 Created by screenwriter Tony Warren, "Coronation Street" first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960.The following is a list of characters introduced by Warren upon the series' inception, by order of first appearance.These include flame-haired siren and series first sex symbol Elsie Tanner (played by Patricia Phoenix), staunch up-tight battleaxe Ena Sharples, (played by Violet Carson), typically middle class town Mayor and publican landlady Annie Walker (played by Doris Speed) and grumpy war veteran Albert Tatlock (played by Jack Howarth) and university graduate Ken Barlow (played by William Roache) - all of whom would go on to star in the series for twenty years or more.