Les Coker, played by
Roger Sloman, first appeared on 9 January 2012. He subsequently appeared in five episodes in 2012, before returning for an episode in 2014. Les was reintroduced as a regular character in April 2014 and continued to appear until 14 October 2016 when the character was axed from the show. Les first appears when he visits
Carol Jackson (
Lindsey Coulson) and
David Wicks (
Michael French) to arrange
Pat Evans' (
Pam St Clement) funeral. He tells them he used to know Pat when he was an apprentice, implying he was her client when she was a prostitute, and offers a discount on the funeral. He says that he arranged funerals for many of the other local residents, including David's father
Pete Beale (
Peter Dean), Pat's husband
Roy Evans (
Tony Caunter),
Ethel Skinner (
Gretchen Franklin), Pat's former sister-in-law
Pauline Fowler (
Wendy Richard) and
Archie Mitchell (
Larry Lamb). He returns to meet
Jean Slater (
Gillian Wright) to finalise arrangements for the funeral of her daughter
Stacey Branning (
Lacey Turner). Jean is distressed to hear that Stacey has died, but
Mo Harris (
Laila Morse) reveals she has just spoken to Stacey on the phone, meaning Stacey is alive. Les apologises profoundly before leaving. Les is seen by
Sasha Dixon (Rebecca Sanneh) doing business with
Anthony Moon (
Matt Lapinskas) and it turns out that when someone dies, Les offers to empty their house and sells the goods to Anthony for his business. Sasha and her employer,
Cora Cross (
Ann Mitchell), then ask Les to offer every other house to them for the charity shop. He attends a wake for a former
Walford resident at
The Queen Victoria public house, where
Kim Fox (
Tameka Empson) pretends to know the deceased, and talks to Les, successfully gaining Sasha a work experience placement with Les's firm. He attends the wake of a man previously known by
Patrick Trueman (
Rudolph Walker) and is annoyed when Cora turns up, as he has agreements with her and Anthony. Les appears again to arrange
Nick Cotton's (
John Altman) funeral, although it is later revealed to be a scam in which Les is in on. Les moves his funeral business, Coker & Sons Funeral Parlour, to Turpin Road following the relocation of Pam's flower stall to Bridge Street Market. When walking home one night,
Fatboy (
Ricky Norwood) notices Les being handed money by
Dot Branning's (
June Brown) grandson,
Charlie Cotton (
Declan Bennett). Fatboy tries to tell Dot what Les and Charlie are up to, but is unsuccessful. In July, Les hires
Billy Mitchell (
Perry Fenwick) at the undertakers, however he is disappointed when Billy doesn't turn up for work on his first day. Pam is upset when Les insults
Emma Summerhayes (
Anna Acton) while drunk, fearful it will reveal a big secret they have been keeping; that she euthanised their dying son, Lawrie. Billy eventually establishes a good working relationship with Les and a friendship as they spend Christmas together. Billy discovers the business is deeply in debt and forces Les to tell Pam this. They vow no more secrets, but after Les meets with his "other woman",
Claudette Hubbard (
Ellen Thomas) and gives her an expensive necklace. Claudette and Pam are revealed to be old friends, as Claudette is a foster mother and Pam used to help children in care. Les holidays in Gran Canaria with Claudette, although Pam sees it as a coincidence when she learns from Claudette's foster daughter
Donna Yates (
Lisa Hammond) that they are both there at the same time. Les arranges a party for the centenary of Coker & Sons, and Pam gets upset at the thought that their grandson,
Paul (
Jonny Labey), will not attend. The same day, Paul returns but is cold towards Les. He reveals he is aware of his long running affair with Claudette and that was why he went to work abroad in the first place, not because of Pam's decision to euthanise his father as they previously believed. Paul threatens to expose the affair to Pam so Les tries to end things with Claudette, but Claudette tells Les that it will not be that easy. Claudette's son
Vincent Hubbard (
Richard Blackwood) then becomes aware of the relationship between her and Les, and Paul tells Pam about it. Pam then finds Les's tie at Claudette's house, and when Les and Claudette give conflicting explanations, Pam leaves to stay with her sister. Les becomes very distraught at her departure, and Claudette urges him to tell Pam the truth, just as Pam returns and walks in on them together. Shortly after Claudette leaves the house, Pam urges Les to end the affair or their marriage is over. Two months later, Les visits Claudette for comfort after Pam refuses to speak to him on Lawrie's birthday. He later calls Claudette, telling her he cannot stop thinking about her, and makes an excuse to Pam to go and be with Claudette again. He is then caught in his underwear in Claudette's house by Donna, who concludes they are having an affair, and despite Les and Claudette denying it, Donna tells Pam what she saw. Pam then goes to Claudette's house and sets about destroying gifts from Les until Claudette says the presents are not hers, and Pam should ask Les about Christine. When Pam asks Les, he reveals that Christine is his secret
