Coronation Street is a British soap opera, produced by ITV Studios. Created by writer Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960. It has been produced by Phil Collinson since 2010.
The following is a list of characters introduced by Collinson in the show's fifty-first year, by order of first appearance. January saw three introductions; DC Moore (Pooja Shah), the detective in charge of the investigation into the attack on Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), Marc Selby (Andrew Hall), a new love interest for both Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) and Claudia Colby (Rula Lenska), and Frank Foster, played by former The Bill actor Andrew Lancel, as a new business partner for Carla Connor (Alison King). Faye Butler (Ellie Leach), the adoptive daughter of Anna (Debbie Rush) and Eddie Windass (Steve Huison), Jeff Cullen (Steven Houghton), a love interest for Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor), and the soap's first Chinese character, Xin Chiang (Elizabeth Tan), a friend of Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan), arrived in February. Veteran actress Stephanie Cole joined as Sylvia Goodwin, the mother of established character Roy Cropper (David Neilson), in April.
June saw a new family take over the running of the Rovers Return for the first time as former EastEnders actress Michelle Collins and Taggart actor John Michie took on the roles of Stella Price and Karl Munro respectively. The couple were also joined by Stella's daughter Eva (Catherine Tyldesley). A potential new love interest for Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), Beth Tinker (Lisa George), and her son Craig (Colson Smith) arrived in August and Frank's parents, Anne (Gwen Taylor) and Sam Foster (Paul Clayton), made their first appearances in September, along with Kirsty Soames (Natalie Gumede), a new love interest for Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall). Paul Kershaw's (Tony Hirst) Alzheimer's-suffering wife, Lesley Kershaw (Judy Holt), followed in October and Jeremy Sheffield began appearing as Danny Stratton, a new love interest for Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly), in December. That same month saw the birth of Chesney Brown (Sam Aston) and Katy Armstrong's (Georgia May Foote) newborn son Joseph Brown, the only child born that year.
DC Moore
Detective Constable Moore, played by Pooja Shah, is a police officer investigating the attack on Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) on New Year's Eve. Moore is first seen at the hospital speaking to Tracy's mother Deirdre (Anne Kirkbride) and stepfather Ken (William Roache). She questions them about a motive for the attack on Tracy, to which Deirdre implicates Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson). Moore and her colleague DC Redfern (Paul Warriner) go to The Rovers Return and question Steve about his whereabouts on the night of the attack. Steve gives them an account of his movements and denies being Tracy's attacker. They later question Nick Tilsley (Ben Price), Gail McIntyre (Helen Worth) and David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) to see if they are involved. Moore and Redfern come across Norris Cole and Mary Taylor (Malcolm Hebden and Patti Clare) in the street and ask Norris for information. Norris implicates Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly) as a potential suspect when he reveals that she and Tracy had a fight on Christmas Day in The Rovers. Following their new lead, Moore and Redfern pay the Rovers another visit and question Becky. Tracy accuses Becky, and Becky is subsequently arrested for GBH and denies attacking Tracy. After Claire Peacock (Julia Haworth) confesses to the attack, Moore and Redfern release her on bail. The following night Moore and Redfern return to the Street to re-arrest Claire after making their enquiries. They fall for a decoy as residents help Claire escape.
Marc Selby
Marc Selby (also Marcia Selby), played by Andrew Hall, first appears as a customer at Claudia Colby's (Rula Lenska) salon. Marc befriends Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) before her haircut and Claudia accuses Audrey of chatting him up. Claudia and Marc start dating, and Claudia shows him off in The Rovers Return Inn public house when she meets Audrey for drinks a few weeks later. In March, Claudia opens up to Audrey about her worries that Marc is hiding something after cancelling several dates, and the women decide to stake out Marc's house to see what he is doing while he is supposed to be out. Claudia fears the worst when they spot another woman leaving the house. A few days later, Marc tells them that it was his sister leaving his house; but Claudia still doesn't believe him.
In April, Marc telephones Audrey from the police station asking her to pick him up. When Audrey arrives, she is shocked to not only find Marc brutally beaten up – but dressed as a woman. Back at Audrey's house, he confides in her that although he is heterosexual, as are the majority of cross-dressers, he has always felt the need to dress in women's clothes, under the alias Marcia, and that his late wife was supportive of his feelings. Audrey is very sympathetic but urges him to tell Claudia, for both their sakes. He remains reluctant.
Eventually, Marc is forced to reveal the truth to Claudia after she wrongly assumes that he is having an affair with Audrey. She doesn't take kindly to the confession and ends her relationship with Marc, disgusted by his cross-dressing. In August 2011, Kylie Platt (Paula Lane) and Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) spot Audrey with 'Marcia' and film them to use as blackmail against Audrey to get Kylie's job back at the salon. Despite Audrey telling Marc to keep quiet, he walks into The Rovers as Marcia leaving Audrey humiliated in front of daughter Gail (Helen Worth) and her friends. Marc makes his final appearance on 26 August 2011 after Audrey tells him that she can no longer cope with his cross-dressing.
