Audrey
Roberts
Audrey
Roberts
Played by: Sue
Nicholls
First appeared: 16 April 1979 -
Until mid-1980's
Audrey lives in Bury.
Audrey likes buying clothes and is seen at least once a week clutching loads
of bags from her latest spree. She'll often turn up in the caf and try and get
Alma to go with her. Alma is her best friend, but things are a bit strained at
the moment because of Almas feelings for Audreys son Stephen.
Its
difficult to know what Audrey feels for her children. We get references to the
way she disregarded them when they were young, and she isn't always helpful to
them when they have problems now. Audrey was pregnant with Stephen at a young
age, and was forced to give him up for adoption. He turned up out of the blue
from Canada earlier this year.
She didn't get on at all with Ivy
Brennan, Gail's ex mother-in-law, and since Ivy's death, relations with Don have
also been fraught. He has no blood connection with the family, and Audrey
doesn't see why he should keep coming round to see Gail's children, even though
he was really their grandfather for many years.
Audrey likes to think of
her and Alf as a cut above the people of the street. They moved out to a posher
neighbourhood some years ago. She loved being Mayoress, because she got to buy
lots of clothes and accessories, but she didn't like the functions. She thought
they were boring and had uninteresting people. She would often drink too much
and then go and sit in the mayoral Rolls and flirt with Brian the chauffeur. She
was horrified when Alf offered to give up the car and use public transport, to
reduce the council bill. What was the point of being in that position if you
behaved like everyone else?
She could hardly contain herself when Alf
was awarded an OBE and they went to the Palace to receive it. But Alf had booked
Don Brennan's taxi to take them to London, and Audrey was in the middle of one
of her feuds with him. Half way there, they had a big argument and Don told her
to get out. She did, and Don drove away. She had to hitch a lift from a truck
driver to get to the palace, but Alf had the tickets and she could only watch
through the gates. The ultimate humiliation was when she saw that Betty Turpin
had been presented instead of her. She had been Alfs stand-in Mayoress and
happened to be there at the time.
Another coup was when the council
offerred to name a street after Alf. But what dismay when he chose Coronation
Street "a pokey little backstreet". Now it's going to be Alfred Roberts Wind,
which doesnt impress her either.
July 1998: Audrey is elected as councillor for Weatherfield's St Marys Ward
Alf died on New Year's Eve, or just past midnight on Jan 1, 1999. Audrey had some financial difficulties since Alf's insurance expired on December 31st but she has managed to keep the salon going. Gail's new husband, Richard Hillman was desperate for money and tried to make Audrey think she was getting Alzheimer's or dementia and when that didn't work, though nobody believed Audrey's accusations, he tried to kill her by burning her house. She escaped and took refuge with friend Archie Shuttleworth. Eventually, Richard tried to kill his family. They survived, he didn't and Audrey and Gail made up again. Audrey gave David a job in the salon but has despaired of him and his shenanigans. She had a relationship with Bill Webster, Kevin's father. First while he was married to Maureen but when Maureen found out (thanks to David), Bill went back to Germany but returned, his marraige over. He moved in with Audrey and they went along for about a year or so until Audrey just realized they were very different after a disastrous weekend in France.
Out of the blue, a man called Ted Paige showed up. This is Gail's father but he never knew Audrey had his baby. He was shocked when he found out but has embraced the family as his own. He did not resume a relationhip with Audrey, however, as he revealed that he's gay, much to Audrey's chagrin. During an outing to the theatre, Audrey and Ted discovered that Ken Barlow was having an affair and she threatened to tell Deirdre but in the end, Ken bottled out of leaving Deirdre and told her himself.
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