Audrey bumps into an old friend, Claudia Colby (Rula Lenska), at a function and is introduced to her dinner partner, Lewis Archer (Nigel Havers). Claudia later tells Audrey that Lewis is an escort and she should give him a call. Audrey, having become smitten with Lewis, contacts him and begins seeing him occasionally. In April 2010, Audrey is not pleased to see Lewis out with Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox), which leads to the two women having a bitter argument over Lewis. Later that month, Audrey discovers Lewis's black book with details on all his clients. She is deeply hurt to see that she is no more than a paying customer to him, but when he assures her that he has fallen for her too, she responds to his kiss and they become a couple. Approaching her 70th birthday, Audrey toys with the idea of retirement, as she wants to settle down with Lewis. At her birthday party in The Rovers, she argues with Gail, when she discovers that Lewis was an escort. Annoyed with Gail, Rita and Claudia's interference, Audrey announces that she has found happiness with Lewis. Audrey then decides to purchase a Greek hotel with Lewis and emigrate, much to the amazement of her family and friends. However, it soon emerges that Lewis is a conman after he steals £4,000 from the bookies. On the day of their departure, Lewis' deception is revealed after he is caught kissing Deirdre Barlow (Anne Kirkbride) and placing fake betting slips in the cash register on CCTV. Lewis flees the country with the money, leaving Audrey humiliated and heartbroken. Audrey is shocked to discover that Claudia's boyfriend, Marc Selby (Andrew Hall), is a transvestite when she picks him up from a police station after he is assaulted. Marc begs her not to tell Claudia and Audrey agrees. However, Claudia mistakingly believes that Audrey and Marc are having an affair which leads to Marc telling Claudia about his transvestism.