Coronation Street star William Roache has played Ken Barlow since the ITV soap first aired in 1960, and he’s made a surprising admission about his friendships with his co-stars during that time.
The actor, 94, recently appeared on the Session 7 – Interesting Lives podcast and discussed his social life with colleagues off-set.
‘I don’t meet up with anyone,’ he revealed. ‘I had one or two people like Chris Gascoyne and one or two others, recently, that I was closer to. I’m probably closer to people in makeup and wardrobe.’
He went on to explain that the cast mingle for drinks at Christmas parties and similar professional events, but that’s as far as it goes.
During the conversation, host and former Corrie star Scott Wright asked about Barbara Knox, who has played Rita Tanner since 1964.
‘Barbara and I, we’ve been polite, but we’ve never been friendly. I’ve never been socially out with Barbara ever,’ Bill admitted.
He continued: ‘We respect each other, but we don’t meet up socially… Barbara’s great. She’s a wonderful person. They’re all nice. There wasn’t a single discord in the cast in any way.’
Bill has previously shared how iconic star Pat Phoenix refused to speak to him for two years – a story that he told again on the podcast.
He explained that they were filming a scene in which Ken scolded Pat’s character, Elsie Tanner, for her cruel words to Valerie Tatlock, when Pat suggested that they change the end of the scene.
‘It’s the only time I can ever remember getting angry in a scene,’ Bill said. ‘You know exactly what you’re doing, you’re turning the scene on its head, and in my view that’s very unprofessional.’
Revealing how they repaired their relationship after the two years of silence, Bill explained: ‘After about two years we were waiting to make an entrance, and she had a birthday party coming up.
‘She said, “I suppose you can come to my birthday party if you want to.” I said, “I’d love to, Pat,” and I did, and we became great friends after that.’
During the conversation, Bill and Scott shared a whole host of stories and experiences from their time on the cobbles and beyond.
Scott played the role of builder, mechanic and stripper Sam Kingston from 2000 to 2002. During his time on the cobbles, Sam dated Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor), before moving to Ibiza.
As Ken, Bill has been at the centre of some major storylines, including the famous love triangle between Ken, Deirdre Barlow and Mike Baldwin, which Bill described as the story that had ‘the biggest impact’ for them and one of his favourite Corrie memories.
