The website of the 
Black Country Society

Sue Nicholls

Actress & Cabaret Entertainer

​

 

Susan Frances Harmar Nicholls was born on 23 November 1943 in Darlaston, Staffordshire. She was

educated at the School of St Mary and St Anne (now known as Abbots Bromley School for Girls), and

is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Sue is best known for her long-running role as Audrey Roberts in the soap opera Coronation Street .

The original role from 1979 was not for an appearance in every episode but this changed in 1985 when

she became a permanently cast member.

Earlier in her career, she had appeared on British television in Crossroads, a nightly series about a

Midlands Motel and its staff. She played the role from 1964 to 1968.

In one of the episodes of Crossroads she sang "Where Will You Be?" and subsequently made a record

which charted on 3 July 1968, and went on to reach number 17 in the UK Singles Chart.

Sue’s follow up single was less successful and after her time on the 'soap' she embarked on a career performing in  cabaret.

She returned to the stage in a variety of popular plays and pantomimes. During the early 1970s she worked overseas. In Vienna, she performed in cabaret as a singer, before returning to the UK and joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1976. She played a part in the very successful play London Assurance which finished with a six-week run on Broadway.

She played the role of the secretary, Joan Greengross (later Webster and Millbeck) in the sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–1979) and its sequel The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (1996).

She was Nadia Popov in Rentaghost and Mrs Muddle in Pipkins (1973).

Sue appeared as Derinda Forbes in the police drama The Professionals; episode "The Acorn Syndrome" (1980) and was cast in "The Gentle Touch" (TV series) where she played Joanne Blanden for 2 episodes in 1980.

Sue has won many Awards and is an outstanding example of the strong willed and strong minded women of the Black Country.

 

Awards

• British Soap Awards 2000 (Best Comedy Performance)

• British Soap Awards 2003 (Best Dramatic Performance)

• British Soap Awards 2003 (Hero of the Year)

• British Soap Awards 2019 (Outstanding Achievement)