Janice Battersby

Janice Battersby
Coronation Street character
Vicky Entwistle as Janice in 2007.
Portrayed by	Vicky Entwistle
Duration	1997–2011
First appearance	6 January 1997
Classification	Present; regular (departing)
Introduced by	Brian Park (1997) Steve Frost (2006)
In-universe information Occupation Seamstress Sisters Janet Lee Husband Les Battersby (1994–2004) Daughters Toyah Battersby Stepdaughters Leanne Battersby

Janice Battersby (née Lee) 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. On 2 August 2010 it was announced that Entwistle had quit her role as Janice Battersby after 13 years on the show and will leave in February 2011.

Character creation

Background

The mid 1990s were a time of big change behind-the-scenes at Coronation Street. The long-running serial was being regularly beaten in the ratings by rival soap EastEnders. A new producer, Brian Park, was brought in to revitalise the soap in 1997. Dubbed "the axeman", Park was responsible for culling 8 long-running and established characters, as well as giving the go-ahead for more controversial and sensationalist storylines, aimed at attracting a younger audience. He also introduced various new characters, among them were the Battersby family. Dubbed the "family from hell", the Battersbys were Janice and her husband Les, living with him and his daughter Leanne and a daughter of her own, Toyah, who was the result of a short-lived relationship Janice had with Ronnie Clegg when she was 16. Although not above occasional law-breaking, Janice was nowhere near as anti-social as Les.

Casting

Auditions were held for the part of Janice Battersby with actress Vicky Entwistle going on to secure the role. In 2005 after 8 years in the show the character of Janice was axed by producer Tony Wood along with characters Sunita Alahan and Jessie Jackson. However a few weeks after the axing, a last minute decision was made and the character was given a reprieve by the newly drafted producer Steve Frost. Of this decision the soaps spokesperson said: "The new producer has talked to Vicky Entwistle and asked if she would like to stay with the programme. Janice is a very popular character, but ultimately it was the producer's own decision to keep her on, prompted by the great new storylines the character can play out." Vicky is still contracted with the show to this day.

Character development

Janice is a very larger than life character and isn't afraid of confrontation with other people. ITV publicity describes the character along with her former husband as 'Weatherfield's answer to Wayne and Waynetta Slob' but did stress that her character has shown her softer side in certain storylines such as Toyah's rape and proved she actually does have morals when she tried to stop Leanne's prostititution. Her manager at Underworld from 2004 to 2006, Danny Baldwin, had his own nickname for her: "Lippy" because of her loud mouth and answering back. An inside spokesperson for Coronation Street said of Janice's character in 2005 that: "She is well loved for being such a feisty character who can get quite nasty at times.".

Storylines

1997–2008

Janice arrived in January 1997 along with Les, Leanne and Toyah Battersby. She soon gets a job as a machinist in the Underworld garment factory, where she is consistently rude to her various managers. She breaks up with Les after having an affair with Dennis Stringer in 2001, who was seeing Eileen Grimshaw at the time. Les is so upset that he attempts suicide, and while driving him to hospital, Dennis is killed in a car crash; Les survives. Janice is left devastated by Dennis's death.

Janice worked in the Underworld garment factory, where she was consistently rude to her various managers. She broke up with Les after beginning an affair with Dennis Stringer who was seeing Eileen Grimshaw at the time. Les was so upset that he attempted suicide, and while driving him to hospital, Dennis was killed in a car crash; Les survived. In 2003, she sneaked into the storeroom for a crafty cigarette but she dropped the cigarette when Harry Flagg locked her in, a fire started. Just before the whole room burnt down, Nick Tilsley came to her rescue - and as a result of the fire, she ended up in hospital and Nick was sacked.

Janice later becomes involved with police officer, Mick Hopwood. When Mick and Les get into a fight, Les is unfairly imprisoned, and Janice splits up with Mick. A later attempt at reconciliation with Les fails as a result of interference from Cilla Brown.

In the summer of 2005, Janice discoveres, to her horror, that she has nits. Drunkenly, she asks friend Sean Tully to shave her head. When she sees her bald head in the mirror, she is appalled. A couple of weeks later, she has a mud fight with resident Claire Peacock on the Red Rec after Claire calls her a "pug faced scumbag".

2006–2011

In early 2006, Janice and Leanne are involved in a car accident, when Danny (Bradley Walsh) doesn't ask Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) to perform a full service on the car. They crash into Gail Platt's (Helen Worth) front wall. Since then, Janice has become increasingly angry at the Websters, leading to a rivalry with Kevin's wife Sally (Sally Dynevor), Janice's co-worker at Underworld. The rivalry comes to a head on February 27, 2006, when Janice is sacked by her employer Danny Baldwin, and shortly after, she is punched by nemesis Sally, in the middle of the Rovers Return Inn. She leaves the Street in shame.

