Leanne Battersby


Full name: Leanne Aneka Tilsley (née Battersby)
Parents:
Les Battersby, Stella Price
Born:
2 July 1981
Siblings:

  1. Greg Kelly (half-brother - same father)
  2. Toyah Battersby (step-sister)
  3. Eva Price (half sister)


Married:
Nick Tilsley (30 January 1998, Kircudbright Registry Office)
Peter Barlow (December 9, 2010, Weatherfield General Hospital)
Nick Tilsley (January 11, 2012, Weatherfield Registry office)
Children:


Played by: Jane Danson
Appeared:
4 July 1997 - 23 August 2000, June 7, 2004 -

Leanne was the daughter of Les Battersby and Stella Price. Stella was a teenage mum and soon found motherhood too difficult and marraige to Les stifling so ran off, abandoning Leanne as a toddler. When she did try to see her, Les and his mother would not allow it so she never tried to keep in touch.

In July 1997, Leanne Battersby and her family - father Les, step-mother Janice and step-sister Toyah  moved to No5 Coronation Street much to the horror of  the residents. To help keep Leanne out of trouble during the school holidays, Janice got a job for her as a cleaner at Underworld where Janice worked, but she was soon sacked for being lazy and rude to the workers.

Leanne soon caught the eye of Nick Tilsley, and they had to meet in secret as Nick's mother, Gail Platt , didn't approve of the Battersby family. Leanne then decided to go to college in September 1997 to study hairdressing so she could be near her Nick. They became so close in fact, that they ran away to Scotland to get married in secret. It came as a shock to both families when they found out a week later that they were married. Both sets of families blamed each other. To act as a more responsible married woman, Leanne quit college and started work in the Kabin under Rita Sullivan's watchful eye. With Leanne's pay the two lovebirds moved into No4 with Ashley Peacock.

Things went great for a while until Nick found out that his father Brian Tilsley's killer was due out of prison, and he persuaded Leanne to befriend Darren Whitely to entrap him so he'd have to go back to prison. Things didn`t go according to plan and Leanne's safety and marriage were threatened when Darren broke into her house. Leanne was so scared she told Gail what went on and together they put Darren back into prison as he had broke parole violations - even though it was Nick's fault in the first place.

Things took an unexpected turn when Nick's beloved grandad Alf Roberts died suddenly in his sleep on New Years Day 1999, which ironically was Nick's 18th Birthday. They soon cheered up when they discovered that Alf has left them some money in his will. They used the money to go on holiday to Canada as the honeymoon they never had. After they came back from Canada, their happiness over the trip subsided when Leanne found out she was pregnant. Scared by the prospect of being tied down, Nick persuauded Leanne to have an abortion and to tell everyone that she had a miscarriage. Leanne agreed at first, then later regretted it. This was the beginning of an end to their marriage as Nick couldn't understand why Leanne was so emotional about everything. Disgusted with both parents' interference, in April 1999 Nick decided to run away, starting a new life in Canada, but Leanne refused to go with him as she soon saw how spineless and pathetic he really was.

Newly single again, Leanne started dating Vikram Desi, who worked at the corner shop. Lots of partying and late nights soon took their toll on Leanne and she resigned from the Kabin after a misunderstanding about money that had gone missing. Leanne soon found a job straight away as a barmaid at the Rovers. She has soon learned the business of pulling pints as well as pulling fellas since her split with Nick.


Leanne developed a cocaine habit and got involved with dealer Jez Quigley. She owed him money and got desparate. She was going to allow him to rob the pub but at the last minute backed out and landed herself in hospital after a fight with one of Quigley's goons. Leanne was scared, and decided to leave Weatherfield. Mark Redman was leaving too and they went to Amsterdam. Later Leanne traveled to Australia, doing bar work to keep herself. Nothing more was heard from Leanne until she turned up in a lap dancing club in Weatherfield in June 2004. Les discovered her and brought her back to Coronation Street where ' she has wasted no time in giving Maria a good pasting for what she did to Toyah. There appears to be lingering bitterness (and attraction?) towards her ex husband Nick. Her interference succeeded in breaking up Maria and Nick and Nick left town to take a job in Nottingham.

Leanne started dating Jamie Baldwin, whose father, Danny, turned out to be Mike Baldwin's son. She didn't get along with Jamie's mother, Frankie but in spite of that, they got engaged. It wasn't long, however, before Leanne and Danny were flirting and they started an affair. Of course it was discovered and the engagement was off as was Danny and Frankie's marraige. Leanne and Danny ended up together, for lack of anyone else but their cozy situation didn't last too long. Mike Baldwin developed Alzheimer's and his care eventually landed on Danny and Leanne's doorstep. Danny was determined to get all of Mike's estate for himself and persuaded a confused Mike into signing a will that excluded his other two sons, Mark Redman and Adam Barlow.

