List of character deaths from Coronation Street

What follows is a list of character deaths from the British soap opera "Coronation Street".

The Most Notorious Deaths

Ida Barlow (11 September 1961, aged 54)

Actress Noel Dyson had no intention of staying too long in the part of Ida Barlow, Ken's mother, as she lived in London and was seeing less and less of her family. Thus, by her own volition, Ida was killed off at the age of 44 when she was knocked over by a bus. This was only the first of a series of deaths in Ken Barlow's family, which have included his brother David, his nephew Darren, his first wife Val and second wife Janet, his father Frank and his daughter Susan. Val often said that there was a curse on the Barlow family "...like the one on the Kennedy's... it frightens me..."

Martha Longhurst (1964)

68-year-old Martha had a heart attack and died in the snug bar of The Rovers. The cast were stunned; Peter Adamson who played Len Fairclough was convinced it would not happen, even taking bets on the matter. He was the character to find Martha dead at her table – he left a deliberately long pause before he said the final line of the episode "She's dead, Annie," convinced that the line would be edited out and Martha recover by the final episode. It was not and she did not. Aspinall later said that it was the only time he ever heard Violet Carson swear. When Aspinall told her he might have made a mistake in killing off Martha, Violet replied "It's a bit bloody late now!" Violet threatened to resign herself, but was talked out of it by her fellow cast members.

Jack Walker (1970)

Arthur Leslie, who had proved popular during the ten years in which he had played the role of Jack, died suddenly in reality of a heart attack. Thus Jack too had to die, also from a heart attack while visiting his daughter, Joan. Out of respect for Mr Leslie's family, all scenes of mourning were carried out 'off screen'.

Valerie Barlow (27 January 1971, aged 28)

Like her fictional 'mother-in-law', Ida, before her, Anne Reid decided to leave the programme and insisted her character be killed off so there would be no chance of her ever returning. Thus Valerie was electrocuted by a faulty hairdryer. This was a massive media story the day after the episode was broadcast in January 1971, as Val was such a popular character. Anne had decided to concentrate on her home life rather than her acting career. She was married to "Coronation Street" producer and writer Peter Eckersley, who died young due to cancer. Anne was also four months pregnant with her first child. Now one of the most successful actresses in Britain, particularly in comedy roles, she has no regrets about being killed off.

Jerry Booth (1975)

Lovable loser Jerry was one of the best loved of all characters in the programme. Unbeknown to the audience, Graham Haberfield sadly had a chronic drink problem. Though this led to problems with his performance – he would become very belligerent when a director gave his notes, believing his performance was being criticised – producer Bill Podmore knew how popular the character of Jerry was, and tried to help Graham through his problem. Graham died at the age of 34 from heart failure, a consequence of liver damage. In the programme, the news was delivered to Len Fairclough, but the cause of Jerry's death was obscure, sometimes being referred to as heart failure, sometimes as pneumonia.

Ernest Bishop (11 January 1978, aged 47)

It has often been mistakenly reported that Ernie Bishop was killed out of the programme because Hancock dared to ask for a pay rise. Actually, it was that he refused to sign what he saw as an unfair contract. Granada TV operated a two-tier contract system; certain long-standing members of the cast were paid every week of the year, whether they appeared in the show or not; Hancock, along with many other members of the cast, were merely paid as and when they made an appearance. Arguing that this was unfair – they were all there to do the same job – he delivered an ultimatum – either his contract be brought in to line with the others', or he would not sign it. The writers responded by having 47-year-old Ernest shot in a bungled wages snatch.

Renee Roberts (1980)

When he took over as producer of Coronation Street, Bill Podmore created the role of Renee Bradshaw, a feisty character who would take over the corner shop and cause problems with the locals with her no-nonsense attitude, such as refusing long standing customers 'tick' (credit) and applying for a licence to sell alcohol, which enraged local landlady Annie Walker. Podmore had always wanted to have Alf Roberts (played by Bryan Mosley) behind the counter of the corner shop, stating that "...if anyone was born to play Mr Green the Grocer it was him.", and thus a rather unlikely marriage was arranged between Alf and Renee. In 1980, Renee was killed when a lorry hit her car which had stalled at a set of traffic lights in a country lane.

