At the start of the series, Elsie worked in the department store "Miami Modes"’, and had two adult children, Linda (Anne Cunningham) and Dennis (Philip Lowrie), from her marriage to Arnold Tanner (Frank Crawshaw).
Dennis (Philip Lowrie) was the teenage tearaway son of Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix), and newly released from jail when the series opens.
The character was created by series creator Tony Warren as part of the original cast, and she appears in the first episode along with family members including her mother, aging 'good-time girl' Elsie Tanner and her 'lovable rogue' brother Dennis.
She took a job at Elliston's Raincoat Factory and briefly dated David Barlow before falling for Roy Newman, an American GI stationed at Burtonwood.
He was off the field again in April after tearing a ligament and stayed with the Barlows so he could date Irma Ogden (Sandra Gough), who he started seeing during his previous visit.
David had big plans for them to move to Cheshire and Irma's parents, Stan (Bernard Youens) and Hilda Ogden (Jean Alexander), were keen for her to have the well-off lifestyle they could not provide.
When rationing laws were in place during World War II, Elsie helped her neighbours by buying black market goods to supplement their allotments.
She was worried about moving to a place where she didn't know anyone, and told the neighbours that she was a widow when in fact she was separated from Norman Lindley who had left for engineering work in India.
Florrie settled in well, making a few friends such as Elsie Tanner and Albert Tatlock, and she hoped romance would be on the horizon with widower Harry Hewitt, but he was largely oblivious to her interest and ended up marrying barmaid Concepta Riley shortly after her arrival.
Tickler was interested in the shop, and kept up the relationship until Florrie started talking about marriage, too soon apparently as he was afraid of commitment and fled back to Ireland.
Ena (Violet Carson) is the widowed caretaker of the Mission Hall, and also the local gossip, casting judgment on what she sees as the immoral behaviour of her neighbours in the street, notably Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix), with whom she feuds regularly.
But as she spends her evenings drinking with her old schoolfriends Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol) and Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant), she in turn comes under criticism from lay-preacher Leonard Swindley (Arthur Lowe).
Annie (Doris Speed) was the manager of the Rovers Return Inn - immaculately kept, regarded as snobbish and condescending, yet still liked and respected by the other characters, who seemed to need a queenly figure on the scene.
She and her mild-mannered husband Jack (Arthur Leslie) remained a popular double-act for years; their two children were Billy (Ken Farrington) and Joan (June Barry).
Some time later, Susan discovered that she was pregnant and wrote to him, asking if he wanted to try again with their relationship, but the letter was misplaced and Ken did not read it or become aware of its existence.
Linda fled to her home town Weatherfield to stay with her mum Elsie Tanner, telling her she wasn't returning to Ivan, but when he followed her to get her back, she admitted she was pregnant.
Ivan was furious when he found out that councillor Len Fairclough had voted against the erection of a fence by the canal, and hit him when drunk, blaming him for what could easily have killed his son.
As he stumbled into the house blind drunk, Mary came charging down the stairs in her nightgown, a carving knife in her hand, and started slashing at her son in a psychotic episode.
Harry rarely visited Weatherfield during his leave from service, preferring to stay with his sister, but returned briefly for his favourite cousin Sally Todd's wedding.
One of the new clippies was Nellie Briggs, with whom Harry arranged a double date, with his mate Len Fairclough and her friend Lizzie Harding making up the numbers.
In 1963, when Harry became ill with a chesty cough, Concepta began considering a move to the Irish countryside, making a living by buying her father's garage-cum-grocers.
Harry returned to Weatherfield the following year to escort Lucille to her new family home only to find that his daughter, now a young, independent woman, had a job and no intentions of leaving Lancashire.
Jack left a devastated street of residents and a heartbroken wife, but as he would have wanted, the Rovers remained open and Annie continued to be landlady for another 13 years.
Martha (Lynne Carol) was one of the three gossips of the Snug Bar, along with the aggressive Ena Sharples (Violet Carson) and the self-effacing Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant).
Martha becomes the cleaner at the pub and suffers embarrassment when old schoolfriend Ted Ashley (Jerold Wells) revisits Weatherfield to catch up with old friends, and she mistakenly thinks he is courting her.
Minnie, played by Margot Bryant from 1960–1976, was a timid and lovable elderly woman who went about with the more dominant characters of Martha Longhurst and Ena Sharples.
Later that year, Minnie's former lodger Joe Donnelli came back to the Street and held her at gunpoint, as he became nervous about being prosecuted for the murder of Steve Tanner.
Escaping from her orphanage, she tries living with her widowed father who has re-married to barmaid Concepta Riley (Doreen Keogh), but responds badly to her stepmother and new half-brother Christopher Hewitt (Stephen Ward).
Riley (Doreen Keogh) has the distinction of being the first barmaid to be seen at the Rover’s Return, as employee and confidante of pub landlady Annie Walker (Doris Speed).
She marries bus station inspector Harry Hewitt (Ivan Beavis) and becomes step-mother to his rebellious daughter Lucille (Jennifer Moss) and soon mother to his son Christopher, before moving back to her native Ireland.