The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 2001, by order of first appearance.

Todd Grimshaw

Todd James Grimshaw is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. He made his first appearance on 14 January 2001, and is played by Bruno Langley. He is the son of Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) and brother of Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas), both of whom made their first appearances in 2000. Todd is perhaps best known for his relationship with Sarah-Louise Platt (Tina O'Brien), before realizing that he was actually gay. Todd left the soap in 2004, but made two brief returns in 2007 and 2011. He returned to Coronation Street, as a regular, from November 2013 to December 2017.

Adam Barlow

Adam Barlow is the son of Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) and Susan Barlow (Joanna Foster). The role was originated by child actor Iain De Caestecker in 2001, making appearances on the show until 2003, but upon the character's return in 2004, he was recast with the former model, Sam Robertson. Robertson reprised the role in November 2016. In November 2016, on his return to Weatherfield, Adam is caught in Underworld by Johnny Connor (Richard Hawley) and Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward). He, Peter and his aunt Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) visit Ken in hospital after he suffered a stroke. There, they meet Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard), who reveals he is Ken's son. Adam joins his family for a meal and defends Tracy against Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill). Adam gets revenge on Robert by calling environmental health. Daniel is suspected of stealing Adam's car when Tracy and Adam visit his flat and find student debts. Adam spends the night with Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon).

Sunita Alahan

Sunita Alahan (also Parekh) is a fictional character from the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She is the wife of Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) and mother to Aadi (Zennon Ditchett) and Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey).

Sunita's storylines have included: escaping an arranged marriage, being diagnosed with a brain tumour and an aneurysm, falsely imprisoned, being held hostage, falling pregnant with twins, becoming a single parent after divorcing her husband Dev, surviving an almighty tram crash, embarking on an affair with Karl Munro (John Michie), becoming trapped inside The Rovers Return Inn fire and later dying in hospital of a cardiac arrest caused by Karl.

Suresh Parekh

Suresh Parekh, originally played by Kaleem Janjua, is the father of Sunita Parekh (Shobna Gulati) and Jayesh Parekh (Ace Bhatti). He first appears in March 2001 when he and his wife, Mena Parekh (Leena Dhingra) come looking for Sunita in Weatherfield, where she has fled to avoid the prospect of an arranged marriage to Deepak in India. After Sunita told her parents that she didn't want to return to India, they disowned her.

In September 2004, now played by Ash Varrez, Suresh and Mena return to Weatherfield for Sunita's wedding to shopkeeper, Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin). Mena forgave Sunita for not wanting to marry Deepak and gave her her blessing to marry Dev. Suresh is last seen when Dev and Sunita host a dinner party for him and Mena, when Dev is called away when the burglar alarm of one of his shops goes off.

Mena Parekh

Mena Parekh, played by Leena Dhingra, is the mother of Sunita Parekh (Shobna Gulati) and Jayesh Parekh (Pal Aron/Ace Bhatti). She first appears in March 2001 when her and her husband, Suresh Parekh (Kaleem Janjua) come looking for Sunita in Weatherfield, where she has fled to avoid the prospect of an arranged marriage to Deepak in India. After Sunita told her parents that she didn't want to return to India, they disowned her.

In October 2004, Mena returned to Weatherfield with Suresh (now played by Ash Varrez) for Sunita's wedding to shopkeeper, Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin). Mena forgave Sunita for not wanting to marry Deepak and mother and daughter were reunited. Mena was upset to hear from Maya Sharma (Sasha Behar) that Sunita had previously been engaged to Ciaran McCarthy (Keith Duffy), but supported her when she was in court for bigamy and subsequently imprisoned. Mena is last seen when Sunita goes to stay with her and Suresh after Maya tries to kill Sunita and Dev.

Jayesh Parekh

Jayesh Parekh is the brother of Sunita Parekh (Shobna Gulati) and followed her to Coronation Street in March 2001 when she fled her family and their attempt to force her into an arranged marriage in India. Sunita worked for Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) in his shop in Swinton and turned to her employer in her hour of need. Dev housed her in the Corner Shop flat and denied knowing her whereabouts when visited by her parents Suresh and Mena. Jayesh though was less trusting of Dev's innocence and parked himself outside the shop, seeing the curtains in the windows of the flat twitching. He confronted Dev who told him that the flat was used for stock and an employee was up there working. When Jayesh hammered on the door to the flat, it was Deirdre Rachid who answered the door and she joined in the deception, however the fugitive's brother was unconvinced by the stories he was being given and left Sunita's photo in the Rovers asking to be contacted should anyone see her.

A couple of days later, Jeyesh returned with a friend and they pushed their way into the flat, trying to physically force Sunita to return with them. Dev threatened the police and brother and sister sat down calmly to talk. Jayesh himself had entered into an unarranged marriage which had failed and Sunita took this as evidence that this was why he was on the side of their parents' plans. Jayesh warned her that his parents would turn their back on her and he would have no choice but to support them. Sunita ended up having no contact with her family for over three years.

