Audrey Roberts (also Potter) is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sue Nicholls. Audrey made her first appearance on 16 April 1979 and appeared on a recurring basis for three years until April 1982. She returned over two years later in July 1984, before becoming a full-time regular character from 1985. Audrey last appeared on 17 November 2025. It is currently unknown if or when Nicholls will return to the show.

Creation

Casting

thumb|right|150px|Sue Nicholls (pictured) plays Audrey

The character of Audrey Potter was created as the mother of established character Gail Platt (Helen Worth). After appearing as an occasional character for several years, she became a permanent member of the core cast in 1985. Actress Sue Nicholls auditioned for the part of Audrey Potter and went on to secure the role.

In 2010, Nicholls said she found it impossible to believe that she had been with Coronation Street for over 30 years. She commented "It's the best job to have, especially in this day and age when there are no jobs anyway. Everybody wants to be in it so it must have something going for it! I've been so lucky and if I think back over the years all the people have been lovely and the stories have been hot. Being with Amanda Barrie was lovely, and of course Bryan Mosley who sadly died – and it's thanks to Bryan or whoever – if they hadn't married Audrey off to Alf, who knows I might just have been another tart with a heart passing through." Audrey first meets Havers' character, Lewis Archer, when she attends a ball with Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden). Havers commented: "I couldn't resist the idea of doing Coronation Street. I loved the idea of being Audrey's new man. I'm a huge Corrie fan. I started in Corrie a month ago and I'm there until July. I gather my character has a real dark side but I don't know what it is yet." Kate White from Inside Soap wrote that Audrey finds Lewis hard to resist, especially after he has apologised for his previous actions. Nicholls said Audrey could be making a mistake, and added, "You read this sort of thing in the papers all the time, women of a certain age being charmed by these men. I'd ask her to think about what she's doing." However, they have to resort to sneaky measures to spend time together to avoid upsetting Audrey's family. Audrey's money is tied up in the salon, so she asks David to sign it back to her so she can pay for the holiday. However, David refuses to sign the salon back as he thinks Lewis might be planning another fraud. Nicholls and writers have worked closely with the British Heart Foundation to help portray the scenes as realistically as possible.

Reception

Sue Nicholls won the award for "Best Comedy Performance" at the 2000 British Soap Awards. At the 2003 British Soap Awards, Sue Nicholls won gongs for "Best Dramatic Performance" and "Hero of the Year" for her role in the highly successful Richard Hillman storyline which ran between 2002 and 2003.

In 2019, Sue Nicholls won the “Outstanding Achievement Award” at the British Soap Awards.

In 2024, Chloe Timms from Inside Soap wrote that Audrey is a "real treasurer" when she is being a friend.

Impressionist Francine Lewis performed an impression of Audrey Roberts in the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent. In recent years, some attention has been focused on the 'Audrey Roberts noise' following a viral video created by Martyn Hett, which compiled numerous times Audrey was seen to complete a question with an audible 'Hmm?'. The noise was then dubbed onto the song "I Don't Like It, I Love It" by Flo Rida and Robin Thicke, and played on Radio 1 numerous times by Nick Grimshaw.

References

  • Audrey Roberts at itv.com