Coronation Street is a British soap opera first broadcast on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters that appeared in 2014, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by series producer Stuart Blackburn. Sharif Nazir (Marc Anwar), the father of established character Kal Nazir (Jimi Mistry), made his first appearance in February. Steph Britton's (Tisha Merry) brother, Luke Britton (Dean Fagan), and a new love interest for Gail McIntyre (Helen Worth), Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis), began appearing from March. Kal's daughter, Alya Nazir (Sair Khan), arrived in June, while Kal's mother and Sharif's wife, Yasmeen Nazir (Shelley King), turned up in July. In August, recurring character Dr. Susan Gaddas (Christine Mackie) made her first appearance, as well as Steve McDonald's (Simon Gregson) enemy, Dean Upton (Justin Moorhouse). Kal's son, Zeedan Nazir (Qasim Akhtar), joined in September, completing the Nazir family. Kylie Platt's (Paula Lane) old friends, Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell) and Macca Hibbs (Gareth Berliner), appeared from October, as well as Callum Logan (Sean Ward), the father of Kylie's young son, Max Turner (Harry McDermott). Andy Carver (Oliver Farnworth) made his debut in November pretending to be Gavin Rodwell, Michael's long-lost son. New vicar and love interest for Sean Tully (Antony Cotton), Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank), and Erica Holroyd (Claire King), a friend of Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard) and love interest for Nick Tilsley (Ben Price), were introduced in December.

Sharif Nazir, played by Marc Anwar, made his first screen appearance on 24 February 2014. The character and casting was announced on 13 January 2014. Sharif is the father of Kal Nazir (Jimi Mistry), who was introduced in December 2013, and will be part of the show's first Muslim family. The show's producer, Stuart Blackburn commented that he was "loving him on paper already" and added "Sharif retired some time ago. He isn't rich, but he'd made enough money. We imagine that there were some health problems and his wife said, 'Now you're no longer going to go to work 12 hours a day!'" He is Kal's father and the husband of Yasmeen Nazir (Shelley King). In August 2016, it emerged that Sharif has been having an affair for seven years with Sonia Rahman (Sudha Bhuchar). Anwar was fired from the show in September 2016 after he wrote a series of racist posts on Twitter. His character was written out and he departed off-screen. He made his last appearance on the episode aired 4 November 2016 when he was evicted by Yasmeen, after confessing his affair with Sonia.

Luke Britton, played by Dean Fagan, made his first screen appearance on 3 March 2014. The character and casting was announced on 1 December 2013. Luke is the brother of established character Steph Britton (Tisha Merry) and was introduced as a replacement for Tommy Duckworth, after Chris Fountain was fired from the show for posting inappropriate videos online. Billed as "hunky", Luke is a mechanic, who finds employment at Kevin Webster's (Michael Le Vell) garage. His sister gets him the job after hearing about the open position. Colin Daniels from Digital Spy reported that Steph is "very protective" of Luke. During his review of the upcoming soap characters, Jon Horsley from Yahoo! TV said viewers should be excited for Luke's arrival, saying "Well, he's hunky, handy with a spanner and sure to stir things up. Let's just hope he doesn't start any online rapping."

Luke first arrives in Weatherfield to help his sister, Steph, move into the flat that was previously owned by her best friend Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan). Later, he starts work at the garage. Luke soon comforts Steph over Tina's death, with the help from her close friend Katy Armstrong (Georgia May Foote). He and Carla Connor (Alison King) get drunk and go back to her flat. She makes it clear she wants to sleep with him but he leaves as he does not want to take advantage. He later offers to have a word with Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) after he is nasty to Steph. He then begins a romantic relationship with Maria Connor (Samia Ghadie) but this comes to an end when, unknown to him, she sleeps with Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward). He begins seeing Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford). After he breaks up with Tracy, he begins a relationship with Alya Nazir (Sair Khan).

The character made a surprise departure on 5 January 2018 when he became the latest murder victim of Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre). He confronts Phelan over the disappearance of his best-friend and Steph's boyfriend: Andy Carver (Oliver Farnworth), unaware that Phelan had killed Andy after keeping him captive for nearly the entirety of 2017. When Phelan is unable to shake Luke of his suspicions, Luke grows to suspect Phelan is hiding something and intends to report Andy missing to the police. However, as Luke goes over to his car, Phelan sneaks up behind him and hits Luke over the head with a rock to stop him reporting his crime — only for Luke to punch Phelan in response and knock him temporarily unconscious. Luke drives off in his car, but is pursued by Phelan; a car chase ensues between the duo that culminates with Phelan ramming Luke into a wall, injuring him. Unable to restart his car or escape it, Luke can only watch as Phelan menacingly approaches him with a gun. He shoots Luke with impact, then reverses his van into the rear side of Luke's broken car. There, Phelan indirectly confesses to killing Andy upon telling Luke that he's succeeded in finding him. As a dying Luke reels at this revelation whilst lying helpless in the vehicle, Phelan — after apprising Luke to tell Andy "say hello from me" — points the gun at the petrol tank and shoots it twice, triggering a huge explosion that kills Luke and destroys his vehicle.