By September 2004, Dev and Sunita's friendship had developed into love and the two were engaged. The thought of her upcoming wedding prompted Sunita to ring her mother but the phone was put down on her. It did prompt Jayesh to visit the Street though and the ice between brother and sister was quickly broken. He revealed that he had married for a second time - arranged this time as per cultural tradition - to Rhea Gujarati and the year before they had had a daughter. However he warned a tearful Sunita that her name was a forbidden word at home and that she was dead to her parents. Nevertheless, he tried to intercede on her behalf with her father and he agreed to meet his daughter in a local park but failed to turn up on that occasion. A month later, Jayesh returned and Sunita met her niece Jaya for the first time but she was upset when Jayesh made it clear that he wouldn't be attending the wedding and that the family did not approve of Dev. Dev walked in on the middle of their argument and he managed (with the help of a few glasses of whiskey) into talking Jayesh into being there for his sister at the wedding.

He did turn up as promised and brought with him an extra surprise - Sunita's parents. Mena's initially frosty countenance disappeared and she and her husband joined in with the Hindu rituals but there was a self-declared spectre at the feast: Maya Sharma (Sasha Behar), Dev's previous fiancée, intent on revenge for being dropped by him, had carried out an elaborate plan of impersonating Sunita and taking part in six sham marriages to illegal immigrants in her name, followed by a tip-off to the police. They arrested the happy couple and although Dev was released after questioning, Sunita was refused bail and imprisoned on remand pending trial. Jayesh and Mena visited Sunita in jail and from their attitude, made it clear that they suspected Dev of being guilty and not Maya who they had met and found "charming".

Jayesh was last seen in February 2006 when, following the birth of his twin nephew and niece, Aadi (Zennon Ditchett) and Asha (Tanisha Gorey), Sunita decided to leave Dev. Jayesh came and picked her and the twins up in his car and drove them away.

Jayesh did not attend Sunita's funeral in April 2013 nor did the rest of her family, as they believed that Sunita started the fire at The Rovers Return, killing herself and a firefighter Toni Griffiths (Tara Moran), bringing shame on the family. However, the real culprit was actually Sunita's former lover, Karl Munro (John Michie).

Fiz Brown

Fiona "Fiz" Stape (née Brown) is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. She is played by Jennie McAlpine, and made her first on-screen appearance on 20 April 2001. Fiz first appeared as the foster child of Roy (David Neilson) and Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh), aged 15. Fiz was only supposed to appear for 5 episodes, but McAlpine's contract was extended and Fiz became a regular character. Fiz was eventually involved in a murder storyline in which her lover, John Stape (Graeme Hawley), committed three murders and Fiz helped him dispose of the bodies. She gave birth in the live 50th anniversary episode, with McAlpine becoming the first actress in soap to give birth live.

Shelley Unwin

Shelley Unwin (also Barlow) is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sally Lindsay. She made her first appearance on 9 May 2001. Shelley's storylines have included a marriage to Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) and an abusive and controlling relationship with Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward), who later left her pregnant. Her mother was Bev Unwin, played by Susie Blake respectively. Shelley left the street in 2006, making her last appearance on 29 September 2006.

Richard Hillman

Richard Charles Hillman is a fictional character from the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. He was played by Brian Capron, and made his first appearance on 20 June 2001. He is first seen attending his cousin Alma Halliwell's (Amanda Barrie) funeral after she died from cervical cancer. He then began a relationship with Alma's best friend Gail Platt (Helen Worth) and the two were soon married on 28 July 2002. By then, Richard had become the show's main antagonist - as his character was developed into being a serial killer. Throughout the duration of his story arc, Richard left his business partner Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe) to die after witnessing him fall through a banister; murders his ex-wife Patricia (Annabelle Apsion) with a shovel; kidnap Gail's friend Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) to stop him from investigating the truth about his financially bankrupt property company, "Kellett Holdings"; sets his mother-in-law Audrey Roberts' (Sue Nicholls) house on fire before going on to convince her that she has Alzheimer's disease; and attempts to kill Norris' roommate Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire) with a crowbar for money — but ends up killing local landlady Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw) and subsequently framed his stepdaughter's ex-boyfriend Aiden Critchley (Dean Ashton) for her murder.

The character ultimately confessed his crimes to Gail in a two-handler episode on 24 February 2003 and soon departed from the show on 14 March 2003; Richard drove himself and his step-family into a canal after abducting them in a last-ditch familicide attempted, but they survived whilst he himself drowned and was later pronounced dead.

Gary Adams

Gary Adams, portrayed by Samuel Kane, was a man who posed as a 19-year-old boy, talking to Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien), then aged 14, through an internet chatroom. When Sarah starts to talk to strangers on the internet as a way of meeting new people, she talks to a boy called Gary who claims to be 19 years old. Gary and Sarah quickly befriend each other after they share common interests and she becomes smitten by him.