Cilla Battersby-Brown
Encyclopedia
Cilla Petunia Aurelia Battersby-Brown (née Brown) is a fictional character
in the ITV
soap opera
, Coronation Street
. She is portrayed by Wendi Peters
. Her character is the tarty common redhead
wife of Les Battersby-Brown
and mother of Chesney
, Fiz
and non-regular character Billy, who is in the army
. She left the soap on October 12, 2007, after four years.
, she made her first on screen appearance on 20 October 2003.
"I feel very privileged to have been given the fantastic character of Cilla and I shall really miss her. I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with my family and pursuing and working on other projects."
Producer Steve Frost said "Wendi is a valued member of the cast and she has made the character of Cilla one of the most colourful and memorable characters in soap history.
"We totally understand her reasons for wanting to leave and are grateful that she has given us so much notice – this means that we can spend time writing an exit storyline which will do her and the character of Cilla justice."
Cilla made her final appearance on 20 October 2007 but returned for a DVD movie in 2008.
When Janice found out about Les and Cilla's relationship, the two began to argue. Janice, despite being on crutches after breaking her ankle in a factory fire, gets the upper hand as she tears at Cilla's hair, shoves her over a sofa, then starts punching her in the belly and ripping her shirt off.
Mother and son moved in, but due to Cilla's attempts to force herself on other men, she dumped Chesney on Les and stayed with a friend for six weeks. When she returned to Les, he was on the verge of rekindling the passion with his estranged wife, Janice, but that ended after Les gave in to passion with the bustier Cilla. Cilla was grateful that Les had chosen her, and in return, flashed her bottom and breasts.
In 2005, Les and Cilla dumped Chesney on the Croppers
and jetted off to Spain for six weeks, where she got a tan and came back bustier, and when she tried on some of her old clothes, it took her a while to get into.
On Christmas Day 2005, Cilla tried to deep-fry a turkey (her oven had broken down), at the local chip shop where she works and left it to cook. When they returned hours later, they discovered the chip shop was on fire.
Les and Cilla planned to marry for the sake of the wedding presents they would receive. On her hen night, Cilla had a brief encounter with Janice, Les's ex wife, arguing over Les with the two ready to fight. Cilla backed off, covering her face and her tummy. Cilla tried to sleep with a younger man, but was interrupted by Les, and Cilla, wearing a red bra and panties, passed the young man off as her eldest son, "Billy", who had arrived for her special day. When Les fell asleep, Cilla tried to go off with the young man again, but he refused.
They finally arranged their wedding day, despite the fact that the priest was a defrocked clergyman, and they had to distract the real vicar
while they "married". Cilla smashed Tracy Barlow's
window (she would not give Cilla the bouquet she had made because Cilla would not pay her, so Tracy pushed her, making her fall). However, Cilla could not reach the flowers and ran to Dev Alahan's
shop and stole some flowers, before jumping into the wedding car en route to the church.
While Les was driving, he spotted a member of the band Status Quo. He took his eyes of the road to stare in amazement, and crashed into their van (with the other band member inside). Status Quo decided to play at the wedding to avoid a lawsuit against Les, who had been punched by a member of the band.
Billy Brown was also at the wedding. Les put on a neck brace before "tying the knot" (despite the marriage being illegal), and they became known as the Battersby-Brown family.
The Quo turned up at a back room at the reception (where the presents were being kept) to rest. Les walked in and told his idols that his dream was to trash a room full of expensive things. He duly wrecked everything and threw a TV out the window, only for Cilla to walk in and inform him that he had just trashed their wedding presents. She went crazy and started attacking him as the Quo watched in bursts of laughter. The reception ended with the band agreeing to put past differences with Les behind them. They performed "Rockin' All Over the World", with Les on stage with them.
Cilla went on honeymoon with her friend, Yana Lumb, instead of Les. Upon returning, Les and Cilla were legally married (off-screen) in a Register Office
.