Len Fairclough (1983)

The most notorious death since Martha Longhurst, actor Peter Adamson, who had played Len since the early days of the show, was sacked in a blaze of publicity in 1983. Adamson had been accused of abusing two young girls in a public swimming pool in Bury, Lancashire. He was cleared of all charges, and it has often wrongly been assumed that this was the reason that he was fired; in fact, Granada TV were prepared to stick by him, but what they couldn't forgive – producer Bill Podmore called it 'utterly indefensible' – was that, in order to pay cripplingly high legal fees, he sold his story to the tabloid press, giving away personal secrets and details of his "Coronation Street" co-stars – the very people who had stuck by him. Many of these co-stars publicly stated they did not want him to return (Adamson being on extended leave until the conclusion of the court case). Most voluble was Patricia Phoenix who referred to him as a "rat". Len was killed off in 1983, off-screen, when, falling asleep at the wheel, his van crashed into a motorway bridge. Only later was it revealed that he had been on his way back from a secret liaison with his mistress. Adamson was furious with this, claiming that the writers had added this twist deliberately in order to besmirch Len's memory. The day after the 'death' took place, Adamson appeared on the breakfast TV programme TV-am. Dressed as an undertaker, he read out a poem, all composed in doggerel, arguing his side of the case. Adamson's career never recovered from these traumatic events, and he died penniless in a Reading bed-sitting room in 2002.

Alan Bradley (1989)

For eighteen months, Alan's character had been built up as a solid, dependable family man, who fell in love with widowed Rita Fairclough. Only gradually did the viewer come to realise that Alan was not everything that he claimed; this culminated in defrauding Rita by arranging a loan, using her house as collateral – by posing as Len Fairclough. When Rita discovered this, she confronted him, and, when he learned she had informed the police he tried to murder her by suffocating her with a cushion. Put on remand, Alan was found guilty, but the time he had spent on remand counted toward his sentence, and, to Rita's horror, he was released, and subjected her to a campaign of terror. Traumatised, Rita suffered a nervous breakdown, and fled to Blackpool, singing at a hotel under her maiden/stage name of Rita Littlewood. Her mind had retreated to the era of her marriage to Len - 1977-1983. She was tracked down by close friends, Bet and Alec Gilroy, and asked them how Len was coping without her. Unfortunately, Alan tracked her down too. Because of her disappearance, Alan had been accused of murdering Rita, so he was determined to take her back home to prove to the police she was still alive. He never got the chance, however. Rita ran across the busy promenade to escape him; he gave chase, was hit by a Blackpool tram and killed instantly. To this day, at the point that he 'died', there is a plaque set into the tram lines which reads "Alan Bradley, the sham, here was killed by a Blackpool Tram", and residents of Blackpool, when taking trams that are heading toward the north of the resort often ask for "The Alan Bradley stop please!"

Mike Baldwin (12 April, 2006)

Actor Johnny Briggs had played cockney businessman Mike Baldwin since 1978. After 28 years on the Street he decided to retire and thus Mike was killed off. Late in 2005 Mike began to become forgetful and broke up with Penny, his long-time lover after he forgot about proposing to her. Mike was sent to Spain to holiday but returned in March. His health had declined greatly and Mike was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He refused to stay in hospital and went out in the cold rain. Mike developed pneumonia and was hospitalised in intensive care. But he escaped once again on the evening on April 12 and ended up on the steps of his factory, Underworld. Mike's long-time rival Ken Barlow found him and Mike then collapsed of a heart attack into Ken's arms. Mike died and in his last words he vowed to win Ken's wife Deirdre all over again. The episode was watched by 12 million viewers.

Other Deaths

Other deaths in the street included that of Alma Halliwell (Amanda Barrie) who died from mis-diagnosed cervical cancer, Richard Hillman, a seemingly ordinary financial adviser who just happened to be a serial killer. He killed his ex-wife who only made a brief appearance and also Maxine Peacock who was murdered, with a crowbar, when she walked in on him trying to murder long term resident Emily Bishop. Later in 2006, Fred Elliott died in the hallway of Audrey Roberts's house, on the day he was due to marry Bev Unwin.

The "Silent Credits"

Since the death of Martha Longhurst, the ending credits of an episode where a character dies are played in silence.

The "silent credits" were played after the deaths of the following characters:

*Martha Longhurst (1964)
*Vera Lomax (1967)
*David Barlow (1970)
*Darren Barlow (1970)
*Samir Rachid (1995)
*Jake Webster (2000)
*Susan Barlow (2001)
*Alma Halliwell (2001)
*Billy Platt (2004)
*Ray Langton (2005)
*Mike Baldwin (2006)
*Fred Elliott (2006)