Opinion: Coronation Street just killed off Les Battersby – here’s why his death was completely unnecessary

Coronation Street just killed off the legendary character of Les Battersby off-screen tonight (Friday, November 29) as Leanne received the sad news.

The police turned up and told Leanne that her dad had sadly died whilst at work.

With the Corrie icon Les now meeting his maker, here’s why we think he didn’t deserve such a tragic end.

Coronation Street: Les Battersby’s time on the cobbles

Les Battersby-Brown was a key character on the cobbles between 1997 to 2007. Within the span of a decade, Les was involved in some big storylines.

Les was Leanne’s dad, and Toyah and Chesney’s stepdad, and the husband of Janice Lee and then Cilla Brown.

Known for being quite the character who always made himself heard, Les was involved in major storylines which included an attempted suicide, holding Janice hostage, and Dennis Stringer’s death.

In 2007, Les left the Street to go on tour as part of a tribute band. He never did return to the cobbles after this.

Coronation Street: Les Battersby death

Sadly, Leanne received the tragic news tonight that her dad Les had passed away.

The police turned up and told her that Les had been involved in an accident at work last night. He’d died after being injured at the abattoir.

Leanne felt awful as Les had only texted her last week but she’d ignored him.

Later on, Leanne told Toyah the news and gave her a hug. She then realised that Toyah already knew, with Toyah making out that Nick told her about it whilst calling her about the rota.

She was unaware that Nick had phoned Toyah on purpose and had told her the news. The sisters then phoned Chesney and told him the sad news too.

Opinion: Les’ death was a bad decision

Les Battersby was once at the centre of two big families on the cobbles – the Browns and the Battersbys.

His relationships with both Janice and Cilla were very memorable, with Les still having so many connections to the Street. For such a huge character, with ten years on the soap, the door had rightly been left open for Les to return in the future.

But, now, Les has been killed off with no hope of returning. If he was going to be eventually killed off, he should’ve at least died on screen. But, having Les die as a plot device (we’re assuming this will bring Leanne and Toyah closer again?) seems quite the disservice to the character.

Sometimes off-screen deaths are necessary in cases where there is no chance of an actor returning or where a recast would be out of the question. But, bringing up Les’ name after all these years just for police to announce that he’s died doesn’t sit right…

We’re half hoping that Toyah’s right and that Les will miraculously ‘turn up to the funeral in a neck brace’ and it was all a scam after all…