However, it was reported in December 2005, that despite original plans for her to be written out of the series, Vicky Entwistle's contract was renewed. She leaves to stay with Toyah (Georgia Taylor) in London in March 2006, but returns by April 2006, telling Leanne that life in London wasn't any better than life in Weatherfield. She then helps Leanne as she discovers Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs)'s original will, that Leanne's boyfriend Danny doesn't know about.

In January 2007, Janice's heating breaks down and she calls plumber Roger Stiles (Andrew Dunn) to fix it, who turns up late. After socialising a bit, Roger asks Janice to go with him to France for a few months, which she accepts. She returns in March and Roger returns in June. She subsequently finds out that her step-daughter Leanne is a prostitute; after everyone finds out, Janice gets into a brawl with Kelly Crabtree (Tupele Dorgu). Janice pleads with her to give up her work, but Leanne initially refuses as it is too lucrative. Eventually she admits that she can't go on with it and Leanne moves in with her. Janice and Roger reconcile, and Roger gives Leanne a loan for the restaurant she plans to open with Paul Clayton (Tom Hudson). His lack of money means he struggles to pay his rent, so he moves in with Janice. Leanne's restaurant burns down in April 2008. A few weeks later, Paul tells the police he and Leanne set the place on fire for insurance money. Janice is furious with Leanne for lying to her.

In September 2008, Janice and Leanne discover that one of the Lottery syndicate tickets for Underworld is a winner, to the tune of nearly 25,000 pounds. Initially willing to tell the other girls of the win, Janice decides to keep quiet after some persuasion from Leanne. They claim the winnings by setting up a bogus bank account in Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan)'s name. In the meanwhile, Rosie vanishes, worrying Kevin and Sally. When they find out about Rosie's win, they begin to wonder if she has absconded with the cash. Unable to live with her guilty conscience, Janice eventually comes clean to Sally and Kevin on 8 October 2008. She is arrested while at work in the factory. Roger later finds out about the scam from the factory girls. This leads to his departure. He has a row with her over the scam and leaves the Street on the same day. Janice is left on the Street in tears as Roger drives away. Leanne sees her from her upstairs window and callously just shuts the blind.

In November 2008, Janice goes on trial for the scam alone, she has agreed to keep Leanne's name out of it. She receives community service, much to the annoyance of the colleagues she has betrayed. The following month, she starts her work placement at the canteen at Weatherfield General Hospital and is initially delighted to discover that her supervisor is Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire) whom she sees as a pushover. However, she is proven wrong as Emily is very strict. On 29 December 2008, she goes for a smoke break outside the hospital and meets Mike Scott (Anthony Bessick). He tells her he is in for a chest infection, downgraded from pneumonia. She tells him about her community service, and they laugh over their shared misfortune. Janice then goes back to work, but that night her friends tell her that she has been beaming the whole time she has been out with them, which suggests that she still has Mike on her mind.

File:Janice2dtv.JPG

Janice Battersby, spoofed in 2DTV.

Mike reappears on 30 January 2009, when he and Janice chat. However, he keels over and collapses. Janice alerts people in the hospital car park of what is happening. Nurses later tell her that Mike has died, following an operation one week earlier. Mike's wife Laura is grateful that Janice had been with him when he died. After this, Janice decides that she wants to become a nurse but is met with ridicule by her friends which makes her more determined. She is delighted when new factory boss Luke Strong (Craig Kelly) offers to send her on a first-aid course in March 2009. Janice puts her learned skills to use when Joshua Peacock collapses after swallowing a bee at the Street's summer fete. He is later rushed to hospital and recovers. Janice later tells Kelly that she doesn't want to be a nurse anymore from the horror that Joshua could have died.

In January 2010, Trevor Dean (Steve Jackson), a local dustman, manages to provoke the ire of Janice after he refuses to empty her rubbish bin. In protest, she jumps onto the side of his bin lorry and holds on as he drives down the street. Later, the pair become friends, and after telling Trevor she is looking for a lodger, he agrees to move in with her. It is obvious that Janice is very attracted to him, however, to her disappointment he begins dating her boss Carla Connor (Alison King).

On 6 December 2010, a tram crashes on to the cobbles following an explosion at 'The Joinery' Bar, Janice puts her first aid training to use, helping the injured in the Rovers.

In January 2011, Janice meets a man called Gaz at a singles night in the Rovers who invites her to go on holiday with him. However, she is too drunk to board the flight and returns later on in the evening. At this time, Chris Gray (Will Thorp) has paid an associate to rob Janice's flat, he is disturbed by her entry and runs off into the night, knocking Janice to the ground and left shaken.

In other media

Janice's recognisable appearance and loud mouth tendencies led to her being spoofed on ITV TV show 2DTV.

External links

• Janice Battersby at ITV Soaps