Coronation Street is a British soap opera created by writer Tony Warren. It was first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in 1982, by order of first appearance.
Caroline Clegg
Caroline Clegg (née Wilson) is the wife of Gordon Clegg. Caroline and Gordon had met in 1982, and got engaged. Gordon introduced Caroline to his mother Betty Turpin. Betty took a shine to Caroline, although felt Gordon was rushing into things. Nevertherless, they were later married, although it was a quick registry office affair and Betty was not told about it until after it happened. In 1985, their son Peter was born. In 1995, Caroline attended Betty's wedding to Billy Williams alongside Gordon and Peter. Seven years later in 2002, they attended the retirement party for Betty at the Rovers Return where she had been an employee since 1969. Caroline was not pleased when Gordon offered for Betty to come and stay with them in London. Betty moved in with them but soon felt isolated and unwanted. She left to return to her home in Weatherfield. When Betty died in 2012, Caroline did not attend the funeral with Gordon for unknown reasons.
Chalkie Whitely
Thomas "Chalkie" Whitely is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, portrayed by actor Teddy Turner.
By 1982, Chalkie was a widower and living in Viaduct Street with his grandson Craig, who was living with him while his son Bob, a merchant seaman whose wife had also died, was at sea. Chalkie worked as binman alongside Eddie Yeats and Curly Watts, as a driver. When Chalkie learned that his home was to be demolished, he started house-hunting and became interested in 7 Coronation Street, recently rebuilt by Len Fairclough seventeen years after it collapsed in 1965. Len and his wife Rita lived next door at No.9 and were asking for £14,000 for the adjacent property, which Chalkie thought was too much. Rita also had her eye on the new house and tried to interest Chalkie in No.9, with the Faircloughs moving next door. Chalkie offered £10,000 - less than Len wanted but eventually Len was talked round, and in August Chalkie moved into the house with Craig. More disputes with the Faircloughs were to come; just before the Whitelys were to move in, Rita sold the house's carpets to Chalkie, only for them to be ruined when Len threw an impromptu farewell party at the house. When Chalkie forgot to pass on a letter to Len for a week, Len lost his temper and shouted at Chalkie, resulting in Chalkie refusing to pass on any of Len's post, costing his plumbing business work. Rita later settled it by paying to have Len's post redirected: a victory for Chalkie.
Looking after Craig was an arrangement which worked for Chalkie but it was not without difficulties. Craig was starting to become rebellious by skiving off school and playing his drums, annoying Chalkie and the neighbours, but worst of all was Craig's maternal grandmother Phyllis Pearce, who tracked the pair down even though Chalkie had not passed on their new address to her. Phyllis thought Chalkie was not meeting Craig's needs and started hanging around the house to keep an eye on them both (as Chalkie had feared). When Chalkie and Craig built a pigeon coop together, Phyllis released the pigeons as she thought they were dirty. Chalkie got the pigeons back and looked after them. In November, Bob returned from the Navy to a welcome home party thrown by Chalkie. To Chalkie's surprise, Bob wanted to leave the Navy and settle in Australia to raise Craig. Chalkie was also invited but although the prospect of being out of Phyllis's reach appealed to him, Chalkie had made a life in Weatherfield and felt too old to start again. Phyllis appealed to Chalkie to talk Bob into letting Craig stay but Chalkie decided against it, feeling that Craig would be better off in Australia with his father.
In January 1983, now living alone, Chalkie fell ill with flu and, against his will, was looked after by Phyllis. He kept in touch with the Whitelys in Australia as much as possible and in February decided to sell No.9 and live somewhere smaller so that he could give the money to Bob. Phyllis saw this as an opportunity to get her man and asked Chalkie to move in with her but unsurprisingly the idea did not appeal to him. At the time, Chalkie was pursuing widow Alice Kirby and agreed to live with her, despite being somewhat frightened of Alice. He was ready to sell No.9 to Mr and Mrs Cheetham but Phyllis put them off buying the house, aware that losing that would mean losing any chance of Craig returning. Just as he was to move, Chalkie found out that Alice had dumped him for a retired all-in wrestler. In July, Chalkie put £10 on a five-horse accumulator and came up trumps with £3,554.75 winnings. He immediately started making plans to move to Australia by quitting his job and, leaving No.9 to be auctioned, left for Australia in August. Phyllis made a plea for Chalkie to take her with him but they were dutifully ignored.
