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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kirsty McCormack

Corrie villain Jez Quigley actor Lee Boardman looks very different 22 years later

Coronation Street's Jez Quigley is one of the soap's most memorable villains, but actor Lee Boardman looks rather different these days.

The 49-year-old former soap star left the much-loved ITV programme 22 years ago and he's now sporting grey hair and a bushy beard.

Lee made his first appearance on the soap back in 1997 as Jez, who was a gangster, drug dealer and a murderer.

Corrie fans will remember he killed Tony Horrocks (Lee Warburton) as well as Des Barnes (Philip Middlemiss).

Nasty piece of work Jez was also responsible for getting Leanna Battersby (Jane Danson) hooked on drugs years ago.

Coronation Street's Jez Quigley is one of the soap's most memorable villains (Granada Television)
Actor Lee Boardman played the role of the gangster and drug dealer (Granada Television)

Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) testified against him in court for Tony and Des’s murders – but unfortunately Jez was found not guilty.

Upon not going to jail, Jez arranged for Steve to be beaten up and left for dead.

However, Steve’s dad Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson) decided to take the law into his own hands and attacked Jez, who later died in hospital from the injuries.

Evil Jez was also responsible for getting Leanna Battersby hooked on drugs years ago (Granada Television)

Since leaving Coronation Street in September 2000, Lee has had various TV roles – appearing in Trollied, Death in Paradise and Rome.

Speaking about his exit from the ITV soap, Lee previously said: "He's not the kind of character who could stay on the Street. He's too bad. I discussed Jez with the producer and asked if she'd consider killing me off. I told her to go to town on my exit.”

These days, former soap star Lee is sporting grey hair and a bushy beard (Instagram)

He continued: "I always thought of Coronation Street as a shop window and never thought I'd be the kind of character who would stay around.

"I didn't want to get stereotyped. Also, I was worried that the character would get watered-down. I've seen it happen in other soaps - these guys come in and they are really evil but after a while there's nowhere for their character to go.

Lee admitted that he never thought Jez would 'be the kind of character who would stay around' (Instagram)

"People like Jez do exist and they never chill out or change, and I didn't want him to change on screen. I've worked so hard on him that the last thing I wanted was for him to be toned-down and end up lodging at Emily Bishop's.

"As an actor you can never get too comfortable. If you want a regular job you don't become an actor, and in Corrie it's easy to turn it into a regular job and just keep taking the money.

"But I've got a low boredom threshold and I constantly need to push myself. With Jez, I've created a monster but I've done as much as I can with him. It's time to move on," he added.

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