Coronation Street in 2000 2000 was " Coronation Street " ' s forty - first year . Production . Jane Macnaught . For the first time since 1996 , a single producer oversaw " Coronation Street " for an entire year . Like Brian Park , Jane Macnaught worked with no executive producer over her , and in November she assumed that title herself . Macnaught had no drama show - running experience when she took charge but had a clear vision for the programme . Under her , the programme began featuring more issue - driven plots , and the amount of violent storylines increased . To maintain a high profile all year round , event episodes such as weddings , crimes , revelations and deaths were shown regularly at a rate of one per month . Much of the violence centred around the character of drug dealer and gangster Jez Quigley , played by Lee Boardman . After early plots including setting up a robbery of the Rovers Return in the New Year ' s Day episode , and getting Leanne Battersby addicted to cocaine , Jez was unveiled as Tony Horrocks ' s killer . Jez was charged with the murder but found not guilty , after which he had Steve McDonald beaten and left for dead as payback for grassing him up . The storyline reached a climax when Jez , hospitalised after being set upon by Jim , made his way to Steve ' s bed to finish the job only to rupture his spleen and die himself . The storyline heralded Charles Lawson ' s departure from the series after 11 years , with Jim confessing to beating Jez and receiving an eight - year custodial sentence for manslaughter . Writers decided to drop the character as they felt that he had reached the end of his shelf - life in light of Beverley Callard ' s departure . Callard and Nicholas Cochrane returned briefly later in the year for Lawson ' s final episodes , which saw Jim and Liz remarry . The grittier depiction of violence was also seen in October ' s Freshco siege storyline . In the story , various characters were trapped inside Freshco by armed robbers , resulting in the police storming the supermarket and shooting one of the robbers , who was revealed to be Linda Baldwin ' s brother Dean Sykes . Two episodes were shown on one day , with most of the action taking place in the latter hour - long instalment which aired post - watershed at 10 . 00pm . Melanie Kilburn made an appearance as Linda ' s mother Eve , a role she reprised the following year . After this , Freshco was retired as a recurring location , ending a tradition which had begun with Bettabuy in 1989 . A notable example of Macnaught ' s predilection for issue - based storylines was Sarah Platt ' s teenage pregnancy . In February , 13 - year - old Sarah was revealed to be five months pregnant , and in June gave birth to baby Bethany , played by twins Amy and Emily Walton . In doing the storyline , " Coronation Street " was criticised by the National Viewers and Listeners Association for turning teenage pregnancy into entertainment , but the storyline was otherwise well received and won Best Storyline at the British Soap Awards . Macnaught proved a controversial figure in the writers ' room and early in the year John Stevenson , Jan McVerry and Ken Blakeson left the team , returning in 2002 after she had vacated her position . Cast departures . Seven actors resigned over the course of the year . Having only introduced Natalie Barnes ' s sister Debs Brownlow in February , writers dropped the character after Denise Welch and James Gaddas , who played Rovers landlady Natalie and her boyfriend Vinny Sorrell , both quit . Natalie left Weatherfield in the last episode of the year , a month after Vinny and Debs had a fling and ran off together . With no obvious replacement for Natalie at the Rovers , Beverley Callard was offered a new contract , with Liz becoming landlady . Callard was back for Jim ' s storyline but with the actress uninterested in returning full - time , Duggie Ferguson took over the establishment in a business partnership with Mike Baldwin and Fred Elliott . Naomi Radcliffe quit after 18 months as Alison Wakefield . Alison ran into the path of a lorry following the death of her newborn son Jake Webster from a Group B Strep infection , ending a new chapter of Kevin ' s life in a double tragedy . Unhappy with his reduced role since the death of his screen wife , Ian Mercer decided to leave after five years as Gary Mallett . Gary moved in with his girlfriend Paula Shipley in Blackpool , taking twins Billy and Becky with him . Gary ' s departure was used as an opportunity to return Jack and Vera Duckworth to their old home of 9 Coronation Street , which had been the Malletts ' abode since 1995 when the Duckworths took over the Rovers . The other departees were Martin Hancock , Jane Danson and Paul Fox . In their cases , the door was left open , although only Danson subsequently came back full - time ; Spider Nugent went travelling in India after quitting his job at the DSS , Leanne fled to Amsterdam to get away from Jez Quigley , and Mark Redman was thrown out by father Mike after his affair with Linda was exposed on Mike and Linda ' s wedding day . These resignations were coupled with the now - standard round of axings . Most of these were characters introduced the year before by David Hanson : Tom Wisdom as Tom Ferguson departed in January , Rebecca Sarker as Nita Desai in May , and Annie Hulley as Gwen Davies in June , while Rosie Webster and David Platt changed heads , now played by Helen Flanagan and Jack P . Shepherd respectively . Arrivals and set changes . The set extension into Victoria Street was completed in April , bringing three new businesses to the show : Sally Webster and Danny Hargreaves ' s hardware shop D & S Hardware , Elliott & Son butcher shop , and taxi firm Street Cars . Street Cars was owned by Steve McDonald and Vikram Desai , with Sue Cleaver making her debut appearance as switch operator Eileen Grimshaw in May . Eileen proved a popular addition to the cast , and her son Jason was introduced on Christmas Day . Rosamund Street was also built up , with a doctor ' s surgery opening in the old Graffiti Club building in November . The programme ' s first professional couple was introduced in the form of Dr . Matt Ramsden GP and his teacher wife Charlie , who moved into No . 6 , while Molly Hardcastle was introduced as a practice nurse and Gail Platt became the centre ' s receptionist . Other new characters included Samia Ghadie as Maria Sutherland , a kennel maid who stole Tyrone Dobbs ' s heart , Andrew Whyment as her dimwitted brother Kirk , Jennifer James as new Rovers barmaid Geena Gregory , Suranne Jones and Naomi Ryan as Underworld machinists Karen Phillips and Bobbi Lewis , Angela Lonsdale as Emma Taylor , a police officer girlfriend ( and , by the end of the year , wife ) of Curly Watts , Charles Dale as biker Dennis Stringer , Scott Wright as stripper Sam Kingston , and John Quayle as bookshop owner Anthony Stephens . Meanwhile , Joan Kempson returned full - time as pessimistic cleaner Edna Miller , and Chris Gascoyne became the seventh actor to play Peter Barlow , who made his first appearance since 1986 when he became a regular for the first time since 1971 . 40th anniversary . " Coronation Street " ' s 40th anniversary year began with the surprise return of Sarah Lancashire as Raquel Watts . Raquel was first glimpsed at the end of the New Year ' s Day episode , which saw the residents celebrate the Millennium with a street fancy dress party . The following instalment was a 45 - minute two - hander - the programme ' s first - which saw Raquel return to Weatherfield to tell Curly that they had a daughter , Alice , and to ask for a divorce to marry her French partner Armand de Beaux . The episode was written by Raquel ' s creator John Stevenson who felt that her 1996 departure had left the couple with unfinished business . Lancashire made no further appearances as Raquel but Alice was seen later in the year when Curly , Emma , Fred , Audrey , Ashley and Maxine went to stay at Raquel ' s chateau in the wake of the Freshco siege . Filming took place in Paris for three episodes which , in a first for " Coronation Street " , featured no scenes set in the UK . For its actual anniversary in December , producers decided to broadcast an hour - long live episode of " Coronation Street " , the first episode not pre - recorded since 3rd February 1961 . The main storyline saw the residents campaign to stop the council replacing the cobbles with tarmac , with their efforts resulting in Northern Heritage granting a preservation order for them . The episode featured guest appearances by Noddy Holder , Sir Trevor McDonald ( as himself ) and , in a pre - recorded segment , Prince Charles . The episode also saw Vera Duckworth have a brush with death after donating a kidney to her sick grandson Paul Clayton . Nigel Pivaro made another of his semi - annual returns to the role of Terry for the storyline , while the characters of Andrea and Connie Clayton appeared for the first time since 1985 ( although only Andrea was played by the original actress ) . Viewing figures . The ( aggregated ) ratings average suffered its biggest drop in a single year since 1993 , to a figure of 14 . 54 million viewers , representing a drop of over a million viewers from 1999 . For the third time in its history , every month fell year - on - year from the year before , with the biggest drops occurring in March and May which were down by almost two million viewers . The programme ' s chart performance was also down on 1999 , with 21 episodes reaching number one ( four fewer than the year before ) . The highest - rated episode was Episode 4746 on 3rd January , which gained an audience of 19 . 06 million viewers ( including omnibus repeat ) . The episode took place immediately after the Curly and Raquel two - hander . Storylines . To be added . Who lives where . Coronation Street Victoria Street Others Awards and nominations . National Television Awards