Bruce Jones played a memorable character on Coronation Street.

The actor portrayed the role of the Street's Les Battersby for a whole decade, from 1997 to 2007. The character arrived on the cobbles with his partner Janice and daughters Leanne and Toyah. The Battersbys were dubbed "the family from hell" as they clashed with their soap neighbours.

However, Bruce was reportedly sacked from the ITV soap in March 2007, following allegations of drunkenness and inappropriate comments made in the presence of an undercover reporter. His departure was confirmed in May of the same year and the character was written out in a storyline of Les going away on tour as a roadie for Irish tribute band ZZ Top O' The Morning.

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While Les didn't get an official exit storyline, Chesney and Leanne sometimes mention him in the soap. He has also been spoken to by Peter Barlow on screen via a mobile phone. But what has the soap star been up to since his departure?

What is Bruce Jones doing now?

After Coronation Street the actor went on to perform stand-up comedy in Benidorm. He also appeared on The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan, Celebrity Come Dine With Me and Celebrity Wife Swap.

On stage, Bruce played King Rat in pantomime Dick Whittington at the Contemporary Urban Centre from 14 December 2009 until 3 January 2010. The star has also popped in music videos, and published his ghostwritten autobiography in November 2011.

One of his most recent appearances came in 2013 when he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house. He was the fourth housemate to be evicted on the show. In 2015, Bruce switched on the Ormskirk Christmas lights.

Bruce also appeared in a documentary. He popped up in Netflix’s new true-crime offering, The Ripper.

Fans were shocked as they saw Bruce appear on the four-part series, which details the horrendous crimes of serial killer Pete Sutcliffe. The actor spoke about the time he discovered the body of one of the Yorkshire Ripper's victims.

The actor came across the remains of 20-year-old Jean Jordan in 1977, and the star previously told The Mirror: “He'd uncovered her, he was there that day, he'd hacked away at her. I lost my first marriage, my children. I lost everything because of that.

"It actually destroyed me to learn that people can do that to a human being. I had nightmares like you wouldn't believe."

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV and the ITV Hub

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