Les Battersby-Brown was a resident of Coronation Street for nearly a decade, spanning several families. Initially an angry and violent man, he mellowed over time, but even at his best could always be counted on to represent the lower end of the class scale in Weatherfield.
Biography
1997-2003: Early years
The Battersbys arrived when No 5 was bought by the Council, and a problem family was given the space. Les had at some time spent six months in Strangeways Jail for breaking and entering. He arrived with wife Janice, daughter Leanne (from a previous relationship) and step-daughter Toyah. Les immediately clashed with neighbours such as Curly Watts and Des Barnes. He enjoyed wandering the interconnected loft spaces to look around the homes of other residents. This scared Percy Sugden so much that he moved away. Les's first big mistake was on 22nd December 1997. He got a turkey - a live one - though. After calling it Theresa, Les said he'd slit the turkey's throat. But Toyah and her vegetarian boyfriend Spider Nugent decided to liberate the turkey. When Les swore he'd find it, he took daughter Leanne in his car - but he didn't notice the turkey walk right into the path of his car. After mowing down Theresa, Les commented later on, "This is champion turkey, this!", with Leanne saying, "I can't eat this, look, it's even got tyre marks on it!"
Long lost son
In 1998 Les's son Greg Kelly turned up on his doorstep. Greg was born from an affair between Les and wealthy Moira Kelly, and Janice feared Les would want to start up again with Moira. She was right, but Moira resisted Les's brand of charm and asked him to leave her home. He did, but he was arrested for drunk driving and banned from being behind the wheel for eighteen months. Janice threw him out of the house and forced him to live in a camper van until he eventually won her round again. Greg, meanwhile, was run out of town after using Sally Webster for her money and then beating her.
Overdose
Les heard that cash was being offered for cobbles, but when he dug one up, he dropped it on his toe. He made life hell for nurse Martin Platt during his hospital visit, and stole drugs from the unlocked trolley. He overdosed and had to have his stomach pumped. He insisted Martin was to blame, and Martin resigned when the hospital believed Les over him. After Janice learned Les was going to spend the compensation money on a holiday with Jackie Dobbs, she told the hospital board Les had taken the medication on his own.
Problems with Toyah
Toyah began to take English lessons from Ken Barlow, as she wanted to become a writer. Les thought Ken was making a move on Toyah and headbutted him. Toyah, sickened by Les, ran away to London to find what she thought was her real father, Neil Flynn, who tied her up in his flat. Janice and Les followed the trail and found her after she'd run away from Flynn. Les continued to alienate Toyah, as he beat up her boyfriend Spider and Toyah left home. Les continued to be a problem until Spider, who had started working for DSS, discovered Les was claiming benefits while working on the canal. Les was forced to leave Toyah and Spider alone. The DSS ultimately discovered Les's duplicity without Spider's help and Les was sentenced to 150 days community service scrubbing graffiti. He teased Tyrone Dobbs for being illiterate, so Tyrone got his own back by spraying more graffiti each time Les cleaned a wall, and when Les helped out at a local park, removing Les's rowing boat so that he was marooned on an island overnight.
Les and Janice split up
Janice was disgusted with Les when he drank the money she'd saved for their electricity bill, and the power was cut off. During a holiday in Wales, a young man named Owen Williams made a pass at Janice. She considered his offer, but when Les was electrocuted, she realised she couldn't cheat on him. Owen followed the family back to Weatherfield and asked Janice to join him in Wales. Les beat him up.
Janice had had enough of Les; the final straw was when he gave her a deep fryer for their anniversary. When Dennis Stringer who worked with him in 2000, to make up for 103 unpaid parking fines. When 'The Chapter' threw Dennis out, Dennis came to live with the Battersbys. Janice Battersby, getting fed up of husband Les's scheming ways, eventually left Les for Dennis.
Ironically, when he tried to gas himself on New Years' Night, it was Dennis who came to his rescue. When Dennis tried to get Les to hospital, the car he was driving flipped over on a hill and crashed into the field below. Dennis died in the ITU of the Weatherfield General on 2nd January 2002. Les was relatively unhurt.
