Albert Collins

Albert Collins is Miss Courtney's ex-fiancé. He appears in "Brief Re-Encounter" and is played by Patrick O'Connell.

Profile
Albert and Miss Courtney originally met at Oxford over 25 years ago, when he offered her shelter under his umbrella and insisted on buying her a cup of tea and a sticky bun. She broke off their engagement and stopped speaking to Albert after he got drunk and passed out in the residents' lounge of their hotel in Brighton, but he unexpectedly calls her one day to inform her that he'll be coming to the school in half an hour. Despite Jeremy Brown accidentally dropping a flowerpot on his head, he uses his charm to talk Miss Courtney into paying for their wedding, reception and honeymoon until he can transfer his money from overseas. Sid, however, soon tells Mr. Brown that Albert is a con artist who was in prison with his brother-in-law, and specialises in bilking lonely women out of their life savings. When Albert comes back to the school to take Miss Courtney to dinner, Mr. Brown confronts him outside and tells Albert to "push off" before he throws him out. Albert initially asks "You and whose army?", but backs down and leaves when Mr. Brown's male students all show up looking ready to fight.

Albert is the first person in the series to call Miss Courtney by her first name.