. Cilla was hurt at what Les had done, appearing in no makeup and basic clothes. When Les said he would crawl across the cobbles in order to win Cilla over, Cilla could not let Les go through with it, and they reunited. Cilla and Janice then had an ongoing feud, which ended in the two fighting. Janice won by isolating Cilla's big pudgy beer belly, knocking the wind out of Cilla. Janice then pulled Cilla's skirt down in front of everyone in the street. Cilla ran home in her leather thong but had to stop as her chubby thighs burned as they rubbed against each other.
November 2006 saw Cilla diagnosed with skin cancer
, but kept it from her family. Her cancer is most likely from the amount of time she spent on her sunbed in a skimpy string tied thong bikini to avoid tan lines, or a one-piece costume or Leotard
with a sarong. Suspecting Cilla was having another affair, Les kicked her out and Cilla came clean to Fiz about her illness, who told Chesney and Les. The family were reunited by Cilla's hospital bed, and Cilla then returned home.
On finding out that husband Les and best mate Yana had slept together, Cilla hatched a plan to get her own back. She told everyone that her cancer was terminal, leading to the street's residents making a collection to send Cilla to Florida to "swim with the dolphins", making Les and Yana sit in a bath full of mushy peas on the pavement in the process. She revealed the truth just after Christmas 2006, leaving the family devastated that she had lied to them. Cilla flew to Florida alone, leaving Les to apologise to the residents for her lies.
Cilla began a battle for business, going head to head with Jerry's Takeaway. Cilla and Yana first tried to get more customers by wearing special skin tight "Wong's Chips" T-shirts, and handing out leaflets. However, this failed to attract any customers because Cilla's belly stuck out her top, and also, the only people who walk past were going to the medical centre. Cilla came up with a cunning plan – she called pest control for Jerry's Takeaway.
On July 29, 2007, Cilla received a call from Mr. Wong to say she had been fired. Cilla later blamed Jodie Morton, claiming that she had the body of her father, Jerry Morton, and the face of Jabba The Hut.
Cilla found herself struggling financially as hubby Les had gone away. She took a job at a nursing home and met a wealthy man, Frank Nicholls. He was a perfect match for Cilla as he seemed to have the same cunning ruthless streak. Cilla was always a material loving, money hungry woman, so she struck up a friendship with him. He needed a full-time carer and when he invited Cilla to go with him to Las Vegas, she was ecstatic and jumped at the chance. Cilla had flirted with him a lot by bending over in front of him, showing him her bum and wearing revealing or really tight clothes.
Frank offered Cilla everything if she would be his full-time carer but he died shortly afterward. Cilla thought that she would inherit everything as he had told her she would, and was disappointed when he only left her £500 in his will. She decided to sell a necklace that he gave her which was a family heirloom. The jeweler told her that it was worth £50,000 but she got £45,000 for it. Having all this money made her decide to leave Weatherfield for Las Vegas. She was going to take Chesney with her, but they decided Chesney should join her at a later date. Cilla then decided that she needed some "me time", but told Chesney that she will eventually send for him, and left £1,000 for him in Kirk's care. Fiz was going to get £1,000 too, but after her reaction in the Rovers about her mother's departure, Cilla took it back.
Chesney spent £300 on an Xbox 360
which Fiz did not approve of, but told Kirk to make sure that Chesney uses the rest of the money more carefully. Chesney is currently living with Fiz and her husband John Stape.
It was Chesney's birthday and, in the mail, he had picked up a post card from Cilla and Les Battersby. Les had reverted to just Battersby and dropped the Brown at this point. They sent Chesney and Kirk invitations to join them in Sun City, North West
. Kirk and Chesney agreed to go, however Fiz was dismayed at the decision.
When they arrived at the airport, they found out that Les was not their Les, but a South African fraudster. Cilla revealed that she had placed their names in a competition to win the "South African sunshine family" award and had got to the final, with a chance to win half a million South African dollars.
Cilla told them that her story involved Chesney being tragically disabled after a freak earthquake in England, which nobody questioned, and that his brother Kirk had the disability of having the mental age of a nine-year-old – but Cilla just said that he should act like himself. After Chesney announced that he was having a terrible time in South Africa, Cilla made a personal plea to her daughter to join them in South Africa. Fiz was forced to dress as a nun.
