Here's a surprise return if I ever did hear one! 43 years after his last Street appearance, Dennis Tanner is reported to be returning to the cobbles.
Elsie Tanner's son, played by established actor Philip Lowrie, is coming back to 'throw the cat amongst the pigeons' with Ken Barlow.
His return is with an initial six-month contract, and will appear on screen from May. He starred in the very first episode of Coronation Street, and then on and off until moving to Bristol eight years later.
ITV have confirmed the signing.
What do we make of this news here at Coronation Street Blog? I'm surprised to say the least, but interested to see what direction they'll take with Dennis now so much time has passed.
See also: Dennis Tanner marks the spot on Coronation Street
19 comments:
Loving this idea.
Nice idea. There can't be many of the original cast still alive except for Bill and Philip. The only other one that comes to mind is Alan Rothwell (though of course his character is dead).
Terrific news (though wish it could have happened last year for the 50th). Anne Cunningham is still very much alive and well as was evidenced in the "Fifty years, fifty moments" documentary. As Dennis's sister (and in real life a very good friend of Philip Lowrie's), it would be nice to see brother and sister reunited.
Of course the question is, will he bring his nice new French boyfriend with him? ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp3gbi8i3Vo
Well there's only Ken, Emily and Rita that'd remember him. Rita was introduced in 1964 as Dennis' friend, so who knows? :P I'd guess Norris won't be best pleased if Dennis sets his sights on Rita! And will he be visiting Number 11 and Eileen, who's a Grimshaw - the maiden name of Elsie!
Great news - although I'm surprised he didn't appear last year. But the 51st year is better than the 50th I suppose!
Anne Cunningham (Dennis' sister Linda) is still alive, maybe she will get a call from the producers too? Doreen Keogh (Concepta Hewitt in the early days) is also still alive.
Interesting that the Tanners' old house (No 11) is now occupied by Eileen Grimshaw - Elsie's maiden name was Grimshaw!
Nick
Great decision...it was interesting to see how 'well-preserved' Phillip Lowrie was in the 50 Years documentaries. The differences between Dennis and Ken defined that first episode (jn the first ever Rovers scene), so it'll be fascinating to see how Dennis turned out.
Is 43 years a Corrie record for a gap between appearances? I can't remember how many years Jed Stone had been out of it.
WG
For many years Philip Lowrie was said to be very bitter about how his fame as Dennis Tanner harmed his career. How nice that he has finally come to terms with it, and agreed to reappear. I've seen him on the West End stage and he is a very good actor (and of course was simply brilliant as Dennis). And is it too much to hope that Jed Stone might also reappear? His return a couple of years ago was very touching.
Wow that's quite amazing! We know that Dennis has been in and out of prison over the years so i expect he'll be a bit of a scoundrell like Jed is as well. I suppose we'll probably hear that Elsie has died, or she'd be a fair old age by now at least.
Elsie would be 88 years old now, judging by her entry in The Women of Coronation Street.
The return of Dennis after 43+ years will be a record gap between appearances, surpassing Jed Stone's 42 year gap.
A couple more original Corrie stars who are still with us are Ernst Walder, who played Ivan Cheveski, and Daphne Oxenford, who played Esther Hayes, and is now in her early 90s.
I'm really glad they're doing this - I think it's vital Corrie maintains links to its past. Can't wait to see Philip onscreen.
The tram crash was great, but in a way I'd have preferred loads of old characters returning a la Neighbours 20th.
So it seems Elsie could be alive, but I imagine out of respect to Pat her passing will be mentioned.
Fan-flaming-tastic!
I love it when Corrie does this (like they did with Jed and Ray)
This is wonderful news. I watched some documentaries on Pat Phoenix (thank you, YouTube!) last week and thought that Philip Lowrie was fantastic as Dennis.
On the subject of who knows Dennis from the "olden days" there's Ken, Emily and Rita (as others have pointed out). But there may be others on the street who crossed paths with his mother....Betty Williams comes to mind. And Deirdre joined the soap in 1972 and Elsie left in 1984. Anyone else?
So dennis should fit right in... and yes please, bring back his sister Linda.
Looking forward to this, at least Ken will have a mate to have a drink in Rovers with. Didnt Linda Cheveski his sister return some years ago and it wasnt a success? I seem to remember she fancied Bill Webster but he only had eyes for Dreary, except she wasnt dreary in those days.
No, it was Billy Walker who was with Deirdre, but that was in 1973/74. Gail lived with Elsie for a while, so there's a link there.
Loving this!!
Now if only Hilda Ogden.......
I saw him in the first episode (repeated recently) and he was jealous of Ken being upper class. Ken had a brighter future, Dennis had very little on the horizon.
But now the roles could be reversed. Dennis could be successful now and may have seen the world a bit since his last appearance, whereas Ken has stayed in the same street he grew up in.
LOL, that would be very Adrian Mole...
It would be good if Eileen turned out to be related to Elsie and thats why Dennis Tanner has returnd to find her and to get Ken Barlows nose out of joint i would be good because that way Number 11 witch was the Tanner house has stayed in the family
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