In 2003, Janice got another man, but not Les. He was policeman, Mick Hopwood and when Les found this out, he administered a beating to the man - well, not so much a beating, just the one punch. Les was sentenced to half a year in jail.
2004-2007: Relationship with Cilla
Meeting and wedding
When Les came back, he found out he'd lost his job in Street Cars. This was around the time young Chesney Brown came into his life - and his mother. Les met falsely named 'Lulu' in a pub. He slept with her, but in the end, he found that this was Chesney and Fiz Brown's tart of a mum, Cilla.
In 2004, after an ugly fight, Cilla left for six weeks. Les was left alone with Chesney and took the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with Janice. They had almost reconciled until Cilla returned, and, using her sex appeal and false claims of coming into money, won Les back. In spite of Cilla's shrewish ways, the two schemers had some affection for each other, and even planned on getting married, mainly for the wedding presents!
On Friday 23rd September 2005, he met his idols Status Quo - who battered him for a grave incident twenty years previously. They settled a deal to rock at his wedding, which they did. Wedded bliss didn't last long though, as an overexcited Les, trying to be a rock star, smashed all the presents he and Cilla had received. Cilla left Les behind and went on the honeymoon with her best mate Yana Lumb.
Night with Janice
In March 2006, Les jumped into bed again with Janice. She was drunk and depressed and he helped her home. Janice was disgusted with herself and the only pleasure she had was in rubbing Cilla's nose in the one night stand. Cilla only took Les back when he offered to crawl over the Street cobbles.
Adopting Chesney
Les regretted his mistakes with his daughters and tried to be more of a father to Chesney. Chesney adored him and in 2006, asked a delighted Les to officially become his father. After some initial haggling with social workers, and resentment from Cilla, the adoption went through.
Cilla's cancer; Les's adultery
In mid-2006, Cilla began keeping secrets. No one knew the real reason was treatments for skin cancer. Les, believing Cilla was having an affair, had a one night stand with Yana, who was upset with Cilla for not confiding in her. Chesney saw them, and told Cilla. A furious Cilla pretended her cancer was terminal, and guilted Les and Yana into sitting in a bathtub of mushy peas in freezing temperatures, all because she wanted money to "swim with the dolphins." When she got the money, she told everyone she was fine, and left a furious Les to go holiday in Florida. When she returned, they reconciled and Cilla, Les and Chesney all lived together.
2007 onwards: Departure and aftermath
Les' Final appearance in the show.
Les disappeared in May 2007. He was last seen in the Street Cars office, talking to Steve McDonald and Jamie Baldwin. His absence was initially explained as being a roadie for tribute band ZZ Top o'the Morning.
By late 2007, Cilla had also left the Street, and Chesney was raised by Fiz and Kirk. Les contacted Chesney in March 2008 to say he was still not returning home. Chesney began to sense Les was not coming back, and became angry. In November 2008, Cilla sent Chesney and Kirk plane tickets to South Africa, telling them she was with Les. In the direct to DVD special Out of Africa, they showed up only to learn that Cilla was with a South African man named Lesedi, and that Cilla had not heard from Les in quite some time. In May 2009, when Chesney wanted to learn where cabbie Eddie Windass (whose clan had replaced the Battersbys as the "family from hell") had been taking Fiz, he found an old Status Quo button which had once belonged to Les, and gave it to Eddie, implying that he had finally accepted Les was no longer a part of his life. In June 2011, Les' ex-girlfriend Stella Price turned up in Weatherfield and told Leanne that she was her mother.
In October 2014, Cilla revealed that she was no longer in contact with Les.
Quotes
"Did you do the shopping?" (First line, to Leanne Battersby)
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"I'll tell you who's a man's man... Graham Norton" (Final line, to Jamie Baldwin and Steve McDonald)
See also
Background information
- In 1997, new producer Brian Park wanted to bring a tougher group into what he saw as a staid programme. The Battersbys were dubbed "the family from hell", and their bitter clashes with the established characters alienated a number of longtime fans. In the Battersby Family Album special, Bruce Jones recounted being in a pub after the episode where Les headbutted Curly Watts, and being seriously threatened if Les ever went near Curly again.
- In March 2007, actor Bruce Jones was suspended from the show. [1] Later that year, Bruce and the show parted ways. [2]