Claudia Colby Claudia Colby was the owner of Weatherfield hair salon Perm Suspect , a close acquaintance of Audrey Roberts and the former partner of widower Marc Selby . On 18th December 2009 , Claudia attended a Weatherfield Council Christmas lunch , escorted by Lewis Archer , whom she often hired such functions . Audrey , who also attended the lunch , was shocked at Claudia using a male escort . Claudia defended herself by saying it was just for appearances , with no sex involved . Audrey , enticed by Claudia ' s explanation , began to latch onto the idea of using a male escort and began doing so . In April 2010 , Claudia and Audrey went to a dinner dance together where they saw Lewis escorting Rita Sullivan . Audrey admitted to Claudia that she had used Lewis ' services several times , and had fallen for him . Claudia insisted that Lewis ' s charms were nothing more than contractual . Despite this , Audrey and Lewis embarked on a relationship together . Claudia ' s doubts about Lewis ' s reliability as a permanent suitor for Audrey were proved to be right . In July , Audrey and Lewis began to plan their retirement - running a hotel together in Greece . However , Lewis vanished on the day of their departure the following month , leaving Audrey devastated at the party thrown for them by her daughter Gail . To make matters worse , CCTV footage of Lewis stealing from the till of Barlow ' s Bookies was shown at the party - the footage also included Lewis attempting to divert temporary assistant Deirdre Barlow ' s attention by kissing her . Claudia delighted in the resulting floor show between Gail and Deirdre . Claudia donated a prize of luxury treatments in her salon to a special New Year ' s Eve charity raffle held by the Rovers in 2010 . The prize was won by a disgruntled Audrey , who had already had her nose put out of joint - her donation of a pedicure and manicure at her own salon was somewhat dwarfed by Claudia ' s generosity . At the start of 2011 , Claudia embarked on a relationship with Marc Selby , a widower and local wine - dealer whose late wife Tricia had been a regular customer at Perm Suspect . However , their relationship turned sour when he began cancelling their dates , giving the excuse of " business meetings " . Claudia , worried that Marc was having an affair , persuaded Audrey to spy on him on the evening of yet another cancelled date . They were both stunned to discover what they thought was a woman leaving Marc ' s house . After confronting him with the discovery , Marc told Claudia that the " woman " was his sister . The truth was uncovered when Audrey made a startling discovery . A shaken Marc phoned her to pick him up from Weatherfield Police Station - he had been mugged because he was dressed as a woman . Marc admitted he was a transvestite but swore Audrey to secrecy . Although she obliged , she was desperate for Marc to come to terms with who he was and assured him that Claudia would be nothing but understanding . Claudia eventually discovered the truth and was appalled at both Audrey ' s " lack of friendship " and Marc ' s transvestitism , calling him a " freak " . She walked out on the couple , telling Audrey that their friendship was over . Regardless though , the pair reconciled and in July 2015 Audrey spent her 75th birthday having a liquid lunch with Claudia and getting drunk , making her unable to attend her birthday party at Nick ' s Bistro . In September 2016 Claudia won the Stylists ' Awards , although a disappointed Audrey put it down to her giving the judge free blow dries at her salon . List of appearances . 2009 2010 2011