‘Mr Nasty’ to quit Street

Press, 8 March 1989, Page 19

‘Mr Nasty’ to quit Street

From TONY VERDON, London correspondent “Coronation Street” “Mr Nasty,” Alan Bradley, is to leave the show. The actor Mark Eden who plays the cheating bully, says he is leaving the show next month at his own request. He has decided after three years in the show that he wants a change. • Granada Television producers are planning to write Alan out in a “Dirty Den operation,” says the “Daily Mirror” newspaper.

Like Denis Watts in "East Enders he will go on the run from the police. Then he will end up doing a long prison stretch for attempting to murder Rita Fairclough. Alan Bradley’s Mr Nasty image has been growing steadily in recent episodes of “Coronation Street”. Viewers have seen him embezzle cash from Rita, and then he attacked his young secretary. But the actor’s decision to quit has surprised his co-stars. “He has shocked everyone, especially as the show is now back as number one and pulling in 22 million viewers,” one unnamed star told the “Daily Mirror”. “He has taken over from Den as the man viewers love to hate.” However, the 61-year-old actor said he wants to see what work there is in the theatre. The “Daily Mirror” said Eden denied reports that he had secretly married girlfriend Sue Nicholls, who plays Audrey Roberts in “Coronation Street”.