Cilla, South African Les, Chesney and Kirk then went on a safari
. However, Fiz refused, saying it fitted in with her persona better if she did not go with them, and cited hating creepy-crawlies as another reason not to go. When they got stuck in the South African bush and the normally unreliable Kirk led them to safety, Cilla told him that Les should be the one who leads them in as that would give the impression that he saved the family.
Later at the awards ceremony, Chesney – thinking it was a disgusting thing to do – announced that he was not really disabled and the Battersbys were disqualified.
Cilla's South African boyfriend dumped her and she was left to walk back to the airport. However, the host of the competition, Alfie Vok, picked her up and brought her on his new chat show as South Africa's worst mother.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
, Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
. She is portrayed by Wendi Peters
Wendi Peters
Wendi Louise Peters is an English television and theatre character actress. Peters is married to Kenny Linden and they have one daughter together called Gracie who was born in 2000.-Film:...
. Her character is the tarty common redhead
Red hair
Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations...
wife of Les Battersby-Brown
Les Battersby-Brown
Leslie Nelson "Les" Battersby-Brown is a fictional character on the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. He was played by Bruce Jones...
and mother of Chesney
Chesney Brown
Chesney Brown is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Sam Aston, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 14 November 2003....
, Fiz
Fiz Brown
Fiona "Fiz" Stape is a fictional character from the British ITV1 soap opera Coronation Street, played by Jennie McAlpine. She made her first on-screen appearance on 20 April 2001. Initially appearing for five episodes, McAlpine's contract was soon extended and Fiz became a regular character...
and non-regular character Billy, who is in the army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
. She left the soap on October 12, 2007, after four years.
Casting
In 2003, it was announced that a new love interest for Les Battersby and it was announced she would be played by actress Wendi PetersWendi Peters
Wendi Louise Peters is an English television and theatre character actress. Peters is married to Kenny Linden and they have one daughter together called Gracie who was born in 2000.-Film:...
, she made her first on screen appearance on 20 October 2003.
Departure
On 18 January 2007 Peters announced she would be leaving Coronation Street. On her decision to leave the role, Wendi said: "I've had a brilliant four years at Coronation Street. It's been filled with wonderful experiences and great opportunities."I feel very privileged to have been given the fantastic character of Cilla and I shall really miss her. I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with my family and pursuing and working on other projects."
Producer Steve Frost said "Wendi is a valued member of the cast and she has made the character of Cilla one of the most colourful and memorable characters in soap history.
"We totally understand her reasons for wanting to leave and are grateful that she has given us so much notice – this means that we can spend time writing an exit storyline which will do her and the character of Cilla justice."
Cilla made her final appearance on 20 October 2007 but returned for a DVD movie in 2008.
Backstory
Cilla can be a devious woman, but her young son, Chesney, still loves and believes in his mother, who has often used him as a weapon to make people feel sorry for her. She is very busty and likes to wear clothes one size too small, accentuating her large breasts. She also wears leggings as ordinary trousers.2003–05
Cilla first appeared as a barmaid in the Weatherfield Arms, where she met Les. During their initial meeting, she told Les that her name was Lulu (after the singer). It was when she met resident Fiz, that it was revealed that they were in fact, mother and daughter. It was also revealed that she had left Chesney at home alone while she was out having fun with her new man.When Janice found out about Les and Cilla's relationship, the two began to argue. Janice, despite being on crutches after breaking her ankle in a factory fire, gets the upper hand as she tears at Cilla's hair, shoves her over a sofa, then starts punching her in the belly and ripping her shirt off.
Mother and son moved in, but due to Cilla's attempts to force herself on other men, she dumped Chesney on Les and stayed with a friend for six weeks. When she returned to Les, he was on the verge of rekindling the passion with his estranged wife, Janice, but that ended after Les gave in to passion with the bustier Cilla. Cilla was grateful that Les had chosen her, and in return, flashed her bottom and breasts.
In 2005, Les and Cilla dumped Chesney on the Croppers
Roy Cropper
Royston "Roy" Cropper, is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor David Neilson, the character was introduced during the episode airing on 19 July 1995. Originally a secondary character, he was given a more prominent role in 1997, by the...
and jetted off to Spain for six weeks, where she got a tan and came back bustier, and when she tried on some of her old clothes, it took her a while to get into.
