Dennis Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Philip Lowrie.

Lowrie remained in the role for just over a year before being written out unexpectedly in 1962 when a strike by the actor's union Equity prevented new contracts being signed.

In September 2011, Lowrie was presented with a certificate by Guinness World Records for being the person with the longest gap between television appearances in the same show, having returned to Coronation Street as Dennis Tanner.

When his parents' marriage collapses in 1945, Arnold left Elsie to bring up Dennis and his older sister Linda (Anne Cunningham) alone.

He is eventually led into petty crime by new friend Jed Stone (Kenneth Cope), ending with both being sent to prison for six months in 1960.

He has just been released from prison for petty theft from a newsagents and moves in with his mother, Elsie, who becomes frustrated with Dennis's poor efforts to find a job.

Shortly before Christmas 1960, he gets one at the Orinoco club, a somewhat seedy bar in Weatherfield and begins a career in show business, despite having no real talent.

Dennis regularly brings home his work, a variety of circus acts he has booked for the club, annoying Elsie and causing several arguments.

Window cleaner Walter Potts (Christopher Sandford) seems to be the key to Dennis's future when he reveals a talent for singing.

Dennis later moves to another club when Lenny's partner, Laurie Fraser (Stanley Meadows), arrives but he has now decided to train as a hairdresser.

To his horror, Sandra persuades her father, Lionel (Edward Evans), to buy the corner shop and the Pettys move in.

He moves on to Gamma Garments, working with Emily Nugent (Eileen Derbyshire) and begins an affair with Swedish colleague Inga Olsen (Gabrielle Drake), which costs him his job when they are caught in the shop late at night.

Wild parties lead to Dennis's eviction, which he does not fight when he meets Jenny Sutton (Mitzi Rogers), a hippie girl with whom he becomes besotted.

Off-screen, Dennis is arrested in 1973 for conning old age pensioners in a double glazing scam and sentenced to prison, an act which causes Jenny to leave him.

In May 2011, teenage couple Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent) and Sian Powers (Sacha Parkinson) volunteer at a soup kitchen for homeless people where they meet Dennis, unaware of his past and that he used to live on the street.

Dennis tells Rita that his mother Elsie and her husband, Bill Gregory; died in a car crash in Portugal seven years earlier.

After a clean-up back at Rita's flat, they go to The Rovers Return for a drink and a chance to meet old friends Emily and Ken Barlow (William Roache).

Eventually it was down to two actors, Ken Farrington and Philip Lowrie, who were called in for camera tests opposite Pat Phoenix, who was cast already as Dennis' mother.

Since his contract was just slightly longer than most of his peers, it meant Dennis' exit was timed a little later than the other cast members who had to leave because of the strike.

[2] In 2011, forty-three years after his last appearance, it was announced Dennis was to return to the Street, after Philip Lowrie agreed to reprise the role.

It was commented in The Coronation Street Story, a 35th anniversary celebratory book, that Lowrie has immense charm that bubbled over into the character.

Lowrie recalls a conversation with producer Harry Latham, who commended him on his performance, saying he "gave it some comedy", and that he was glad as they had once been considering writing the character out.

[8] Lowrie left Coronation Street on 21 February 2014, along with his co-star Sue Johnston, who played Gloria Price, but he returned again on 18 April 2014.

Producer Iain MacLeod billed the episode as "uniquely Corrie: funny, poignant and characterful - and a glorious homage to the comedic charabanc trips of times past".

[9] On the episode MacLeod added, "It's a really great exhibition of Coronation Street's classic qualities as we start a new decade on the cobbles.