Bruce Jones has admitted his own mum told him off for being too mean on ‘Coronation Street’.
The 67-year-old soap legend – who famously played Les Battersby on the cobbles alongside co-star Vicky Entwistle (Janice) – admitted they were both nervous about how their characters would be received when they first appeared in 1997.
Speaking on Monday (28.09.20) during the pair’s virtual reunion on ITV’s ‘Loose Women’, he said: "The pair of us were scared at first. When we read the first scripts, I thought we’re never going to get away with this, we’re going to be hated.
"But we did it. We worked hard and we did it. Vicky got me through quite a lot of it. I just wanted to be an actor.
"The first two years we were hated…I think I even got told off by my mum. She told me if I did anything against Mr. Ken Barlow, that nice man, don’t come home!"
Despite their early nerves, the two co-stars helped each other settle and became two of the most memorable characters in ‘Corrie’ history.
He added: "The first day we met, we gelled. It was such a great thing for me to have an actress of Vicky’s standard. We just gelled and became ‘The Battersbys.’ "
They both got emotional during their appearance on the daytime panel show, and Vicky, 52, admitted they got into a lot of trouble on set.
She said: "I think just seeing his little face. We did have some great laughs. We used to get told off like you wouldn’t believe.
"They’d say ‘cut’ and we’d be laughing our heads off over what we had to say or do – it was really outrageous. We were like, ‘We’re going to ruin this programme!’
"We’d both separately been watching it for years. Then all of a sudden, he’s got to headbutt Curly and I’ve got to shout at everyone. We’re like, ‘No one’s going to like us!’ And to be honest, I don’t think they did!"
The actors even teased the possibility of an unlikely comeback if they were allowed to return together.
Bruce said: "I would [take over the Rovers Return]. But I’d only go back with you."
Vicky admitted: "Yeah, I don’t want you to go back with anyone else!"
‘Loose Women’ is on weekdays from 12:30pm on ITV.