Nine Coronation Street characters who went mysteriously missing from ITV cobbles

Coronation Street has been on our screens for more than 80 years now after the first episode launched in December 1960.

It’s fair to say plotlines on the ITV soap can be notoriously barmy at times, with characters appearing and disappearing within the blink of an eye.

When an actor leaves their role, it can have a strange effect on their character’s friends and family, who appear to completely forget who they are within seconds.

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But anything can happen in soapland, with characters making a surprise appearance or – like Toyah Battersby – could even return to the show full time.

As the drama unfolds on the long-running soap, Daily Star has taken a deep dive into some of the mysteriously missing characters who have vanished from the Cobbles.

Toyah Habeeb

Despite being close with her loving sister Leanne Battersby, Toyah (played by Georgia Taylor) never bothered to visit her family on the Cobbles during her 13-year disappearance from the ITV soap.

Fans would be forgiven for thinking her character had left the soap for good after she moved to London with Spider back in 2003.

During her absence, her family went through hell and back, yet the rebellious sister failed to even drop them a text.

But in 2016, her character made a dramatic return to the show as if no time had passed at all, and even tied the knot with Peter Barlow.

Since then, she had cut ties with Peter and found love in the arms of solicitor Imran Habeeb, with the pair going on to foster children together.

In 2022, the pair walked down the aisle together with the hope of creating a family unit with their foster daughter Elsie and Imran’s son Alfie.

Things took a twisted turn when Toyah discovered that he had been unfaithful to her with Abi Franklin.

Imran later died at Abi’s hands in a horrific car crash, which forced her to move back in with her sister Leanne at 12 Victoria court as she mourned the loss of her late husband.

Katy Armstrong

Katy Armstrong (Georgia Maye Foote) bowed out of Coronation Street in March 2015, when she whisked her son Joseph off to Portugal for a new life overseas.

Bizarrely, her character was referenced off-screen in May 2016 when Chesney Brown spoke to Sinead on a web chat from Portugal, though no credit was given for the woman voicing Katy.

Katy has since been killed off in an off-screen death

Since the brunette beauty left the soap, Georgia has appeared on Strictly Come Dancing where she finished as a runner up with her pro dancer Giovanni Pernice.

Andy McDonald

Liz’s son and Steve McDonald’s twin brother was arguably the brains of the family, being the only one to graduate from university out of the bunch.

But after his character finished his degree, Andy (Nicholas Cochrane) bid a final farewell to the Cobbles to start a new life in Spain to teach English.

Since then, he has made some flying visits home since his exit in 1997, including making a surprise appearance at Steve wedding to Becky in 2004.

It was clear to see that he had lost interest by the time his brother had walked down the aisle for the fifth time when he made things official with Michelle in 2015, and was noticeably absent from the star’s extended family.

Instead, Steve had to make the trip to Spain to visit him, and certainly made the most of the good weather with his brother in 2015 while actor Simon Gregson took time off to recover from an illness.

Stella Price

Although her two daughters, Leanne and Eva, remained on the street, Stella hasn’t set foot on the cobbles for several years,

The former landlady of the Rovers Return, played by Michelle Collins, was traumatised when Sunita was killed in a devastating fire started by her evil husband Karl.

In an attempt to get over the loss of her close friend and cut ties with her vile hubby, Stella made the tough decision to leave Manchester and start her life over in the heart of Manhattan.

Later on down the line, Eva followed in her mother’s footsteps and moved to the Big Apple when she split with Jason.

It’s fair to say Stella has vanished from the street for good, with her daughter Leanne rarely mentioning her mum following her move across the pond.

Adam Barlow

The result of a short-lived marriage between Mike Baldwin and Ken Barlow’s daughter Susan, Adam was kept a secret from his father and grandfather until he turned 13.

The TV hunk (Sam Robertson) officially moved to the street in 2001 after his doting mum was killed in a devastating car crash.

In 2007, Adam moved to Canada in 2007 and didn’t visit his family and friends on the Cobbles for years, not even for the funeral of his grandmother Deirdre in 2015.

But a mystery illness meant that Ken rushed to his side when actor William Roache needed time off from the soap to fight a rape allegation, which he was cleared of.

Adam made his official return to the Cobbles in November 2016 after Ken suffered a stroke on the soap.

He has since been romantically involved with brunette beauty Rosie Webster and Eva Price, and was even a suspect in the whodunnit when Ken was pushed down the stairs.

Since then, he has tied the knot to Sarah Barlow, who has recently become involved in a dramatic affair with TV gangster Damon Hay.

Daniel Osbourne

Another missing Barlow offspring, Danie was the result of Ken’s affair with Denise Osbourne in 1994.

Daniel left the show as a baby and only returned to the soap in 2007, when his mum got back in touch with Ken, but the hunk was only around for a few weeks before he was whisked off again.

But unlike other absent characters on the street, Ken stayed in touch with Dan who made an official comeback in 2017 in the form of new actor Rob Mallard.

It didn’t take long before he got stuck into the family drama, with the hunk attempting to kill his dad in March 2017 when he pushed him down the stairs.

Rosie Webster

Kevin and Sally’s daughter, played by Helen Flanagan, always had stars in her eyes with dreams of being a model when she was older.

After signing for an agency in 2012, the brunette beauty made the move to the Big Smoke to star in a reality show,

Similarly to her onscreen character, Helen took a break from the show and immediately landed a spot on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

The aspirational model was rarely mentioned by her family on the street, and she didn’t even visit the cobbles when her sister Sophie’s partner was killed in a dramatic explosion.

But in 2017, Rosie returned to the street and was soon up to no good much to the delight of her loyal legion of fans.

She remained on the soap for four more years before she bid a final farewell to the soap to concentrate on raising her three children with her then fiancé Scott Sinclair.

Sharon Bentley

Similarly to Jenny Bradley, who has since returned to the Cobbles, Sharon was fostered by Rita Sullivan and late husband Len Fairclough back in the 1960s.

Sharon (Tracie Bennet) later moved to Sheffield to be a kennel maid when she turned 18, but returned to the street one year later in 1984 for five years.

After marrying her cheating fiancé Ian and having a dramatic fall out with Rita, the blonde bombshell packed up her bags and decided leave for good.

Cilla Battersby-Brown

Cilla (Wendi Peters) has always been the life of the party, and she certainly caused trouble during her time on the show.

After she met Les Battersby in the Rovers, she quickly lured him away from his then wife Janice in a messy affair.

She later went on to tie the knot to the cheeky chap in 2005 in arguably one of the most explosive weddings the soap has ever seen, which was even gate-crashed by Status Quo.

Mum to Fiz and Chesney Brown, Cilla left her life behind in 2007 and packed her bags in a shocking ITV exit.

The fiery redhead has only made one brief return to the Cobbles in 2014, but her son Chesney sometimes visits his absent mother over the years.

However, his sister Fiz refuses to have anything to do with their mother after her heartbreaking exit.

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