STREET LEGEND

Highlights of stylist Audrey

CORONATION Street legend Sue Nicholls today celebrates 40 years on the cobbles, insisting: “I’ll never say ‘So long’ to my salon.”

The actress has played hairdresser Audrey Roberts since 1979 – and says her much-loved co-stars are “my surrogate children and grandchildren”.

But the ITV soap has also given her a real-life husband – she has been married for 26 years to Mark Eden, who played Corrie baddie Alan Bradley in the 80s.

With a flick of her signature blonde bouffant, straight-talking Sue, 75, says: “He’s 91 and I’m very lucky he’s still here.

“I met Mark late in life – I was nearly 40 – so children just didn’t happen.

“As much as I’d have liked it, I didn’t have family to bring up and worry about …maybe that’s helped keep me young.”

But Sue insists she is not one to look back with any regrets on the way her own life has played out.

She says: “It’s fine – I’ve never dwelled on it, or thought how hard done by I was, because you just never know what else is going to happen in life.

LOVELY

“All you can do is take each decade as it comes – and Mark is lovely.

“There’s no point in saying, ‘Oh Gosh, I wish things could have been different.’

“And now I’m glad in a way, because I probably wouldn’t have been in the show all these years if I’d had children.

“It’s probably why I love coming to work, I get my family here. I’ve got surrogate children and grandchildren.”

And those colleagues turned out in force to help Sue celebrate her milestone when show producer Iain MacLeod helped present her with a cake on set – an icing Audrey perched on a replica of her hair salon.

But it is the unscripted side of life that presents the veteran actress with her biggest struggles.

Although you would not guess from her lively screen performance, Sue has just recovered from a broken collar bone after a fall in her Manchester flat.

She explains: “I live in a tiny flat and Mark goes to bed much earlier than me.

“I was creeping around in the dark after taking my face off at about 11 o’clock and sat on the side of the bed.

“But I missed the bed and fell over. I had to have an operation, be written out of some scenes and take time off – which I hate doing as I don’t like letting people down. But everyone was so lovely. “This all happened after I got my Outstanding Achievement Award – serves me right for being big-headed!”

It is that self-deprecating sense of humour that has made Sue such a hit with viewers throughout her 40 years on the cobbles.

The award she refers to is a special gong she was

PLATTS YOUR LOT Sue, centre, with her entire Corrie family Sue has had lots of top moments in four decades as hairdresser Audrey and she has a natter here about her favourites… 1979 – Her debut scene with Pat Phoenix: “I loved the fact she was so glamorous. She’d come into the studio in the morning and already had her make-up on.” Marriage to Alf Roberts, 19851998: “Audrey and Alf were such a strange partnership, but without it I don’t think I’d still be here. The tart with a heart can only go so far before it gets a bit boring. Bryan Mosley was a bloody good actor.” 2005 – Working with Sir Ian McKellen, guesting as author Mel Hutchwright: “A bit of me thought, ‘We’re all pulling our weight here, we don’t need guest actors coming in.’ Of course, he was so professional and funny, I felt very lucky working with him. Afterwards I thought, ‘Thank you God for proving me so wrong’.” The Platt Family: “I love them all, I joke a lot with Jack Shepherd (David). In a recent story Audrey moved in with them. The factory fell on their house, but there was no mention of her. I texted Jack and said, ‘David, it’s your gran here. I’m up in the loft, if you could help me out…’ He just wrote back, ‘No, stay there!’ Love him.” NEW ARRIVAL Sue in 1979 with Helen Worth, and Cheryl Murray as Suzie Birchall

GONG AND ON Sue gets award