Marion Yeats
Marion Yeats (also Willis) was a shop assistant at Maggie Dunlop's florist, who was living in lodgings in Weatherfield. When she arrived, she was at the end of her relationship with her landlady's son, Phil Moss who was in the army. As a result they did not see much of each other, therefore the relationship ended. Subsequently, Marion began chatting to Eddie Yeats (Geoffrey Hughes) and once she realised that she could have a future with him, she moved out of her lodgings and into no. 11 with Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix), who lived next door to Eddie at No. 13 with Stan (Bernard Youens) and Hilda Ogden (Jean Alexander).
After many troubles, Marion and Eddie managed to get married and went on honeymoon to Benidorm. In October 1983, Marion's mother Winifred, who lived in Bury, was taken ill. As a result, Eddie and Marion both moved to Bury to be closer to Winifred. In 1984, their daughter Dawn was born. Eddie returned in 1987 for Hilda's leaving party and revealed that he and Marion were still happily married.
Sharon Gaskell
Sharon Gaskell (formerly Bentley), played by Tracie Bennett, first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 1 March 1982, and remained until her departure on 4 January 1984, later making a brief return in 1999. Sharon is introduced as a sixteen-year-old in foster care and is due to go to long-term foster parents, the Boltons. She is instead fostered by Len (Peter Adamson) and Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox) in Weatherfield. She enjoys her stay initially, coming to see Len and Rita as parents, but she argues with Len at her 17th birthday party. After Len finds Sharon's boyfriend Steve Dunthorne (Howard Grace) trying to lead her upstairs, he forbids the pair from having sex. She decides to meet the Boltons, her other potential foster family, but decides that she prefers Len and Rita.
Sharon falls for Brian Tilsley (Christopher Quinten) and begins pursuing him, despite the fact he is married. Brian notices her interest, but remains faithful to Gail (Helen Worth) and although he did not encourage Sharon, he does not put her straight either, since he enjoys the attention. She begins babysitting for the couple, and on Brian's birthday, Sharon gives him a keyring, making Brian finally set her straight; however, she ignores him and steals a photograph. Gail sees them fighting over this, and dismisses Sharon's feelings as a teenage crush and asks Rita to have a word with her. Sharon claims that she and Brian are in love, and that Brian had initiated it. Later that year, she begins working as a kennel maid in Sheffield, living with the Stringer family. Len offers her an apprenticeship at the yard so she could stay in Weatherfield but Sharon refuses, feeling she needs a new start.
Sharon returns after hearing about Len's death in a road accident. There, she catches Curly Watts' (Kevin Kennedy) eye. She is embarrassed when Curly reads out a poem about his feelings for her, but agrees to go out with him. On their date, they meet Terry Duckworth (Nigel Pivaro), and Sharon ditches Curly to go to a UB40 concert with Terry. Sharon returns to Sheffield the next day.
Fifteen years later, Sharon returns to Weatherfield to invite Rita to her wedding. She is engaged to Ian Bentley (Jonathan Guy Lewis), a sales representative, and Rita persuades Sharon to get married in Weatherfield. Sharon makes friends with Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor), who like Sharon, has a close relationship with Rita. Ian begins an affair with the recently widowed Natalie Barnes (Denise Welch). Sharon discovers the affair, but intends to marry Ian regardless, dismissing the affair as one last fling. However, during the service, Sharon calls Ian a liar and jilts him. Happy that Sharon has decided to stay, Rita offers her a job at the Kabin and Alec Gilroy's (Roy Barraclough) old flat, No.12. Sharon happily accepts, despite clashing with Rita's assistant, Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson). Rita gives the Kabin to Sharon for her 34th birthday.
Soon afterwards, Sharon begins dating Danny Hargreaves (Richard Standing), but it ends when Danny realises that he is in love with Sally. A depressed Sharon attempts suicide, but cannot go through with it. After her suicide bid, she gets in touch with Ian, and the pair rekindle their relationship, as they realise they still love each other. Rita is furious when Sharon announces her plan to marry Ian and sell the Kabin, so that she could buy a house in Bolton. Rita buys the Kabin back from Sharon and tells her not to expect anything else from her. Sharon marries Ian and leaves Weatherfield.