Frank Foster
Francis John "Frank" Foster, played by Andrew Lancel, made his debut screen appearance on 20 January 2011. The character and casting was announced on 23 November 2010. Frank was introduced as a business associate of Carla Connor (Alison King). Of his casting, Lancel said "I'm made up to be here. It's been a long time coming and I'm a big fan of the show so I'm thrilled. Frank looks like he's going to be fun to play, there's more to him than meets the eye, he's definitely not one-sided." Describing Frank, Lancel commented that he is "charismatic, charming and you're never quite sure what he'll do next." Frank received a nomination for Best Baddy at the 2012 Virgin Media TV Awards. He received 1.39% of the vote. Jon Wise of The People called Frank an "evil bully".
Faye Windass
Faye Windass, played by Ellie Leach, made her first on screen appearance on 24 January 2011. The casting was announced in January 2011. Of her casting, her cousin, co-star Brooke Vincent, said "I am chuffed to bits for her. She has made me so happy. We are all thrilled about it and I can't wait to be with her on set to show her around." A show source added "Brooke was behind her all the way and was praying she would get the part – and after Ellie won the bosses over she couldn't contain herself. She was so pleased and happy for her. Ellie-Louise is made of the same stuff as Brooke, which means she'll fit in and get on well with everyone." Storylines involving Faye include being adopted by Anna (Debbie Rush) and Eddie Windass (Steve Huison), being hit by her mother's partner Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies) in a controversial plot, being bullied herself and being peer pressured into bullying Simon Barlow (Alex Bain), contacting her birth father Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) which ultimately leads to her falsely accusing Anna of abusing her and falling pregnant at the age of twelve and only letting best friend Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) know and struggling to cope with daughter Miley Windass (Erin, Eilah and Elsie Halliwell).
Jeff Cullen
Jeff Cullen, played by Steven Houghton, first appears on 7 February 2011 when he approaches Gail McIntyre (Helen Worth) and Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor) in the Rovers and offers to buy them a drink. Gail initially shows interest in Jeff, but it soon becomes clear that Jeff is attracted to Sally, so Gail leaves them and goes home. After Gail has left, Jeff takes Sally out for dinner. A few days later, Sally finds her daughter Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan) upset after supposedly being sacked from her job as a promotions girl on refusing to go through with a glamour modelling shoot. Sally storms round to Rosie's agency to confront her boss 'Alfie', only to discover Jeff was 'Alfie'. Jeff explains to Sally that Rosie had lied about being sacked, and she had in fact resigned from her job. Jeff has since enjoyed several dates with Sally, often ending up in the middle of public spats between Sally and her "estranged" husband Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell). In order to win points with Sally when he witnesses her giving half the £200,000 that Kevin won on a scratchcard in March, he offers a fortnight in Paris to Sally and winds Kev up about it. When he leaves for a bit, Sally apologises to Kevin for Jeff's attitude.
In May 2011, after a long weekend in Paris with Sally, Jeff proposes to her at the Bistro, she is shocked and tells him she is in no position to remarry after everything with Kevin. Later Jeff turns up at Number 4 where Kevin is staying while he recovers, Jeff accuses Sally of still having feelings for Kevin but an annoyed Sally tells him to stop being paranoid.
Jeff reappears several months later and rekindles his relationship with Sally, despite her having had a one-night stand with Kevin. However, Sophie (Brooke Vincent) and Rosie are unhappy because they want Sally to get back together with Kevin. Rosie devises a plan to split up Jeff and Sally: she dresses in revealing lingerie when Jeff calls to the house to see her about modelling work and deliberately spills a drink on his trousers. Just as she is trying to pull Jeff's trousers off, Sally walks through the door and immediately gets the impression that Jeff has been trying to seduce Rosie. Later, Rosie is forced to admit the truth and Sally reconciles with Jeff.
After Rosie is held hostage by John Stape (Graeme Hawley) in October 2011, Jeff encourages her to do an exclusive interview with The Weatherfield Gazette to further her modelling profile. However, unbeknownst to Rosie, Jeff provides the journalist with personal information about the private lives of the Webster family, including Sophie's sexuality, Sally breast cancer battle and Kevin's affair with Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns). When the article appears, the family are humiliated and Sally orders Jeff to leave and never return.
Xin Proctor
Xin Proctor (née Chiang), played by Elizabeth Tan, is a friend of Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) and is the first Chinese character to feature in a regular role on Coronation Street. She makes her first appearance on 14 February 2011, and departed the series on 13 June 2011.
Development Former Doctor Who actress Elizabeth Tan won the role of Xin and began filming on 10 January. Tan said of her casting: "I was very excited to be offered a role on Coronation Street because it's such an iconic show with such a lot of talented actors".
The UK Border Agency has praised Coronation Street for highlighting the issue of sham marriages in its latest storyline. Eddy Montgomery – North-West regional director of the UKBA – told the newspaper: "We are pleased to see the profile of our work raised and to see this sort of storyline being featured in the media. We have been really happy to work closely with Granada on this, as we have seen this cynical crime in action in the region."
Storylines