'Coronation Street is my life' says soap legend Sue Nicholls
Plenty of iconic soap stars have walked Coronation Street’s cobbles - but it takes a character viewers adore, the dedication to stick at the job for decades, and a whole lot of talent to earn soap legend status.
Today Sharon Marshall joins us with the first of her soap legends series - starring her first soap legend star, Sue Nicholls. For the last 40 years, perhaps better known to Corrie fans as Audrey Roberts. PLUS Sharon joins us live with her pick of this week's must-see soap storylines.
Talking about her iconic Coronation Street character Audrey Roberts, and how she is approaching 45 years in the role, Sue smiled when asked if she had planned to stay that long. “I was asked to come for a week and soon after that I was asked to come back. There was no question of ‘no thank you’ because I’d had such a ball all that first week.”
On her relationship with Helen Worth MBE - who plays her daughter Gail - Sue said, “I love her to death, I love doing scenes with her. When we fall out [on screen] we don’t fall out, it’s just a true family thing that happens in life but she's [Gail’s] not a good judge of men - mind you, I [Audrey] can talk!”
When speaking of her former loves in the soap, and discussing her on-screen husband, the late John Savident who played Fred Elliott, Sue said, “He was lovely, and it's sad news recently of him leaving us…”
And despite Nigel Havers' character passing away on screen, Sue confessed, “We used to joke that he should come back as his New Zealand brother or something like that!”
Staying true to her matriarch role across the popular family on the cobbles, Sue smiled, “I won't have anything said against the family!
But revealed what keeps her coming back for more. “Coronation Street is now my life. I find it easy to come here, I love the people I work with. I love what they give me to do, and I want it to go on…”