Coronation Street Blog: Mystery tramp turns up on Coronation Street

Sunday, 27 March 2011

Mystery tramp turns up on Coronation Street

Dennis Tanner's return to Coronation Street will be as a down-at-heels tramp, says The Sunday Mirror. Tanner, played by Philip Lowrie, 74, will return as a homeless drunk who sleeps rough on the doorstep of arch-enemy Ken Barlow. Viewers will see him begging Rita Sullivan and Audrey Roberts for somewhere to live as he tries to get back on his feet.

Dennis will be first seen on the Street in May and actor Philip Lowrire, who plays him, has signed up to be in Corrie for six months.

10 comments:

Frosty the Snowman said...: Looking forward to Dennis's return although makes me feel quite ancient. At least the spotlight will be off the young unpleasant moaning characters like Becky, Kylie, Sophie , Tracy, Tina - the list seems endless these days, and hopefully will make Corrie amusing and watchable again.; 27 March 2011 at 11:58
John McE said...: They've already done something similar with Sonny Jim. It would have been far more interesting if Dennis had come back, having made something of his life.; 27 March 2011 at 12:33
Chewy said...: I think it'd be too cliched if he was succesful, and if he was, why would he return to Coronation Street? Having him as a tramp could be quite convincing, him returning to the street where he grew up.; 27 March 2011 at 12:44
Tvor said...: It actually makes sense really. Dennis has been in and out of trouble most of his life. I'd believe that he finds himself homeless and gravitates to where he grew up. Sunny Jim's story was different. He said he'd gone straight after going to jail in the 60s and made a bit of a life for himself even if Tony was about to throw him out of his house. I don't think Dennis would have known Audrey unless it was off screen but he did know Rita.; 27 March 2011 at 12:51
mister_tmg said...: Yes, wouldn't Rita recognise him? Maybe not. And he wasn't Ken's arch-enemy!; 27 March 2011 at 13:16
Reginald Fah-Fah said...: Probably one of the tramps that I hunted out of London on horseback and with my hounds.

I will bring my hunt to Coronation Street and chase the tramp out of Manchester!

A fox hunt on Coronation Street would be a marvellous story! My Hound called 'Rover' could return!; 27 March 2011 at 14:53
bbhilda said...: No, he definitely wasn't an enemy of Ken's, obviously they got that idea from only watching the first episode when Elsie says "Why can't you be more like that Ken Barlow?". I don't think Ken was living at No. 1 when Dennis left was he? So how does he know which doorstep to sit on?
He knows Emily too, it would make more sense for him to show up at her house.; 27 March 2011 at 16:13
Anonymous said...: It seems like another annoying conflict storyline, of which Corrie seems full of these days. Why not have Dennis simply nostalgic in his later years searching out his past? Lots of people do that kind of thing. I agree with bbhilda and tvor that Emily would be the most sense as far as someone he would know/remember, Rita was only a passing friend of his early tenure (and then gone until a few years after he left the street), and he never had interaction with Audry that the audience/fans knew about.; 27 March 2011 at 17:30
Tvor said...: we'll have to wait and see obviously, but if he's a "drunk" he could be approaching various people on the street whether he knows them or not. And possibly he does go to Number 3, Emily's, because that used to be Ken's house or someone could tell him which one is Ken's, too. I don't take every word i read in the spoilers as truth but in general..; 27 March 2011 at 19:20
Chewy said...: Remember, it's only really the newspapers who say that they're rivals, I think Dennis probably only recently fell on hard times; 27 March 2011 at 21:03