After Mike died, however, Leanne found a will that was newer than the one Danny had produced which left a portion of his estate to Adam. When Danny dumped Leanne to try to win Frankie back, Leanne blackmailed Danny for cash and then gave the will to Adam anyway and left town.

Leanne returned months later. She had lots of cash and wore nice clothes. She told her mother, Janice, she'd made some money in Spanish real estate but she was actually a high end call girl. Janice told her she had to choose between prostitution and her new love, Liam Connor, who had bought Adam's share of the factory along with his brother Paul. Paul's wife was Carla and she and Leanne became friends. They planned to start a business, a restaurant, but Leanne decided to take up prostitution again to make some money for the business, took one last call and met the man in a hotel room. The man turned out to be Paul, Carla's husband. Leanne and Paul never did sleep together and she said she wouldn't tell Carla. But Carla, meanwhile, discovered Paul had been using call girls through his credit card bills and ended their marraige. During a meeting, Leanne and Carla met with a client who recognized Leanne and blew the whistle to Carla. Paul ended up kidnapping Leanne, putting her in the boot of his car which he then crashed while speeding to try to bring Leanne to Carla to explain that he and Leanne never actually had sex. Paul died in the crash but Leanne survived. Carla told Liam the whole story and Liam broke up with Leanne, refusing to continue a relationship with someone that turned out to be a prostitute.

Leanne decided to open the restaurant herself, borrowing money from Janice's boyfriend to help fund it and hiring Paul Clayton to be the cook. Paul was Jack and Vera's grandson by Andrea Clayton. Paul developed feelings for Leanne who didn't return them but she strung him along because he gave her some money when the bills started to pile up. Meanwhile she was dating bookie Dan Mason who joked about torching the restaurant for the insurance. Leanne thought that wasn't such a bad idea and persuaded Paul to do the honours, promising him a relationship if he did it. He did it, she reneged on the promise. He tried to get revenge by confessing and dragging her down but Dan provided an alibi for her and Paul skipped the country rather than go to jail. Leanne bagged a job at the bookies with Dan.

Leanne and Janice conducted a lottery scam with the factory workers' fund, using a bank account with Rosie Webster's name on it. They got caught when the police realized money was being withdrawn but Rosie had disappeared (kidnapped by John Stape). When Dan found out about the scam, he dumped Leanne and Janice was arrested and had to do community service after giving the money back to the factory girls who had legitimately won the money.

Enter Peter Barlow. He and little son Simon both adored Leanne but she was doubtful due to his drinking problem. He struggled to stay sober and bought the bookies which she helped run. He even went away to rehab but when he returned, she discovered that he'd cheated on her. She left town for Leeds and Peter tried to struggling on without her. He came looking for her a few months later, newly sober again and talked her into returning to him and Simon. He even offered to open a bar with her in a space under the viaduct at the end of the street. Simon's maternal grandfather invested though Ken Barlow was very skeptical, feeling that putting Peter in a bar with booze was too much temptation. He was right. Just before the bar opened, Peter got drunk again and Leanne refused to proceed with the business, realizing it wouldn't work out. Simon's grandfather, George, tried to get custody of Simon but Peter managed to finally get sober again and with Leanne's help, they kept Simon away from George. They soon got engaged. The wedding would be at Christmas.

Enter Nick Tilsley. Nick returned to Weatherfield at Christmas 2009 and returned again in early 2010 to help when Gail was accused of killing her new husband, Joe (who tried to fake his death but died accidentally). Once Gail was cleared, he decided to open his own bar under the viaduct and persuaded Leanne to help him. Peter gave his ok but Nick was hoping he could get Leanne back, she was the love of his life he said. The closer to the wedding she got, the more she got cold feet and she and Nick started an affair. In the beginning of December, Leanne decided she really wanted Peter but Nick wasn't going to let her go that easily. He was determined to tell Peter after Carla, who knew about the affair and wanted Peter for herself gave him encouragement. On Peter's stag night at the Bistro, Nick got Peter into the office and was about to tell him the truth. Ashley came in to say good bye, planning to leave when there was an explosion in the kitchen and it caused a tram to come off the top of the viaduct. Nick was barely injured but Peter was severely hurt as was Ashley who managed to keep the roof from collapsing so Nick could pull Peter out. Ashley died when the roof collapsed and Peter was taken to hospital.

