When Coronation Street needed a dashing, debonair con man to charm the women of Weatherfield out of their cash, quintessential English gent Nigel Havers was the perfect choice.

Already a big name when he was cast as lothario Lewis Archer back in 2009, Nigel’s arrival on the cobbles caused quite a stir.

As Inside Soap catches up with the actor more than five years after his last Corrie appearance, he recalls what lured him to Britain’s most famous street…

“Lewis was loosely based on a part I’d played years ago in a series called The Charmer,” Nigel said. “Corrie thought it would be fun to bring that sort of character into the show. I’d also grown up watching Corrie, I loved it because it was so funny. Lewis was a villain, and those are the best characters to play.”

Fans first met male escort Lewis on the arm of glamorous hairdresser Claudia Colby. He caught the eye of her friend Audrey Roberts, who was instantly smitten and used his services to accompany her to social functions.

Rita and Deirdre also fell for Lewis with his leading man good looks. But Audrey stole his heart and the pair planned to leave Weatherfield together.

Unfortunately, Lewis couldn’t resist a scam and was secretly stealing from the locals. With his true colours exposed, he did a runner – only to return several times over the next decade to sweet-talk his way back into Audrey’s life!

“The reason I did several short stints was because I always had something else I was booked to do, and Corrie kindly let me come and go as I wished,” Nigel recalled. “Whenever they asked me back, it was because they had a good storyline in mind – and the stories were fantastic.”

Whenever Lewis crawled out of the woodwork, he always managed to win Audrey’s forgiveness, while plotting a dastardly new money-making scam.

Nigel recalls the second time he left in 2013 as being his most memorable moment – Lewis seduced Audrey’s daughter Gail and fooled her into thinking they were going to run away together, only to swindle her out of a fortune!

“People came up to me in the supermarket telling me I owed Gail 40 grand!” the star grinned. “I’d reply saying I was working very hard to repay her. That was a great exit – Lewis left a message on a DVD confessing to his revenge plan with this big monologue. Fantastic!”

Of course, Corrie is just one of many highlights in a career spanning five decades. Oscar-winning movies like Chariots of Fire, hit TV shows such as Don’t Wait Up, a stint on I’m a Celebrity… Nigel’s done it all and is about to dish the dirt live on stage in his first one-man show!

“I kept saying I was far too young to do a one-man show, then I realised I was getting old, so I’d better do it before I drop dead!” he laughed. “It’s stories about my career and the things I’ve got up to. I’ve enjoyed putting it together. It’s been a lot of fun, and so is the show!”

Nigel remembers his time on Corrie fondly, which ended in 2019 when Lewis died of a heart attack just as he was about to make an honest woman of Audrey.

“It felt like the right time for Lewis to go – he couldn’t keep coming back. I have great respect for soap actors. It’s a hard gig – you learn a lot of lines very quickly and there’s nothing in the industry that shoots as fast.

“I’m still in touch with some of the cast, including Helen Worth,” he adds. “Years ago, when I was in the show, my wife was in the butchers and saw Helen in the queue. They’d never met, but my wife saw her and shouted over: ‘You snogged my husband!’ They have since become friends!”