SUE NICHOLLS ON 40 YEARS ON SOAP I’d like 10 more years on Corrie ... I will just lock myself in the salon if they try to sack me
presented with at this year’s British Soap Awards. And this month she features in a one-off ITV show, Coronation Street Icons: Audrey Roberts – 40 Fabulous Years.
Looking back at Audrey’s highs and lows, the documentary includes celebratory celebrity contributions from current and former cast members.
They include Helen Worth (Gail Platt), Amanda Barrie (Alma Baldwin), Brian Capron (Richard Hillman) and Nigel Havers (Lewis Archer).
But Sue is adamant the tribute from her employers and colleagues should not be seen as the showbusiness equivalent of a carriage clock, handed over as a “thank you and goodbye” after long service. For – barring any more unforeseen accidents – if Sue has her way, she has plenty more years on the cobbles to come.
She admits: “Friends say to me, ‘Oh, are you going to do another year?’ And I think, ‘ Well, if they ask me, why wouldn’t I?’
“It’s almost as if they’re saying, ‘ Well you’re 70 plus now…’ But I love this job – in fact I’ve loved it more these last few years than I’ve ever done.
“I have fun here, I’d never want to just sit at home. If they ever got rid of me I might try doing other things – I’d love to go back to singing and get my voice trained again – just to do something. I wouldn’t retire.”
Sue joined the show in 1979 as Gail Platt’s flirtatious mother. Her first scene was with the legendary Pat Phoenix – one of the soap’s first stars, who played Elsie Tanner.
And she worked with other iconic names, including Violet Carson (Ena Sharples), Doris Speed (Annie Walker) and Margot Bryant (Minnie Caldwell).
Many hail those days as Coronation Street’s golden era, and Sue acknowledges the show has changed a great deal since then. She says: “I think the humour in the classic old Corrie episodes is brilliant.
“One can learn from the old ones, they were real and very funny.
“Betty Driver, Bill Waddington – who played Percy Sugden – you felt you knew them as characters.
“Sometimes I wonder if I’m not doing too much – I like reality, rather than slapstick humour.”
Elegant, warm and with a talent for seeing the funny side of life, Sue in the flesh is not at all the waspish Audrey she presents on- screen, plagued by her dysfunctional and ever-growing family – daughter Gail, grandchildren David, Nick and Sarah and great-grandchildren Bethany, Max, Lily and Harry.
She grew up in Walsall, West Midlands, with elder sister Judith and parents Harmer and Dorothy.
Her dad was distinguished Midlands businessman Sir Harmar Nicholls – later, Lord Harmar-Nicholls – Conservative MP for Peterborough from 1950 until 1974 and then a Manchester MEP.
He was made a life peer in 1975 – meaning Sue is entitled to be addressed as The Honourable Susan Nicholls.
She credits her success to all the support she had from her parents and sister.
Sue studied at RADA, joining Crossroads in 1964 as waitress Marilyn Gates. She spent four years there, even releasing a Top 20 single, Where Will You Be?
Be fore moving to Corrie she played opposite Leonard Rossiter as Joan Greengross, the secretary in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. And she is also still often recognised as Nadia Popov, from children’s TV show Rentaghost.
But it is her 40 years as Audrey Roberts that have established her as one of the country’s favourite television actresses. She smiles: “If they’ll have me, I’d love to be here in 10 years’ time because I like playing her. There’s lots to achieve yet, so if I get the sack I’ll lock myself in Audrey’s salon and refuse to leave.”
I love this job more than ever – I have fun, I wouldn’t retire. I never want to just sit at home SUE NICHOLLS ON WHY SHE PLANS TO STAY IN CORRIE FOR AS LONG AS SHE CAN
Coronation Street Icons: Audrey Roberts – 40 Fabulous Years, Monday, 8pm, ITV.