On Christmas Day 2005, Cilla tried to deep-fry a turkey (her oven had broken down), at the local chip shop where she works and left it to cook. When they returned hours later, they discovered the chip shop was on fire.
Les and Cilla planned to marry for the sake of the wedding presents they would receive. On her hen night, Cilla had a brief encounter with Janice, Les's ex wife, arguing over Les with the two ready to fight. Cilla backed off, covering her face and her tummy. Cilla tried to sleep with a younger man, but was interrupted by Les, and Cilla, wearing a red bra and panties, passed the young man off as her eldest son, "Billy", who had arrived for her special day. When Les fell asleep, Cilla tried to go off with the young man again, but he refused.
They finally arranged their wedding day, despite the fact that the priest was a defrocked clergyman, and they had to distract the real vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
while they "married". Cilla smashed Tracy Barlow's
Tracy Barlow
Tracy Lynette Barlow is a fictional character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street. She is currently portrayed, since 2002, by Kate Ford, the latest in a series of actresses who have played Tracy at various ages...
window (she would not give Cilla the bouquet she had made because Cilla would not pay her, so Tracy pushed her, making her fall). However, Cilla could not reach the flowers and ran to Dev Alahan's
Dev Alahan
Devendra 'Dev' Alahan is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Jimmi Harkishin, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 10 November 1999.-Character development:...
shop and stole some flowers, before jumping into the wedding car en route to the church.
While Les was driving, he spotted a member of the band Status Quo. He took his eyes of the road to stare in amazement, and crashed into their van (with the other band member inside). Status Quo decided to play at the wedding to avoid a lawsuit against Les, who had been punched by a member of the band.
Billy Brown was also at the wedding. Les put on a neck brace before "tying the knot" (despite the marriage being illegal), and they became known as the Battersby-Brown family.
The Quo turned up at a back room at the reception (where the presents were being kept) to rest. Les walked in and told his idols that his dream was to trash a room full of expensive things. He duly wrecked everything and threw a TV out the window, only for Cilla to walk in and inform him that he had just trashed their wedding presents. She went crazy and started attacking him as the Quo watched in bursts of laughter. The reception ended with the band agreeing to put past differences with Les behind them. They performed "Rockin' All Over the World", with Les on stage with them.
Cilla went on honeymoon with her friend, Yana Lumb, instead of Les. Upon returning, Les and Cilla were legally married (off-screen) in a Register Office
Register office
A register office is a British term for a civil registry, a government office and depository where births, deaths and marriages are officially recorded and where you can get officially married, without a religious ceremony...
.
2006–08
In a story of early March 2006, Cilla threw Les out after he slept with his ex-wife JaniceJanice Battersby
Janice Bernadette Battersby is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Vicky Entwistle, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 6 January 1997....
. Cilla was hurt at what Les had done, appearing in no makeup and basic clothes. When Les said he would crawl across the cobbles in order to win Cilla over, Cilla could not let Les go through with it, and they reunited. Cilla and Janice then had an ongoing feud, which ended in the two fighting. Janice won by isolating Cilla's big pudgy beer belly, knocking the wind out of Cilla. Janice then pulled Cilla's skirt down in front of everyone in the street. Cilla ran home in her leather thong but had to stop as her chubby thighs burned as they rubbed against each other.
November 2006 saw Cilla diagnosed with skin cancer
Skin cancer
Skin neoplasms are skin growths with differing causes and varying degrees of malignancy. The three most common malignant skin cancers are basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma, each of which is named after the type of skin cell from which it arises...
, but kept it from her family. Her cancer is most likely from the amount of time she spent on her sunbed in a skimpy string tied thong bikini to avoid tan lines, or a one-piece costume or Leotard
Leotard
A leotard is a skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso but leaves the legs free. It was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard ....
with a sarong. Suspecting Cilla was having another affair, Les kicked her out and Cilla came clean to Fiz about her illness, who told Chesney and Les. The family were reunited by Cilla's hospital bed, and Cilla then returned home.
