Les Battersby

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Evil-doer
Full Name	Les Battersby
Alias	Lesley
Origin	Coronation Street
Occupation	Patriarch of the Battersby Family Handyman Taxi driver Husband of Cilla Battersby-Brown
Powers / Skills	Exceptional intelligence Deception
Hobby	Causing misshapes and drinking at the pub.
Goals	Make a fortune through his wayward schemes.
Crimes	Fraud Assault Theft Breaking and entering
Type of Villain	Anti-Heroic Thug

Les Battersby is a fictional character and anti-hero of the ITV British soap opera Coronation Street, appearing from 7th July 1997 to 6th May 2007 as well as making a voice-over appearance on 5th May 2008 itself.

In his characterisation, Les is the patriarch of the dysfunctional Battersby family; they originally consisted of his wife Janice, his daughter Leanne, and stepdaughter Toyah altogether. He was also the father of his estranged long-lost son Greg Kelly, and later established a second wife in the equally troublesome Cilla Battersby-Brown in the subsequent years. Though he started off as an antagonistic petty chancer from the get-go, Les slowly mellowed over the years and became a more comedic figure as time went on; however, this didn't alert his habit of being aggressive and thuggish towards his neighbours on certain occasions.

He was portrayed by Bruce Jones.

Biography

Les Battersby moved into Coronation Street in 1997 alongside his wife Janice, his daughter Leanne, and the latter's half-sister Toyah who was also Janice's daughter and Les' stepdaughter in general.

They were dubbed the family from hell as they made the lives of their neighbours a nightmare, such as playing loud music constantly and hanging their washing outside in the street. At one point when their neighbour Curly Watts smashed Leanne and Toyah's CD player in rage, Les responded by headbutting Curly. However, over the next few years, the family were gradually accepted into the community and began to mellow from their aggressive behaviour. Soon enough Les began working for local resident Steve McDonald at the latter's taxi business called Street Cars. He also joined the community in supporting one of their neighbours, Deirdre Rachid, after she is wrongfully convicted by her ex-fiancé Jon Lindsay for his fraudulent activities.

However, Les' behaviour grew antagonistic when he found out that Janice's friend Hayley was born a man named Harold. It was then he began to taunt her several times. After finding out that Hayley was marrying her romantic partner Roy Cropper at a church, Les tipped off the press, informing them that two blokes were marrying. Roy and Hayley later decided to have their unofficial wedding at their cafe with their family and friends, thus scuppering Les' chance to ruin their happy day. Janice deduced out that Les was responsible for the tip off, and warned him to leave Roy and Hayley alone.

In 1998, Les encounters a man named Greg Kelly and is shocked when the latter reveals that he is the product of a past fling the former had years ago - thereby meaning that Greg is actually Les' long-lost son. The two have an uneasy reunion but steadily reconcile their father-son relationship. As time went on, Greg started dating fellow neighbour Sally Webster and the pair formed a relationship; Les was totally unbothered as he didn't see Sally as a saint. However, on New Year's Day 1999, the residents are appalled to learn that Greg had been abusing Sally for months. When Les was told about it, he ignorantly defended Greg and at one stage turned his back on Leanne and her lover Nick Tilsley when they reported Greg to the police upon seeing the incident.

Following the Millennium Celebrations, Les was distraught to learn that Leanne has developed a drug addiction after getting involved with notorious gangster Jez Quigley. Then in 2001, Les and Janice were both horrified to learn that Toyah had been raped by an unknown assailant. In the latter case, Les accused many people of raping Toyah and later attacked Deirdre's stepson Peter Barlow when he was accused of the crime. Peter protested his innocence, and Les found out this was true when the culprit was revealed to be Toyah's former friend Phil Simmonds.

In mid-2001, Les befriended his next-door neighbour Dennis Stringer and they had a friendship. But this was tainted when Les found out that Dennis and Janice were having an affair behind his back, which also compromised Dennis' relationship with Janice's closest friend Eileen Grimshaw in the process. On New Year's Day 2002, Les and Dennis were involved in a car crash; Les survived but Dennis died of his injuries. Les and Janice reconciled and they spent the next few years dealing with family issues, whilst at one point Les was shocked to learn that pub landlord Duggie Ferguson had died in a fatal accident after the latter was left for dead by his business partner Richard Hillman.

In 2003, Les clashed with policeman Mick Hopwood when they crossed paths with each other. It was then Les became acquainted with newly-arrived Cilla Battersby-Brown and they slept together that resulted in his marriage with Janice ending in tatters. In 2004, Les learned that Eileen's younger son Todd was gay. That was when Les showed that he was homophobic and would regularly taunt Todd over his sexuality. But soon the regulars got fed up with Les' behaviour and stood by Todd, which forced Les to back down instead or risking being barred. In 2005, Les and Cilla married during a sham wedding which was done just to get wedding presents from the neighbours.

In 2007, Les left the street off-screen to go touring with a band. The following year, he informed his stepson Chesney that he wouldn't be returning anytime soon.

In 2011, he contacted his daughter Leanne to inform her that he wouldn't be back for her thirtieth birthday. Around this time, his ex-girlfriend and Leanne's biological mother Stella Price arrived on the street and revealed her identity to Leanne. Not long afterwards, Leanne reconciled with Stella after learning about her past with Les years ago.

Trivia

• Les and his family were unpopular with long-term viewers after their introduction in 1997. The toning down on their behaviour made a majority of the audience warm up to the Battersby clan overtime, especially with Les taking on a more comedic role during the early 2000s.
• Les was written out in 2007 after Bruce Jones was sacked from the show for selling stories to the newspapers. His abrupt departure meant that Les wasn't given an off-screen exit, with his departure only mentioned by other characters.
  • The actor has been interested in a return to the show years following his departure, although this seems unlikely. In 2018, he slammed the show for its violent content; this was mostly regarding the infamous Pat Phelan saga.