Archie Dodds was the grim-faced husband of Bettabuy store detective Renee Dodds. Archie was unaware that Renee was having an affair with manager Reg Holdsworth, and when Reg had Renee transferred to their Bolton branch to get rid of her and patch up his marriage, Renee set Archie onto him by telling him she's asked for a transfer after being sexually harassed by Reg.
An ex-Royal Marine, Archie didn't hesitate to defend his wife's honour and turned up at Bettabuy, where he asked Vera for the manager. Having fallen out with assistant manager Curly Watts when he wouldn't let her take an early lunch, Vera pointed Curly out to Archie and told him he was the manager. Fortunately, Archie's revenge only extended to pushing Curly into a pile of toilet rolls, and warning Kimberley Taylor that he wasn't as innocent as he looked. Archie left, having no idea he'd set upon the wrong man.