Leanne thought Peter was going to die and married him on what all thought was his deathbed. She told Nick the accident made her realize that Peter was the one she truly wanted but he couldn't accept it. Peter survived but was unable to walk at first. While he began his recovery, Nick tried to sabotage him by luring him back to the bottle again. He did drink several times but was able to sort himself out. They had planned to renew their vows on Valentine's day but just before that, Tracy overheard Carla and Leanne arguing in the ladies' loos and discovered Leanne had the affair. She told Peter who confronted Leanne at the altar on their wedding day and handed her divorce papers. Leanne nearly left town and Ken persuaded Peter to try to stop her, knowing he really did love her. They reconciled and stayed together.

Some months later, Leanne got pregnant but had a miscarraige. Peter was as devastated as she was especially when she discovered she might not be able to carry a child to term. He sought solace in the arms of Carla Connor who had loved him for months. They kissed but did not start an affair right away. Meanwhile, Leanne had discovered that the new manager of the Rovers, Stella Price, was the biological mother that had abandoned her as a baby. She also had a new found half sister, Eva who resented Leanne and her mother for the secret. Leanne was not inclined to accept Stella in any shape or form but after a drunk Carla knocked Stella over, Leanne realized that she did want her mother in her life after all. Carla had taken up with Frank Foster who took the blame for the accident causing Carla more pressure. She leaned on Peter to help her with her own drinking but since she couldn't have Peter, she agreed to marry Frank who was a control freak. The night before their wedding, Carla told Frank she wouldn't marry him after all and he raped her. Peter was one of the people she leaned on to get over the rape and even Leanne was sympathetic but as Peter and Carla got closer, a full on affair started. By the time Frank's rape trial began in early 2012, Peter was making plans to leave Leanne after the trial but Frank was suspicious and had them followed by a private investigator. Frank's mother Anne handed Leanne incriminating photos at the trial. Leanne was devastated. The affair came out in court and helped to exonerate a guilty Frank. Leanne left Peter who moved in with Carla.

Leanne was heartbroken and left town. But Simon hated Carla who really wasn't too keen on any children. Leanne returned to get some of her things and when she saw how miserable Simon was, decided to fight Peter for custody even though she isn't Simon's biological mother. When Simon found a bottle of wine that Carla had bought and drank it, Peter realized his son was in danger of going down the same road he struggled on and let Simon live with Leanne. Peter and Carla made plans to travel to L.A. across the ocean on a boat and while they were gone, Peter initiated divorce. Nick was still in the background and Leanne leaned on him first as a friend. She eventually decided she wanted to be with Nick after all his persuasion and they moved in together along with Simon.

Nick was pushed to propose to Leanne by a scheming Kylie who thought it would send Leanne far away but she ended up accepting his proposal after she found out that Peter didn't think he'd come back at Christmas. He did, though, and when he decided he was not going to move to L.A. after all, Carla left him and he immediately started to try to lure Leanne back. But Carla did return to him. On their wedding day, Leanne tried a last minute appeal to Peter, not knowing Carla was back. He dropped Leanne quickly and cooly so she went ahead with the Christmas Day wedding to Nick but Eva told the whole congregation that Leanne had taken a little stop en route to the church. Nick was crushed and jilted her. She thought she'd lost him for good. Nick had a drunken one night stand that night with David's wife, Kylie who was struggling with David who had been treating her badly as well.

That was best left forgotten. Kylie and David made up and within a week or two, Leanne and Nick made up as well after she'd decided to leave Weatherfield for good (again). He stopped her and they got married at the registry office in January, 2013. Things are not going to go well, however. Leanne was the last to find out about the fling with Kylie who found herself pregnant and didn't know who the father was. She gave birth in August. David had found out a few months before and started a campaign of vengeance against Nick, trying to ruin him. David played a number of tricks such as watering down the booze at the Bistro and calling Standards on him and sending Leanne an anonymous note implying Nick had been unfaithful on what would have been their wedding night. Leanne confronted Nick who lied to her face that he never had sex with anyone even though she insisted if he had a one night stand she could understand after what she'd done to him and could forgive him. He continued to state he was blameless. A month or so later, he realized David was behind all the tricks and he took David out for a drive and confronted him. David tried to pull the car off the road to stop Nick telling everything but a lorry came through an intersection, crashing into them and seriously injuring Nick.

Leanne didn't know if Nick would come out of his coma for weeks. When he finally did, he was suffering brain damage but Nick insisted that David get a DNA test on the baby girl, Lily, who turned out to be David's after all. But the letter that had the results ended up in Leanne's handbag. She didn't open it but the truth came out a few days later and Leanne discovered Nick's infidelity. She left him again, unsure she could stay with someone that lied to her so well and for so long but couldn't leave him to recover alone and returned to him. She's finding it difficult as Nick's personality has changed. He's quick tempered and frustrated and takes it out by shouting at her and Simon. At Christmas, he lost his temper again and slapped her across the face. Little by little, Leanne is being worn down. It won't take long before she's looking for a bit of light and happiness back in her life again.

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