It's the strong female characters in Corrie through the years that get remembered - the Elsie Tanners, Bet Lynches and Ena Sharples, but there have been some classic male characters too.

Fred Elliot I say Fred Elliot
Jack "My little swamp duck" Duckworth
Jim "Don't start Jim" McDonald
Reg "the waterbed" Holdsworth

There was something classic about these characters in that they had longevity, they had comedy aspects and unique personalities but could also be involved in serious storylines.

I'm sure there's more from before my time I'd love to hear people's opinions.

Stan Ogden, Eddie Yates, Norman "Curly" Watts, Albert Tatlock, Mike Baldwin, Alf Roberts, Ken Barlow, & if you must put Reg Holdsworth in there then I would also say Fred Gee.

Len Fairclough
Mike Baldwin
Fred Elliot
Alec Gilroy
Albert Tatlock
Ray Langton
Jack Walker
Derek Wilton
Billy Walker

How could I forget Mike Baldwin? Who was Fred Gee?

Alan Bradley..... Come on, who can forget when Rita trammed him.

Free Gee was a barman/cellarman/driver for Annie Walker at the Rovers, much better character than the moronic Reg Holdsworth, imho ofc

Mike Baldwin definitely has to be in the running. He was the first one I thought of, quite what that says about me though, I don't know...

I remember being about 16, we had Fred Gee, Stan Ogden, Eddie Yeats, Len Fairclough and Alf Roberts, I used to wonder why every bloke (or so it seemed) was so fat!

All the above.

Danny Baldwin
Dennis Tanner
Alan Howard

R.I.P. Geoffrey Hughes (Eddie Yeats).

Quite a few, I think the old male characters get quite unappreciated.

A lot of good ones have been mentioned, here are some more.

Jerry Booth
Leonard Swindley
Jed Stone
Ernest Bishop

There are so many underappreciated greats among the men.

If the five classic women are Elsie, Ena, Annie, Hilda and Bet then I'd say the equivalent lot of men has to be Len, Alf, Stan, Ken and Albert. Len was the male lead for two decades and yet he never gets recognised (he was conspicuous by his absence in the '50 greats' in the official book for the anniversary - a list which included Sean and Michelle).

Besides those, Mike, Jack Duckworth, Fred Elliott, and Alec are rightly remembered as greats. I'm also very fond of Curly, Swindley, Eddie, Ray, Jerry, Derek, Jack Walker, Roy, and Jim.

See, it's not all about the women!

Watching 1977 and they more then hold their own against the women

Martin platt

Fred Elliott and Jack Duckworth were always my faves.

Fred Elliot
Jack Duckworth
Steve McDonald

[quote=David the Wavid;74120247] Len was the male lead for two decades and yet he never gets recognised (he was conspicuous by his absence in the '50 greats' in the official book for the anniversary - a list which included Sean and Michelle).

BIB Is there any list, credit, award that doesn't mention this pair of empty vessels? Talk about teacher's pets!

Steve Mcdonald for sure He is fantastic - By far the best character.

Mustn't forget Harry Hewitt. He wasn't in it for that many years, back in the 60s, but he was a strong character. His final scene, when the car jack slipped and the van landed on him, is firmly etched in my mind.

Poor Harry
I also liked Ken's father Frank.

Roy Cropper is an endlessly fascinating and well acted Street legend. He definitely deserves to be in the top ten of classic Corrie males.

Percy Sugden

Agreed. Roy is great and one of the few characters I actually like right now.


Peter Barlow is a good character, but I really liked him around 2008-2011. Especially during 2009 when he was by himself with Simon, having to face up to the fact he was an alcoholic, and his interactions with the rest of the Barlow family including Blanche was great. Then of course other stories around that period like George trying to take Simon away and the tram crash.

Len Fairclough was always a "bloke" who wasn't the usual useless Corrie male. Other classic male characters include Stan Ogden, Ken, Alec, Mike, Alf, Reg, Jack D, Richard Hillman.

The great trio of Len, Ray and Jerry have always been under appreciated I feel.

Steve McDonald for me.