Coronation Street is a British soap opera first broadcast on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters introduced in 2018, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by series producer Kate Oates or her successor, Iain MacLeod. The first character to be introduced is (Ryan Clayton), the rapist of David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd), in January. Gail Rodwell's (Helen Worth) clairvoyant (Sophie Thompson), Liz McDonald's (Beverley Callard) new love interest (Louis Emerick), school bully (Will Barnett) and (Ian Bartholomew), Tim Metcalfe's (Joe Duttine) father, joined the show in March. April saw (Alexandra Mardell), a new love interest for David, and (Mollie Winnard), a character introduced to continue Bethany Platt's (Lucy Fallon) sexual exploitation storyline