Corrie viewer saved Sue Nicholls’ life after spotting life threatening symptom during episode

A Coronation Street fan alerted Sue Nicholls to a potentially life-threatening disease after spotting a symptom while watching her onscreen during a 2010 episode.

In the scene, Sue’s character Audrey Roberts was sitting in bed waiting for Lewis Archer, played by Nigel Havers, after becoming entangled in a love triangle storyline. The character was clad in skimpier attire then usual in attempt to entice Lewis, leaving her shoulders exposed.

And because of this, nurse Anna Bianconi-Moore spotted something a little unusual on the actress’ shoulder while watching at home after a shift at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Anna told the Daily Mail at the time: “I noticed it [the mole] was irregular in shape and had at least three different colours. These are two of the red-flag signals that distinguish the most deadly form of skin cancer – malignant melanoma.

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“I was obviously incredibly worried for Sue, and felt I needed to do something.”

Anna found an email address for the show and got in touch to express her concern regarding the mole on her shoulder, explaining how she had spotted a ‘sinister-looking lesion’ and that Sue should go and see a specialist.

Anna’s email was passed to the show’s in-house medical team, and Sue’s mole was measured. When she returned a few months later to check if it had grown, however, it was a quarter of an inch larger, so Sue was referred to a skin cancer specialist and consultant plastic surgeon, who decided that it should be removed.

A week later, her surgeon contacted her to say that her lifelong mole had turned into melanoma.

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Thankfully, Sue made a full recovery following the surgery and, to thank Anna for going out of her way to contact the show, invited her to the Corrie set.

The actress said, as per Metro: “It was so important to me to meet Anna, and thank her. She is such a kind, conscientious and clever lady. I wouldn’t have done anything about my mole had she not got in touch – it was just a freckle, and I’d had it for ever.

“I’m a great believer in fate and in this case it was a positive fate that Anna happened to be watching that particular episode that evening.”

For more information on skin cancer and how to look out for the signs and symptoms, read the NHS’ list of advice here.