Les Battersby (also Battersby-Brown) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, who appeared from 1997 to 2007, played by Bruce Jones.

Les immediately clashed with neighbours such as: Curly Watts (Kevin Kennedy) and Des Barnes (Philip Middlemiss).

He made life difficult for nurse Martin Platt (Sean Wilson) during his hospital visit, and stole drugs from the unlocked trolley.

Toyah, sickened by Les and Janice, ran away to London to find who she thought was her real father Ronnie, Neil Flynn (Tim Dantay), who tied her up in his flat.

Dennis died in the Intensive Therapy Unit of Weatherfield General Hospital on New Year's Day 2002 whilst Les survived with minor injuries.

This led to a verbal confrontation and a subsequent fight between Mick and Les, which was witnessed by Curly's ex-wife Emma; who was also a police officer.

Despite the fact that Mick had initiated the violence, he and Emma committed perjury in court and got Les wrongfully jailed for six months.

At this time, Cilla dramatised an incident in which Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox) clipped Chesney round the ear for stealing sweets from the Kabin.

Around the same time, whilst on a night out with Steve McDonald Les discovered his daughter, Leanne, lap-dancing in a nightclub; and brought her back to Weatherfield.

As he approached the band with records for them to sign, they, in turn, thumped him (as they recognised him as the lunatic who jumped on stage at a concert some twenty years previous, causing a permanent neck injury to lead singer Francis Rossi).

Cilla quickly smelt a way to make money from this and told a reluctant Les to contact his solicitor in regards to suing the band for assault.

The real Billy turned up on the morning of her wedding day, but told Les, who was baffled upon realising that the two men were different, that perhaps he was too drunk to even remember what he looked like.

Les and Cilla finally arranged their wedding day, despite the fact that the priest was a de-frocked clergyman, and they had to distract the real vicar while they "married."

Cilla smashed Tracy Barlow's (Kate Ford) window (due to the fact that she wouldn't hand over the bouquet of flowers for the ceremony because Cilla wouldn't pay up) and then ran to Dev Alahan’s (Jimmi Harkishin) shop and stole some flowers, before jumping into the wedding car heading towards the church.

Yana and Les eventually slept together behind the sofa in the living room, only for Cilla's son Chesney to catch them.

Cilla soon found out and pretended that she had malignant cancer, leaving Les devastated and guilty and ready to do anything for his "ill" wife.

Les was last seen on 6 May 2007 when he was talking to Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and Jamie Baldwin (Rupert Hill) at the Street Cars office.

It is that Les currently lives in Dublin due to his roadie job with the Irish tribute band, but he is referred to as being still alive and well.

In the episode broadcast 8 January 2018, Chesney said to his fiancée Sinead Tinker that neither Les or his mother [Cilla] could make it to their wedding.

The Battersbys were dubbed "the family from hell", and their bitter clashes with the established characters alienated a number of longtime fans.

Actor Bruce Jones was suspended from the show in March 2007, following Sunday newspaper allegations of drunkenness and inappropriate comments made in the presence of an undercover reporter.

[4] In Dorothy Catherine Anger's book Other worlds: society seen through soap opera she brands Les as one of the "middle aged men" who "over the years have, stymied their wives' efforts to be accepted as respectable".