William Roache
William Patrick Roacheis an English actor. He is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and is the longest-serving cast member in the series as well as a world record holder, having appeared in the show continuously since its first broadcast on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-serving television star in a continuous role.
Career
After leaving the military, Roache turned to acting. He appeared in various stage productions, then had uncredited roles in several films, and later won small parts in television serials including Knight Errant Limited and Skyport. He played the minor role of a space centre operator in the Norman Wisdom film The Bulldog Breed. Shortly before joining Coronation Street at the beginning of the programme in 1960, Roache played the leading role in a Granada Television play called Marking Time, transmitted on ITV in 1961. In an interview with the Liverpool Post in 2007, Roache recalled "I played a young soldier in Germany who fraternised with a German girl, although I can't remember now how it ended. It was highly prestigious, though, and I have tried to hunt it down but there is no trace of it." He added: "But Tony Warren, who created Coronation Street, saw it and thought I was right for Ken Barlow."
On 16 October 1985, just weeks before the 25th anniversary of his debut on Coronation Street, Roache appeared as the subject of TV show This Is Your Life. Ken and Me, Roache's first autobiography, was published in 1993, covering his life on and off screen. In 1999, Roache was the recipient of the British Soap Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for his role as Ken Barlow. In 2003, Roache appeared on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes as Perry Como singing the song "Catch a Falling Star". In September and October 2005, he appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon. He was the winner of The Golden Shot (a remake), progressing through to Bullseye in which he was beaten by television presenter Vernon Kay. He later entered All Star Family Fortunes, hosted by Kay, but lost by two points to his competitors.
Roache's 2008 autobiography Soul on the Street contains a substantial amount of philosophical content in which Roache affirms his belief in the afterlife. In October 2008, he revealed on BBC Breakfast he had had a two-year feud with actress Pat Phoenix, a fellow Coronation Street player, during which they did not speak to each other: this stemmed from her changing a scene involving the two of them. However, they did reconcile and became good friends. In 2010, 50 Years on the Street: My Life with Ken Barlow, a memoir focusing on Roache's work on Coronation Street, was published to coincide with his 50th year playing Barlow.
On 13 April 2012, Piers Morgan interviewed Roache for his ITV series Piers Morgan's Life Stories. During this show Roache admitted to sleeping with around 1,000 women. On 26 September 2012, Roache was featured in the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, researching his family history. He is currently Coronation Street's longest-serving actor, having been in the cast from the first episode. In 2018, the book Life and Soul: How to Live a Long and Healthy Life was released, in which Roache shares his personal philosophy and life experiences.
Roache is currently the world's longest-serving television actor in a continuous role (as of March 2018) after the 2010 cancellation of the American soap opera As the World Turns, in which Don Hastings had played Bob Hughes since October 1960 without a break.
Roache's biography, The Times and Life of William 'Bill' Roache: Actor for the Ages, was released to coincide with his 90th birthday on 15 April 2022.
