A Coronation Street legend has slammed bosses after confirming an iconic character has been axed.
Wendi Peters won the hearts of the nation when she played the legendarily nasty Cilla Battersby-Brown on the ITV soap. In the soap, she was married to baddie Les Battersby, played by Bruce Jones - and the pair had one doting child together, Chesney.
Cilla eventually bid farewell to Coronation Street in 2014, with actress Wendi going on to find other roles in her acting career, including a stint in rival soap Doctors. Now, however, she has admitted she is not happy with the way they have killed off her on-screen husband on the cobbles.
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In an upcoming storyline, Les is set to be dramatically killed off, leading to a huge new revelation for the residents of Weatherfield. However, the death will take place off-screen and actor Bruce is unhappy about how the news was broken to him.
Bruce revealed that he had been informed of Les' death through an email sent by ITV last month. He told The Sun: "I got an email from the casting office saying, ‘Dear Mr Jones, I am sorry to inform you Les Battersby will die in the next few months.
"I read the email and thought, why send me an email like that? Why call me Mr. Jones - Why not call me Bruce?" He added: "That annoyed me a little bit, but then I felt relieved. Maybe it's time for me to go now."
71-year-old Bruce played the troubled character for over a decade, and became a fan favourite for his brash humour and no-nonsense approach to situations. He was suspended from the show in 2007 for leaking confidential information about plots.
Wendi herself was also not happy with the decision to kill off iconic character Les. However, she did understand the reasoning, as it had been nearly 20 years since Les last graced our screens, but added: "There might have been a nicer way of approaching it."
The actress, who has now been away from the cobbles herself for a decade reflected on Cilla's time in Weatherfield. She added that should her character be given the axe, she hopes it is a dramatic exit akin to other soap legends.
"It would have to be an outrageous ending for Cilla," Wendi joked. "We went to Africa for a one-off for a DVD so maybe she could be eaten by lions."
It comes as Cilla's son Chesney is continuing to face money woes, after a string of events leaves him struggling to pay the bills. Wife Gemma is also stressed looking after the pair's quadruplets, which is only making the situation tougher for the pair.
However, fans have admitted they are not big fans of the storyline and are calling on ITV bosses to "give them a break" and let them have some positive moments. After Chesney loses his job at Dev's kebab shop, viewers hit out at writers demanding a more positive ending to their plots.
Coronation Street airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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