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
Betty Williams (Coronation Street) and when he died, he left her the house in gratitude. It'll be a souvenir fans want to keep." Betty Williams (Coronation Street) Betty Williams (also Preston and Turpin) is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera, "Coronation Street", portrayed by former music hall star Betty Driver. Driver was cast as Betty in 1969, after first auditioning for the role of Hilda Ogden, which was given to Jean Alexander. The character arrived in "Coronation Street" to help her sister Maggie Cooke run the corner shop, and has since had a number of storylines which have seen her become twice