News of Luke's death becomes public knowledge the next day, although most of the residents of Weatherfield are unaware of Phelan's role in Luke's murder — with the exception of Phelan's enemy Gary Windass (Mikey North), whom Luke had befriended during his time in Weatherfield, and former apprentice Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni). Eventually, the truth was out when Gary and Seb sought to uncover the gun Phelan used to kill Luke — only to end up uncovering Andy's body along with that of Phelan's ex-business partner, Vinny Ashford (Ian Kelsey); after hearing of this, Eileen realised that Seb was telling the truth about Luke and Phelan confesses to Luke's murder in the midst of emulating his crimes. The following morning, Tim told the Nazirs about Phelan killing Luke when news of his crimes became public knowledge. Luke's death would later be avenged when Phelan was murdered by his archenemy — Gary's mother Anna Windass (Debbie Rush) — at the conclusion of his lethal siege, during which he shot Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh) — who in retaliation and in Luke's honor promised Phelan that she would say his murder was self-defence.

Michael Rodwell (credited as "Intruder" in his first appearance), played by former Family Fortunes presenter Les Dennis, made his first screen appearance on 24 March 2014. The character and Dennis' casting were announced on 23 January 2014. Dennis began filming for the show on 27 January. Michael has been billed as a "petty criminal". His arrival saw him break into one of the street's households. Of his casting Dennis stated "I'm so thrilled to be joining the cast of Coronation Street. It has always been my favourite television programme. Mixing high drama with some of the best comedy on screen." Producer Stuart Blackburn described securing the established television personality a "real coup" for the show. On 19 July 2016, it was announced that Dennis would be leaving the show later in the year to pursue other projects and that "Michael will have a dramatic exit". In August 2017, Dennis was longlisted for Best Exit at the Inside Soap Awards. The nomination did not progress to the viewer-voted shortlist.

Michael first appears in Gail McIntyre's (Helen Worth) house, pretending to be a gas man, who has come to the house to look at the "gas leak". He is revealed as a burglar and pushes Gail, causing her to fall over and her daughter-in-law Kylie Platt (Paula Lane) chases him out of the street, but he gets into his van and drives off, with Fiz Stape (Jennie McAlpine) failing to read his number plate as he drives away. Gail starts to become anxious when she is home alone due to the burglary and is helped by her son David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd), Kylie and mother Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls). Weeks later, Gail visits Michael in prison to ask him about why he tried to burgle her house. They gradually grow close and she begins to stick up for him in front of David and Kylie. Michael gets a job at a local garden centre, until he is sacked after Kylie and David interfere with his work by telling the garden centre manager about Michael's criminal past. Although the manager knew this, he still sacks Michael after Kylie causes a scene. The next day, Gail takes Michael to StreetCars and helps him get a job there, after he somewhat impresses Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) and Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson). He is due to start work the next day, but David and Gail's eldest son Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) go to his flat and threaten him and tell him not to come back to Weatherfield and attempt to contact their mother ever again or go to work at Street Cars. Gail asks after him at the cab office, and co-owner Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles) tells her that Michael didn't turn up. Not knowing why Michael didn't turn up, Gail then visits the flat and demands that Michael apologise to Lloyd and Steve for letting them down. Reluctantly, he lies and says that working so close to her would be too much for him, as he has feelings for her. Gail then leaves the flat, sad that Michael feels that way. The day after, Nick accidentally lets slip that he knows where Michael is living, and Gail visits Michael again. Michael admits that Nick and David threatened him, and agrees to go to work the next morning, while Gail promises to sort her sons out. Steve then agrees to give Michael another chance. To show his gratitude towards Gail, Michael buys the Platts a new television, after Kylie's young son Max Turner (Harry McDermott) destroyed their last one. He tells Gail that the TV cost £200, but when David later looks up the price on the internet, it says that it costs £420. David then tries to convince Gail that Michael stole money in order to buy the television, but Gail will not listen to him. Michael then produces the receipt, proving he did buy the television, and also shows them a solicitors letter to prove where he got the money, after he received it from a deceased aunt's estate. David remains sceptical, but his suspicions are soon eclipsed by his much greater concerns about his sworn enemy: Max's biological father Callum Logan (Sean Ward).