was talking to Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and Jamie Baldwin (Rupert Hill) at the Street Cars office. Chesney had been closest to Les, and struggled to cope with his absence. Les hasn't been seen since, but had only been mentioned, and sometimes Chesney would phone him. 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 2008, Chesney received a letter from Les who has dropped the "Brown" part from his surname, which means that Les has divorced Cilla. In 2014, his divorced ex-wife Cilla, who now lives in Wolverhampton, mentioned that she was no longer in contact with Les. 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. Creation and development In 1997, new producer Brian Park wanted to bring a tougher group into what he saw as a staid programme. The Battersbys were dubbed "the family from hell", and their bitter clashes with the established characters alienated a number of longtime fans. In the Battersby Family Album special, actor Bruce Jones recounted being in a pub after the episode where Les headbutted Curly Watts, and being seriously threatened if Les ever went near Curly again. 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. In May, it was confirmed that he would not return, and the character of Les would be written out later in the year. His absence has so far been covered by a storyline of Les going away on tour as a roadie for Irish tribute band "ZZ Top O' The Morning". Since his departure, Les has never been seen (although he has been spoken to by Peter Barlow on screen via a mobile phone) and has only been mentioned on a few occasions, by Fiz, Chesney, Leanne, Peter, Stella, Cilla, Roy Cropper and most recently, Steve McDonald. Reception 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". References External links Les’s profile at www.corrie.net The Ballad of Les Battersby sing-along