25 years ago... Elsie Tanner left Coronation Street

Yesterday, 4 January, marked the 25th anniversary of the departure of Elsie Tanner (played by Pat Phoenix) from Corrie. To mark the occasion, Corrieblogger Chris Leonard has written this piece about Elsie's memorable leaving of the Street.

"What will you be doing at 4:30 tomorrow morning"?

These were the infamous words spoken by the equally infamous Elsie Tanner on Wednesday 4th January 1984. She had decided that after over 40 years (on and off) living in the gloomy Weatherfield backstreets, enough was enough and she was determined to grab what was possibly her last chance of escape and true love with gusto.

Elsie had sadly endured not a particularly pleasant life, and was one of those people in which life seemed to bring more knock-backs than moments of joy. Try as she might, she could never find her knight in shining armour to whisk her off her feet, and when she thought she had at last found him, usually it did not take long for her to be proved otherwise. As well as an endless list of brief flings, came three failed marriages...

Husband number 1, Arnold, was a brute who she married age just 16 and he left her with daughter Linda and later son Dennis to bring up. Handsome American GI Steve Tanner seemed too good to be true, and this turned out to be the case as he was consistently vile to his wife once they wed. It was only him being shoved down the stairs by Joe Donelli, that brought an end to this brief but turbulent marriage. Finally, there was the wealthy Alan Howard, but after being declared bankrupt he turned not to Elsie but to alcohol for support, and cheated on her with Janet Reid (later Mrs Ken Barlow) beforehand. Even a move to his native Newcastle in 1973 could not resolve the Howard's problems and Elsie found herself returning to no 11 alone three years later. Elsie often found herself being looked down on by some of her neighbours including Hilda Ogden, Annie Walker and of course the formidable Ena Sharples, a woman who Elsie shared many a cross word with.

Thanks largely to her 'get knocked out, get up again' sprit, Elsie found herself quite safely bouncing back from all of her turmoil, but even she couldn't prepare for what the final months of 1983 brought her. She lost her job at Baldwin's Casuals and lost long-term friend Len Fairclough in a terrible road accident. So, she was delighted yet admittedly stunned when former flame Bill Gregory turned up on her doorstep. Elsie had originally met the chief petty officer back in 1961 at Harry and Concepta Hewitt's wedding and it was 14 years since she almost did end up together with him properly, but ended up choosing Alan instead. This time though Bill made it clear that he was not going to take no for an answer, and was adamant that Elsie come to live in Portugal with him. Normally quite a straight-thinker, Elsie spent her final hours in the Street acting like Mavis Riley, as she dithered about whether or not to up-sticks and head aboard with possibly her one true love. Eventually it took an outburst by the equally love-lorn Bet Lynch in the Rovers who said that if you find someone who loves you for you, then you should bite their arm off! Elsie at last chose to follow her heart and ended up ringing Bill at the eleventh hour with her answer, much to his delight. Never one for possessions, the only things Elsie took with her were her clothes, passport and pictures of her two children. Walking down the cobbles for the last time as she slipped her house keys into the Barlow's, some of her most memorable confrontations with Annie, Ena and son Dennis came into her head. Elsie could not help but smile - yes, she had at last found her knight and been given her sunset ending, but for good or for worse there was no way that Elsie Tanner was going to forget her life in Coronation Street in a hurry. [Chris Leonard]