On finding out that husband Les and best mate Yana had slept together, Cilla hatched a plan to get her own back. She told everyone that her cancer was terminal, leading to the street's residents making a collection to send Cilla to Florida to "swim with the dolphins", making Les and Yana sit in a bath full of mushy peas on the pavement in the process. She revealed the truth just after Christmas 2006, leaving the family devastated that she had lied to them. Cilla flew to Florida alone, leaving Les to apologise to the residents for her lies.
Cilla began a battle for business, going head to head with Jerry's Takeaway. Cilla and Yana first tried to get more customers by wearing special skin tight "Wong's Chips" T-shirts, and handing out leaflets. However, this failed to attract any customers because Cilla's belly stuck out her top, and also, the only people who walk past were going to the medical centre. Cilla came up with a cunning plan – she called pest control for Jerry's Takeaway.
On July 29, 2007, Cilla received a call from Mr. Wong to say she had been fired. Cilla later blamed Jodie Morton, claiming that she had the body of her father, Jerry Morton, and the face of Jabba The Hut.
Cilla found herself struggling financially as hubby Les had gone away. She took a job at a nursing home and met a wealthy man, Frank Nicholls. He was a perfect match for Cilla as he seemed to have the same cunning ruthless streak. Cilla was always a material loving, money hungry woman, so she struck up a friendship with him. He needed a full-time carer and when he invited Cilla to go with him to Las Vegas, she was ecstatic and jumped at the chance. Cilla had flirted with him a lot by bending over in front of him, showing him her bum and wearing revealing or really tight clothes.
Frank offered Cilla everything if she would be his full-time carer but he died shortly afterward. Cilla thought that she would inherit everything as he had told her she would, and was disappointed when he only left her £500 in his will. She decided to sell a necklace that he gave her which was a family heirloom. The jeweler told her that it was worth £50,000 but she got £45,000 for it. Having all this money made her decide to leave Weatherfield for Las Vegas. She was going to take Chesney with her, but they decided Chesney should join her at a later date. Cilla then decided that she needed some "me time", but told Chesney that she will eventually send for him, and left £1,000 for him in Kirk's care. Fiz was going to get £1,000 too, but after her reaction in the Rovers about her mother's departure, Cilla took it back.
Chesney spent £300 on an Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
which Fiz did not approve of, but told Kirk to make sure that Chesney uses the rest of the money more carefully. Chesney is currently living with Fiz and her husband John Stape.
It was Chesney's birthday and, in the mail, he had picked up a post card from Cilla and Les Battersby. Les had reverted to just Battersby and dropped the Brown at this point. They sent Chesney and Kirk invitations to join them in Sun City, North West
Sun City, North West
Sun City is a luxury casino and resort, situated in the North West Province of South Africa. It is located about two hours' drive from Johannesburg, near the city of Rustenburg. The complex borders the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.- History :...
. Kirk and Chesney agreed to go, however Fiz was dismayed at the decision.
When they arrived at the airport, they found out that Les was not their Les, but a South African fraudster. Cilla revealed that she had placed their names in a competition to win the "South African sunshine family" award and had got to the final, with a chance to win half a million South African dollars.
Cilla told them that her story involved Chesney being tragically disabled after a freak earthquake in England, which nobody questioned, and that his brother Kirk had the disability of having the mental age of a nine-year-old – but Cilla just said that he should act like himself. After Chesney announced that he was having a terrible time in South Africa, Cilla made a personal plea to her daughter to join them in South Africa. Fiz was forced to dress as a nun.
Cilla, South African Les, Chesney and Kirk then went on a safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
. However, Fiz refused, saying it fitted in with her persona better if she did not go with them, and cited hating creepy-crawlies as another reason not to go. When they got stuck in the South African bush and the normally unreliable Kirk led them to safety, Cilla told him that Les should be the one who leads them in as that would give the impression that he saved the family.
Later at the awards ceremony, Chesney – thinking it was a disgusting thing to do – announced that he was not really disabled and the Battersbys were disqualified.
Cilla's South African boyfriend dumped her and she was left to walk back to the airport. However, the host of the competition, Alfie Vok, picked her up and brought her on his new chat show as South Africa's worst mother.