Coronation Street in 2006 2006 was " Coronation Street " ' s forty - seventh year . Production . Death of Mike Baldwin . Departing producer Tony Wood ' s final episode aired on 12th February . The preceding six weeks of " Coronation Street " had seen the birth of Dev and Sunita Alahan ' s twins Aadi and Asha and the exit of axed Sunita , who walked out on Dev taking the twins with her after finding out that he ' d fathered children with the women who ran his shops . Wood ' s biggest storyline was two years in the making and concluded in April , after Wood had left . At a long - term conference in 2004 , writer John Fay pitched a story where Mike Baldwin developed Alzheimer ' s and died in the arms of his longstanding enemy Ken Barlow . Fay ' s idea was taken up by the writing team and Johnny Briggs was effectively fired from the programme after 30 years . As Mike was a standalone character with no family around , writers build up a Baldwin dynasty by re - introducing Adam and revealing Danny to secretly be Mike ' s son , setting up a battle over Mike ' s will . Paul Fox returned as Mark Redman , appearing just before Mike ' s death and at the funeral - the only occasion where all three of Mike ' s sons appeared together . Mike ' s girlfriend Penny King was written out immediately afterwards . Notably , the penultimate episode featuring Mike was the last script John Stevenson wrote for the programme before retiring . Stevenson had been hired by Bill Podmore in 1976 , the year that Johnny Briggs joined " Coronation Street " . Passing the torch . Kieran Roberts returned to " Coronation Street " as executive producer with Episode 6227 , two years after ending a successful run as producer , while former " Emmerdale " producer Steve Frost succeeded Tony Wood with the same episode . Frost had replaced Roberts when the latter transferred from " Emmerdale " to " Coronation Street " in 2001 . In his first year , Frost placed new families in charge of Underworld and the Rovers Return . Initial plans for the factory to continue in the Baldwin name under Mike ' s sons Danny and Adam were revised when Bradley Walsh and Debra Stephenson announced that they were quitting the programme . Walsh ' s exit was reported as a break , although no return ever materialised . Gradually , the remaining Baldwins were phased out ; Danny and Frankie last appeared on New Year ' s Eve , and Adam was written out in early 2007 . In addition , Danny ' s girlfriend Leanne Battersby ended the relationship and fled Weatherfield with £50 , 000 extorted from Danny , as actress Jane Danson went on maternity leave . Rupert Hill as Jamie was the only Baldwin left . The new family was built around the character of singer - cum - barmaid Michelle Connor , played by former pop singer Kym Marsh . Marsh debuted as Michelle in April before returning in August , now a main cast member and supported by Ben Thompson as Michelle ' s teenage son Ryan , and Sean Gallagher and Rob James - Collier as her brothers Paul and Liam Connor respectively . Modelled after and of , the Connor brothers bought the factory piecemeal , with Liam purchasing Adam ' s 40 % and Paul Danny ' s 60 % three months later . Paul ' s glamorous wife Carla , also a major character , was introduced in December , played by Alison King . A four - year period in which the Rovers was owned by Fred Elliott with Shelley Unwin as landlady came to an end when John Savident and Sally Lindsay both quit their roles . Savident resigned due to the heavy workload since the increase to five episodes per week . Fred was killed off , suffering a massive stroke while paying a dubious but innocent visit to Audrey Roberts ' s house on his wedding day to check on his friend . His bride - to - be , Bev Unwin , was written out shortly thereafter , while Shelley departed in July for a new job in the Peak District with a brief return in September . The Rovers was sold to Steve McDonald , who appointed Liz as licensee and landlady . Amber Chadwick became the seventh actress to play Amy Barlow when she took over the part from Madison Hampson in April . In just over two years , the number of actors to play Amy had matched the amount who portrayed Peter Barlow , the current record - holder , since 1965 . Other cast changes . Most of the new characters from 2005 were written out over the course of the year , in the main Jessie Jackson , Phil Nail , Ronnie Clayton , Keith Appleyard , Nathan Cooper and Diggory Compton . Diggory left when Compton ' s Bakery went out of business , leaving the 18 Victoria Street shop unit empty . Craig Harris , the last vestige of the once - prominent Harris family , departed in October when Richard Fleeshman left to pursue a pop career . Fleeshman ' s final scenes were shot on location in Paris in the first foreign shoot since the programme visited the city in 2000 . The excursion to Paris by the Websters marked Kevin and Sally ' s 20th wedding anniversary and featured the return of Peter Armitage as Bill Webster after a ten - year absence . Maureen Webster , last seen running off to Germany with Bill , made a brief appearance at Christmas where she found out about Bill and Audrey ' s affair and ended the marriage . Katherine Kelly made her debut appearance as Becky Granger in February . Becky was introduced as a homeless friend of Kelly Crabtree who stole from the factory and set Kelly up to take the blame . When she returned in November , Becky ' s character was softened though she retained a rough edge . Meanwhile , Roy Hudd reprised the part of undertaker Archie Shuttleworth for Mike and Fred ' s funerals , Lloyd Mullaney was absent after 23rd July due to Craig Charles ' s suspension for suspected crack cocaine use , and Stephen Beckett returned for a short stint as Matt Ramsden , Joshua Peacock ' s biological father . Matt was eventually granted a two - hour visit with Joshua once a month by Ashley Peacock and delivered Ashley and Claire ' s son Freddie in July . Viewing figures . " Coronation Street " experienced another exceptionally strong year in the BARB ratings charts despite suffering a sizeable drop in viewing figures for the third year in a row . 44 episodes reached number one - a drop of three from 2005 - while for the first year since 2003 no episodes fell outside the top twenty . The year ' s average was 10 . 18 million viewers , down 0 . 9 million from the previous year . For the fourth year in the decade , every month saw a drop from the same month in 2005 . The highest - rated episode aired on 13th March and drew an audience of 12 . 6 million viewers , pipping Mike Baldwin ' s death which drew 12 . 34 million viewers . For the second year in a row , the peak audience was the lowest of any year to date . Who lives where . Coronation Street Victoria Street Others Awards and nominations . National Television Awards Royal Television Society BAFTA