feminine alter ego, where he dresses up in women's clothes and has done so since he was seven years old, but after they married he did not need Christine until Lawrie died, when the alter-ego became a grief outlet for him, and Claudette has been supporting this secret. Pam is horrified at him having lied to, and tells Les he disgusts her. However, Pam agrees to "meet" Christine. Les, as Christine, explains that this is how he can cope with things, as Christine is more open than Les, and he is still the same person. Pam apparently begins to accept this, but when Paul interrupts, Pam says she cannot accept it, so packs a bag and leaves, while Paul comforts Les. Paul manages to convince Pam to return home to talk to Les, but when she gets hesitant again, Les moves out to give Pam some time to think, and he moves in with Billy. Pam and Les have dinner together but she still cannot get the image of him dressed as Christine out of her mind, soLes burns all of Christine's clothes and photos and Pam agrees to take things one day at a time, but
Babe Smith (
Annette Badland) is watching and finds and pockets a surviving photo of Les dressed as Christine. Shortly after, Paul encourages Les to remind Pam of the man she first fell in love with and she agrees to his moving back in as long as they sleep in separate beds. A few months later, Les spurns Babe, so she sends Les an anonymous email, blackmailing him over his crossdressing. When Pam notices money has been paid from their account, Les admits he has been blackmailed. The blackmailing continues regularly, and Pam starts to suspect Babe, and eventually they discover the truth. Les confides in Claudette and says he misses Christine, so she gives him some of her clothes and makeup that she still has. Stressed, Les dresses up again but is caught by Paul. Paul refuses to destroy Christine's things for Les, saying Les should not suffer for who he is. When Pam finds Les dressed as Christine, she chastises him and he suffers a heart attack. Billy sees him as he enters the ambulance. Billy calls Les a "pervert" to Pam, so she fires him from the funeral parlour. Pam then tells Les they should retire away from London and Les agrees; when Paul and his boyfriend
Ben Mitchell (
Harry Reid) find out, they decide they should take over the running of the funeral parlour. Paul's mother,
Jenny Rawlinson (
Amy Marston), arrives looking for him, but he only assumes she is the blackmailer and orders her away. Pam and Les vow to tell Paul who she is, but Paul is killed in a homophobic attack. Pam struggles to cope, refusing to talk to Les about Paul, so he considers dressing as Christine; he explains why he cross-dresses to Billy and gives him his job back. Les then decides to be strong for Pam so tells Claudette he will no longer be Christine, but the blackmailing continues, with Pam refusing to go to the police, but she tells Claudette that Babe is the blackmailer. After four months of blackmail, Claudette reveals this to Babe's family, and Babe, who has just been attacked by
Abi Branning (
Lorna Fitzgerald) and come close to death, tells Claudette that she now sees how bad she has been and regrets everything, so it will stop. Les and Pam later attend a court hearing for Paul's killers. Les calls one of them,
Simon Atmore (
Tom Palmer), a liar after he denies having anything to do with Paul's death. When they arrive home, Pam tells him he needs to be Christine again. Les later suffers a small heart attack after talking to
Linda Carter (
Kellie Bright) who tries to comfort him and he eventually dresses up as Christine. Les then asks Pam if she would consider leaving Walford together for a fresh start after the trial is over which she agrees. Les and Pam are delighted when Babe returns all of their money. However, they decide to leave and Les appoints Billy as the manager of Coker and Sons. Pam packs a box of Christine's wig and clothes suggesting she has accepted her. After saying an emotional farewell to his friends and after giving Billy his funeral hat, Les departs with Pam for a new life in
Worthing.
Development and reception Having been originally introduced as the funeral director who arranged
Pat Evans' (
Pam St Clement) funeral, Sloman appeared in one episode on 9 January 2012 as a guest character. Executive producer
Dominic Treadwell-Collins said "Les and Pam are part of our plans to rejuvenate the show's older generation. It's already so exciting to watch the chemistry between Roger and Lin on set, playing characters who have been together for so long, they know each other inside out. Or so they think." Sloman and Blakley were axed by new executive producer
Sean O'Connor in 2016, with a show insider commenting, "Pam and Les have been a big part of the show over the past few months and with their current storyline, bosses felt that it was the right time for their characters to leave the Square. There is still plenty more drama to come from the Cokers before they leave Walford." Of Pat and Les, Kate White of
Inside Soap said "Pat had, erm, 'relations' with Mr Coker the undertaker. What a forward-thinking way to get a discount on your funeral." The ''
Daily Mirror's'' Jane Simon commented on Les's scenes, saying "You don't often get laughs out of an undertaker, but the chap who turns up to arrange Pat's funeral has Carol Jackson spluttering into her tea." A reporter writing for the
Inside Soap Yearbook described Pam and Les as a "soap favourite" and hoped they would "hurry home soon". == Ray Dixon ==