Former Corrie star Bruce Jones has issued a “come and get me” message to soap bosses.
Recovering alcoholic Jones, 62, who played cabbie Les Battersby until being axed in 2007, is now fighting back to health after a severe bout of depression.
Corrie fan Ian O’Hagan, of Liverpool, this week launched an online petition to get Battersby back on the Street.
Jones, famously dropped from the soap after being accused of leaking scripts to an undercover reporter, said he was flattered by the campaign and said: “You never say never.”
The dad-of-four, made bankrupt after blowing a reported £1 million fortune, told how he “disappeared” for four years after he sank into depression.
He didn’t tell his family, including his children, where he was and only a few close friends remained in touch with him.
During this dark period Jones admitted he had suicidal thoughts.
“I didn’t know I had depression,” he said. “I just knew there was something wrong with me.
“People need to admit to depression, you can’t hide it. You have to talk about it.”
Jones has written a play called Talk – Tackling the Taboo which helped him work through his own depression.
He now hopes the play will be shown in London.
“I didn’t admit the depression out of sheer pride,” said Jones. “Once I admitted I was ill I got the help I needed.”
Jones said he found he had to escape the shadow of the larger than life Corrie character.
For two years no one could find him but now he’s back with an agent – Huddersfield-based George Wilkinson – and work is coming in again.
Speaking before a guest appearance at the opening of a new pub, the Newsome Tap in Huddersfield, Jones said: “I had to get away from Les Battersby and find me again. I’m proud of what I made of Les and I’m ready to work again.”
Asked if he would like to return to Corrie, he said: “You never say never.
“I was never sacked by Coronation Street, that was just paper talk.
“I did not believe them and they did not believe me so we just terminated it.”
See some of Bruce's best moments as Les on the street below.
Jones, who lives in Wales, has a new film out called Cream, about how soldiers are treated on Civvie Street, and he’s also completed a pilot for a comedy called The Pub. He will be in panto in Folkstone at Christmas.
