The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 1990, by order of first appearance. Vicky McDonald Vicky Arden (also McDonald) was played by Helen Warburton in 1990 and Chloe Newsome from 1991 to 1998. She is Alec Gilroy's (Roy Barraclough) granddaughter and the ex-wife of Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson). After first appearing in January 1990, Vicky visits Coronation Street when her parents, Tim and Sandra Arden, arrange for Alec and Bet to collect her from the train station when she arrives from boarding school. This was so that they could attend the funeral of Sandra's mother, Joyce; Sandra did not want Vicky to attend, as it would be too upsetting for her. However, on the day of Vicky's arrival, the police arrive at the Rovers Return Inn to tell Alec that Tim and Sandra have died in a car crash. Her grandfather Alec and his wife Bet (Julie Goodyear) therefore become her legal guardians as Vicky is still only 14 years old. Vicky goes to a private boarding school and owns a horse called Saracen, so holidays in a back street pub are not an attractive option. However, when she meets Steve McDonald, it is some compensation. Alec desperately tries to separate the couple but fails. She resists his sexual advances for a short time, until finally she loses her virginity to him. This is not important to Steve, and he also dates nurse Alison Rathbone. They then both dump him. After Alec leaves to go and work in Southampton, Vicky continues to return to the Rovers and treats Bet as her grandmother. On reaching her 18th birthday, Vicky inherits £240,000 from her parents. To Bet's distress, Vicky immediately abandons her studies and decides the money would be better than her schooling. She visits Alec for a while to explain her decision to him. When she returns, she is keen to confide in old flame Steve, but he is seeing hairdresser Fiona Middleton (Angela Griffin). However, Vicky gets his attention when she invests £1,500 in his T-shirt company. Despite this, she loses her money when an order for Costello's nightclub falls through owing to the venue going bust. Rather than put her off, this inspires Vicky to enrol on a Business Studies course at the local technical college, and she becomes Steve's business partner, insisting that she has control of