Coronation Street in 2003 2003 was " Coronation Street " ' s forty - fourth year . Production . Hillmania . Kieran Roberts and Carolyn Reynolds continued as producer and executive producer respectively for a second year . The Richard Hillman serial killer storyline continued to deliver very strong ratings for " Coronation Street " as it reached its climax . In January , Maxine Peacock was murdered by Richard in order to silence her while his intended victim , Emily Bishop , survived a blow to the head and recovered . Over the coming weeks , Richard ' s web of lies collapsed and Gail forced a confession from him in an episode which was mostly a two - hander between Richard and Gail ( though Sarah and David Platt made a short appearance ) . Richard was rejected by Gail but , after spending a few weeks on the run , he returned and tried to drown the family by driving their people carrier into Weatherfield Canal . Richard was the only casualty , with Brian Capron making his final appearance in the series as Richard ' s corpse . Tracy Shaw hadn ' t wanted to leave the programme but , despite an order coming from Granada to spare her , Reynolds ran the storyline regardless . Richard ' s murders had repercussions for many Coronation Street residents ; as well as Maxine and Richard , Maxine ' s mother Doreen Heavey and rebellious schoolboy Aidan Critchley , who Richard framed for the murder , were written out , while Julia Haworth joined the cast as Claire Casey , Joshua Peacock ' s new nanny who eventually fell for Ashley . Martin Hancock made a brief return as Spider Nugent , visiting Weatherfield due to the attack on Emily , before reuniting with Toyah Battersby and leaving for London with her to open a juice bar ; after playing Toyah for six years , Georgia Taylor left to pursue other acting roles . By this point , " Coronation Street " ' s Monday night double - bills were a regular feature , with five episodes shown on most weeks . The programme reverted to four per week between June and August before going back up to five , now permanently , with the fifth episode fixed at 8 . 30pm on Monday evenings . First gay kiss . Todd Grimshaw began to struggle with his sexuality in October , marking the beginning of his coming out storyline which had been in the pipeline since the character debuted in 2001 . In Episode 5596 , after getting to know his girlfriend Sarah ' s brother Nick Tilsley , Todd instinctively leaned in for a kiss , leading to the latter storming out and informing Sarah . Adam Rickitt agreed to return full - time in preparation for the storyline . Carefully plotted by Daran Little , Todd ' s confusion over his sexual identity continued into 2004 and the first consensual gay kiss , between Todd and nurse Karl Foster , occurred in Episode 5733 in April . Although Todd was promoted as " Coronation Street " ' s first gay character ( with some newspapers incorrectly assuming that he was initially meant to be straight ) , homosexuals had appeared in minor roles before Todd kissed Nick . One of them was Sean Tully , a clubber at the hospital disco who was seen in one episode in July . Antony Cotton reprised Sean full - time the following year . Other cast changes . The Watts family were axed in their entirety in September , marking the departure of Kevin Kennedy as Curly after twenty years and Angela Lonsdale as Emma after three . Curly was written out at the reluctance of Kieran Roberts , who liked the character but conceded that turning him into a family man - a decision taken by his predecessor Jane Macnaught - had been the wrong direction for him . The door was left open , with the Watts moving to Newcastle . Chris Gascoyne left at the conclusion of Peter Barlow ' s bigamy storyline . The story saw the birth of Peter ' s son Simon . Adam Barlow appeared between May and July , in Iain De Caestecker ' s last stint in the role . Meanwhile , Roy Hudd , Ian Gain and Jonathan Wrather - who had joined the cast in 2002 as , respectively , Archie Shuttleworth , Mick Hopwood and Joe Carter - departed during the summer , with the former quitting and the latter two axed . Fiz Brown ' s self - absorbed mother Cilla and younger brother Chesney were introduced . Together with Cilla ' s partner Les Battersby , the newcomers filled the " neighbours from hell " void left by Les , Janice , Leanne and Toyah , who had softened since 1997 . Rovers landlady Shelley Unwin ' s central role begat the introduction of her mother Bev Unwin and a new builder , Charlie Stubbs , who was her next love after Peter . Dev Alahan and Mike Baldwin also gained new love interests in the form of Maya Sharma and Penny King , while Underworld recruited Sonia Marshall as a machinist . Blanche Hunt was absent between May and November due to Maggie Jones falling ill . She returned in Episode 5630 , the episode in which Julie Goodyear began a seven - episode stint as Bet Lynch . Although Goodyear ' s 2002 comeback had been a failure , with Goodyear quitting due to exhaustion , her willingness to return led writers to consider short storylines featuring Bet which would not overwork the actress . All of Goodyear ' s scenes were shot on location in Blackpool , with Steve , Karen , Liz and Jim McDonald and Fred Elliott travelling from Weatherfield . Beverley Callard and Charles Lawson returned especially for the storyline which saw Jim escape from prison to confront Liz - now living in Blackpool - about her lover Laurie Dyson . Despite Goodyear ' s continued interest in returning , these are her final appearances in " Coronation Street " to date . Viewing figures . For the first time since 1998 , the BARB ratings average of the year was higher than the year before . In " Coronation Streets strongest year of the decade ratings - wise , the overall figure was 13 . 23 million viewers " ' , an increase of 1 . 3m viewers on 2002 . This was the biggest jump from year - to - year since 1963 . All months except December were up on the equivalent months in 2002 , with the biggest rises - the latter of nearly four million viewers - occurring in February and March as the Richard Hillman storyline reached its climax . Richard ' s confession to Gail , transmitted on 24th February , gained " Coronation Street " ' s highest audience of the decade , with 19 . 43 million viewers . Only three episodes had audiences below ten million viewers , down from 16 in 2002 . 37 episodes reached number one , an increase of three from 2002 . No episodes fell outside the top twenty . Storylines . To be added . Who lives where . Coronation Street Victoria Street Others Awards and nominations . Royal Television Society BAFTA National Television Awards