nigel bates, played by paul bradley, was introduced in 1992 by leonard lewis, the character was incorporated gradually and brought back as a regular following a brief stint due to a popular reception. he is depicted as a lovable loser and a nerd. bradley quit the role and nigel was written out of the serial in april 1998 and was given a happy ending. the door was left open for a possible future return. nigel was one of several introductions occurring in 1992. executive producer leonard lewis took a tentative approach to introducing new characters in 1992. most were introduced gradually, making an initial appearance and then joining the programme full-time a couple of months later. this allowed the producers and writers to create new characters and see them brought to life by the actors before committing them to a longer contract. characters introduced in this way included mandy salter (nicola stapleton), christine hewitt (lizzie power) and nigel bates, played by paul bradley.