Ex-Coronation Street stars - Arthur Lowe

Arthur Lowe is one of those very rare ex-Coronation Street stars who are known better for something that they did after Corrie. In fact, many people do not know that the actor who played the bumbling Captain Mainwaring in the popular sitcom Dad's Army got his first break into a regular TV role through Coronation Street.

Arthur Lowe played shopkeeper Leonard Swindley from 1960-1965 and also starred in two Granada spin-offs centred around Swindley entitled Pardon the Expression and Turn out the Lights. It was in 1968 that he took the role that would make him famous across the world as Mainwaring in Dad's Army. Arthur was a fine comic actor and Swindley was, in my opinion, one of the best greatest archetypes Corrie has ever created. Arthur died from a stroke in 1982. [Elsie Tanner]