Elsie Tanner - Storylines

Storylines

At the beginning of the series, Elsie already had two grown children, Linda and Dennis from her first marriage to Arnold Tanner. Linda had trouble with her Polish husband and his short temper, but they eventually reconciled and gave Elsie grandchildren. Coronation Street's creator, Tony Warren had originally planned the character of Dennis to be rather gritty and a real "bad boy", but actor Philip Lowrie's charm and knack for comedy led to Dennis becoming much more lighthearted. Dennis was shown to be sneaky and up to shenanigans, and embarked on many "get rich quick" schemes to help himself and his mother.

Elsie flirted on and off for many years with Len Fairclough, but that ended when he married Rita Littlewood in 1977. Even after Len's marriage to Rita, she remained his close friend.

Elsie married an ex-lover from the war, American serviceman Steve Tanner in 1967 (played by Canadian actor Paul Maxwell). Due to the massive popularity of Elsie during the 1960s, Steve was given the same surname so that Elsie would not have to change her name when married. Elsie left to live in America with Steve, but soon returned to Coronation Street after they split up. Steve came back to the UK in an attempt to win back Elsie, but shortly after his return he was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs. This led many of the residents of Coronation Street to be in the frame for murdering Steve, but it was later revealed that one of Steve's former Servicemen, Joe Donelli had committed the crime.

Free from her marriage to Steve, Elsie then married Alan Howard in 1970 (Alan was played by Alan Browning, who would become Patricia Phoenix's real-life husband). This marriage was also filled with rough patches; shortly after they married, script-writers quickly bankrupted affluent Alan to ensure that Elsie would have to remain in Weatherfield. Eventually, in 1973, the two went to live in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1976, Elsie returned alone with the revelation that she and Alan had separated. They later divorced. Elsie was also involved with bookie Dave Smith in the early 1970s, owner of local football team Weatherfield County FC.

After her third failed marriage, Elsie quickly surrounded herself with youngsters and acted as a somewhat surrogate mother to Suzie Birchall and Gail Potter (now McIntyre), who lodged with Elsie at No.11 during the late 1970s. Elsie saw a lot of herself in young Suzie, who was somewhat gregarious and enjoyed the company of men, but it was Elsie's relationship with Gail that was inevitably the strongest.

During her time, Elsie Tanner took a diverse range of occupations, including shop worker, croupier, machinist and factory supervisor, café worker and model. At the start of the series, Elsie worked in the department store "Miami Modes" and later continued her retail tradition when working at "Sylvia's Separates" dress shop in the 1970s. She also worked alongside Vera Duckworth, Ivy Tilsley and Ida Clough at Baldwin's Casuals clothing factory, where she spent some time working as supervisor.

In late 1983, Bill Gregory arrived on the Street yet again (she had an affair with him more than twenty years earlier, and she last saw him in 1970) and confessed that he was still in love with Elsie. He offered her the chance to be his wife and run a wine bar he owned in Portugal. After much agonising and thought, she decided to leave Coronation Street to be with Bill. On the night she left, Elsie walked down the street and memories from the past filled her head; squabbles with Annie and Ena, and yelling at her son Dennis. While clutching photographs of Linda and Dennis, she smiled knowing that her life in Coronation Street had left her with no regrets.

As she got into the taxi that was to take her to the train station, the driver asked her if she was to be away for long. Giving him a knowing smile, Elsie replied: "Ah! Now there's a question!". The taxi drove off into the night as Elsie left Weatherfield forever.

In May 2011, following the return of her son Dennis Tanner, it was revealed that Elsie Tanner had died "six or seven" years previously after her car crashed off a cliff, with rumour having that she was still holding the hand of her long-time husband Bill Gregory. Elsie died as she had lived- never doing anything by half, and had been lucky to have 20 long, happy years living the high life in the Algarve. She was 81.

In May 2012, Dennis gave his fiancee Rita Sullivan Elsie's old engagement ring.