‘People Are Stunned When They Find Out My Husband’s Age’
Sue Nicholls has played Audrey Roberts on Coronation Street since 1979. In the mid-80s, viewers saw her fall in love with and marry grocer Alf Roberts, then lose him suddenly in 1999, after a stroke.
Aside from a more recent short romance with Lewis Archer (played by Nigel Havers) – who ended up conning her and her daughter Gail Platt out of thousands – she’s been mainly single since Alf ’s death. However, in reality, Sue has been married to another soap icon, Mark Eden, since 1993.
Mark played one of Corrie’s best baddies, Alan Bradley, who was famously hit by a Blackpool tram in 1989, chasing his ex, Rita.
‘He’s 90 now. People are stunned when they find out,’ Sue tells us. ‘He still looks very young. His mother lived to be 100. It’s in the genes.’
But does she want Audrey to find love, too? Not necessarily!
‘I’ll tell you a secret,’ she confides. ‘I know Corrie and many of the other TV shows long to pair people off, because people at home like to see nice things happen to characters. But it doesn’t necessarily mean women of 70-plus, because they’ve lost their partners, need to pal up with anybody. I have a bee in my bonnet about that.
‘I think it’s age creeping up. Creeping up? Crept up!’ she laughs. ‘Thankfully, at the moment, I’m not in that position, but I don’t know that I’d necessarily think, “I’ve got to get a man again…” Or a woman – whatever your persuasion is. I’m quite happy going home, putting the telly on and opening the rosé without feeling lonely.
I’m only a few years younger than Audrey… It’s the G&Ts keeping her going.’
Sue is now in our homes for up to six nights a week, and has been a regular guest for decades. There is, however, one residence in which she’ll never be seen – the Big Brother house. Intimating that she can’t understand why people go on TV shows like that, Sue rules out following in the footsteps of her fabulous former co-star Amanda Barrie.
‘Never,’ she says. ‘I couldn’t do Big Brother. I’d be the worst housemate. I don’t like people that much!’ she roars with laughter. ‘I can do interviews when I’ve been up for hours. To actually have to get up and talk to people I didn’t know? I’d be horrible. I’m not good first thing in the morning.
‘Although,’ she adds, ‘I went to boarding school and had a very disciplined kind of upbringing. I shared a dormitory from the age of nine with 10 other people, and it was fine. I don’t regret it at all. I was used to that then, but now I’m 74? I couldn’t bear it. I don’t want to have to do my teeth in front of half the nation!’
There is, of course, more to Sue’s CV than Corrie. She trained at RADA in the 1960s
After 40 years of heartbreak on the nation’s favourite soap, Coronation Street actress Sue Nicholls has a very different love life to her counterpart Audrey Roberts…
‘I was only supposed to be in it for a week. I’ve dragged out that job!’
with Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt and Ian McShane, and went on to have a hit record in 1968 with Where Will You Be?
Sue also played Nadia Popov – a ghost with hayfever who teleported when she sneezed – in 1980s kids’ show Rentaghost.
Self-deprecating and tremendously funny, Sue’s a soap legend, but her feet remain firmly on the cobbles. And now she’s the envy of women everywhere – working again with
Nigel Havers.
‘I know!’ Sue chuckles. ‘And I don’t mind. Nigel’s charming, isn’t he? He’s Mr Charm!’
So, any chance of another romance with Lewis Archer?
‘We’ll have to see,’ she teases. ‘Lewis was always sweet to Audrey, and you do see a little flicker. She doesn’t want to believe everything he’s saying – but I’ve a terrible feeling she does!’
Next year, it’s 40 years since Sue debuted on Corrie. ‘It doesn’t seem possible!’ she laughs. ‘I was only supposed to be in it for a week. I’ve dragged out that job!
‘I’ve been very lucky. And I’m still learning from the kids,’ she admits. ‘I’ll see somebody do something and think, “That’s good, I’ll try that”. People shouldn’t think they know it all. No actor should be that cocky – they can’t think they’d never be got rid of!’
But the experienced Corrie stars – including Barbara
Knox, Helen Worth, Sally Dynevor and Sue – hardly seem to have aged with the show.
Are they pumping youth serum through the set’s air-con?
Sue laughs. ‘I don’t think
I got a sniff of it if they did. If I look good, I thank the lighting people and the make-up!’