronation Street new sponsor. In November 2011 a Nationwide Building Society ATM in Dev and Sunita Alahan's shop became the first use of paid-for product placement in a UK primetime show. Hyundai are the current sponsor since January 2015 in the Republic of Ireland, aired on TV3 HD. "Coronation Street" is the second most award-winning British soap opera in the UK, behind rival soap "EastEnders". The first producer was Stuart Latham, from December 1960 to July 1961. In the 1960s and 1970s, most producers did stints of about one year. Longer-running producers included Eric Prytherch (May 1972 – April 1974); Bill Podmore