Tricia Hopkins

Tricia Hopkins was Gail Potter's friend and flatmate in the mid-1970s. Her family briefly took over the corner shop and Tricia stayed in Coronation Street for a while after they left.

Family feuds
16-year-old Tricia was chatted up by builder Ray Langton in the Rovers Return in 1973. When landlady Annie Walker found out that Bacardi-drinking Tricia was underage after receiving an ear-lashing from her mother Vera, she turned the tables on Vera and lectured her about her bad parenting.

Tricia showed up in Coronation Street again with the rest of her family in 1974, including her dad Idris and Granny Megan, who were interested in buying the corner shop. Tricia got a job in the Mark Brittain warehouse across the street and lived in the corner shop flat, upstairs from her family. Her first few months in the street were spent trying to get Ray to notice her. Her friend Gail Potter was keen to match-make the pair, and took a polaroid just as Ray kissed Tricia. The picture was found by Granny Hopkins, who locked Tricia in her room and subjected her to a moral preaching. Idris warned Ray away from Tricia, but Ray told him there wasn't any relationship to speak of, except Tricia's wishful thinking.

Enjoying her youth, Tricia didn't concern herself with her family's problems, in fact she wanted free of them, still feeling under their thumb even though she had her own flat. When the rest of the family left the Street after a failed attempt to blackmail shop owner Gordon Clegg, Tricia returned to Coronation Street and convinced Gordon to rent the flat to her and Gail, with Blanche Hunt taking over the shop.

Living with Gail
Now 18, Tricia fancied herself a man-eater, but wasn't interested in anything serious. She enjoyed the occasional drink and bragging about her youth before the older residents of the street, who generally thought she was too cheeky.

In 1975, when a cigarette caused the warehouse to burn down, Tricia was trapped in a toilet and rescued by Ken Barlow. She and Gail were able to convince the Langtons to let them stay with them until the street residents were allowed to return to their homes. Jobless, the pair joined a modelling course, and became agents for the Weatherfield Heating Bureau before settling into work in the corner shop.

Tricia had some high ambitions - she played Cinderella in the street's play in the community centre and her performance was praised in the local newspaper. Nothing came of it though.

When Elsie Howard returned to the street to manage Sylvia's Separates, Tricia and Gail both asked her for the assistant's job. Elsie took on Tricia, but she and Gail decided to toss a coin to decide, and Gail won, leaving Tricia in the corner shop, but only a short time later Renee Bradshaw bought the shop from Gordon Clegg and Tricia lost her job. She was willing to let Tricia stay on in the flat, but Tricia was sick of Renee already and told her she could stick her job and her flat, returning to her family.