{{Short description|English actor (born 1932)}} {{other people||William Roach (disambiguation)}} {{Use British English|date=March 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = William Roache | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} | image = William Roache (2021) (cropped).jpg | caption = Roache in 2021 | other_names = Bill Roache | birth_name = William Patrick Roache | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1932|4|25|df=y}} | death_date = | birth_place = Basford, Nottingham, England | occupation = Actor | known_for = ''Coronation Street'' (1960–present) <br/> ''Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories'' (2011) | years_active = 1958–present | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Anna Cropper|1961|1974|reason=divorced}}|{{marriage|Sara McEwan Mottram|1978|2009|reason=died}}}} | partner = Emma Jesson (2010–2012) | children = 5<br>(including Linus and James) | relatives = Rosalind Bennett (daughter-in-law) }} '''William Patrick Roache''' (born 25 April 1932) is 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=William Roache free to rebuild career |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25665516 |work=BBC News |date=6 February 2014 |access-date=7 February 2014}}</ref>
==Early life== William Patrick Roache<ref>{{cite web |title=Coronation Street actor William Roache has appeared at Preston Magistrates Court |url=http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/coronation-street-actor-william-roache-has-appeared-at-preston-magistrates-court-1-5665349 |publisher=Lep.co.uk |date=14 May 2013 |access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref> was born in the Basford suburb of Nottingham on 25 April 1932<ref name="Totally"/> the son of Hester Vera (née Waddicor) and Joseph William Vincent Roache, a doctor. His mother was the daughter of Albert and Mary Zillah Waddicor, a successful businesswoman, who ran a restaurant and tea rooms at Alton Towers, which had been opened as a tourist attraction – but not at that time a theme park – after the death of the 20th Earl of Shrewsbury; Albert was a violent drunk.
Roache grew up in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, where he attended a Steiner school set up by his grandfather, a physician and surgeon, in the family's garden.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2012/who-do-you-think-you-are/william-roache-32|title = Featured Articles: TheGenealogist}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/episode/william-roache|title = William Roache| date=17 June 2020 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/CELEBRITY-Spiritual-soap-star-William.1366904.jp "Spiritual soap star William Roache to give talk in city"], ''Peterborough Today'', 25 February 2006; retrieved 7 June 2008.</ref> His grandfather was a Freemason who was interested in such things as theosophy, esotericism, hypnotism, spiritualism, and homoeopathy, as well as the teachings of philosopher and educationalist Rudolf Steiner. Roache was later educated at Rydal School.<ref>{{cite web |title=Notable alumni - Rydal Penrhos - Alumni |url=http://alumni.rydalpenrhos.com/history/notable_alumni/ |publisher=Alumni.rydalpenrhos.com |date=13 February 2009 |access-date=4 August 2014}}</ref> He joined the British Army and was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1953. A year later, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He left in 1956 with the rank of captain. Due to an exploding mortar round during his military service, he suffered from tinnitus.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hearing Loss News and Reviews |work=Tinnitus sufferers 'feel let down' by NHS treatment |date=13 September 2005 |publisher=EveningTimes.co.uk}}</ref>
==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''.<ref>{{cite web |title=William Roache |url=http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/roache_bill.html |publisher=Corrie.net |access-date=6 February 2014}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Totally">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/inside-soap/20200519/283802855914667|title=10 Totally True Facts about Ken Barlow|magazine=Inside Soap|date=19 May 2020|accessdate=25 January 2023}}</ref> He added: "But Tony Warren, who created ''Coronation Street'', saw it and thought I was right for Ken Barlow."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/corries-william-roache-collects-obe-28732508|accessdate=25 January 2023|date=14 December 2022|publisher=Reach plc|title=Corrie's William Roache collects OBE as the longest-serving soap star in the world|first=Victoria|last=Johns}}</ref>
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''.<ref>{{cite web |title=This Is Your Life (1969–1993) |url=http://www.eofftv.com/t/thi/this_is_your_life_1969_main.htm |url-status=dead |publisher=Eofftv.com |access-date=26 January 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422082302/http://www.eofftv.com/t/thi/this_is_your_life_1969_main.htm |archivedate=22 April 2012}}</ref> ''Ken and Me'', Roache's first autobiography, was published in 1993, covering his life on and off screen.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ken and Me |id={{ASIN|0671712136|country=uk}}}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/tv/nostalgia-bullseye-1981-1995-229740|work=Birmingham Mail|first=Roz|last=Laws|title=Nostalgia: Bullseye (1981-1995)|date=1 January 2012|accessdate=25 January 2023}}</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}
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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Kris |date=2008-10-24 |title=Corrie actor had two-year feud with co-star |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/a133505/corrie-actor-had-two-year-feud-with-co-star/ |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=Digital Spy |language=en-GB}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |title=50 Years on the Street: My Life with Ken Barlow |id={{ASIN|1845966554|country=uk}}}}</ref> [[File:William Roache 2017.jpg|thumb|upright|Roache attending Four Miles from Manchester; Tony Warren's Coronation Street exhibition at Salford Museum & Art Gallery in October 2017]] 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC One - Who Do You Think You Are?, Series 9, William Roache |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n2thm |publisher=BBC |date=7 February 2013 |access-date=4 August 2014}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|title=Life and Soul: How to Live a Long and Healthy Life|id = {{ASIN|1781809771|country=uk}}}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodfellow, R, Copeland J. and O'Neill, P. |title=The Times and Life of William Bill Roache: Actor for the Ages |publisher=The End Authority Limited Publishing Auckland and Atebol Aberystwyth |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-80106-283-1 |edition= |location=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Harri |date=12 June 2022 |title=Coronation Street actor Bill Roache reflects on his time living in Abersoch and his love for Snowdonia in new book |work=North Wales Live |url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/coronation-street-actor-bill-roache-24138341 |access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref>
==Personal life== [[File:William Roache Cropped.jpg|thumb|Roache opening a Caketastic store in Wythenshawe in December 2012]] Roache lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire.<ref name="MEN"/> His eldest son, by his first wife Anna Cropper (1938–2007), is actor Linus Roache (born 1964). The couple also had a daughter, Vanya (1967–2018). Roache and Cropper were married from 1961 until divorcing in 1974. Roache married his second wife, Sara McEwan Mottram, in 1978. She died suddenly on 7 February 2009 at their home, aged 58.<ref name="BBC1">{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7877711.stm |title=Street actor Roache's wife dies |date=8 February 2009 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=7 March 2009}}</ref> With McEwan Mottram, he had a daughter (born 1981) and a younger son, actor James Roache (christened William; born 1985). A second daughter, died aged 18 months, on 16 November 1984.
In 1991, Roache won a libel action against ''The Sun'', which had described him as boring and unpopular with his fellow ''Coronation Street'' stars. He was awarded £50,000 in damages by the jury, the same amount that he had turned down in an out-of-court settlement offered by the newspaper before the case. As a result, he was liable for the £120,000 costs incurred. Roache sued his law firm for negligence in 1998, and was declared bankrupt in April 1999.<ref name="libel_1">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/apr/14/features11.g2|title=Bankrupt... but by no means boring|date=14 April 1999|work=The Guardian|first=Fiachra|last=Gibbons|access-date=7 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="libel_2">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/coronation-street-star-william-roache-sues-over-libel-bill-1149362.html|title='Coronation Street' star William Roache sues over libel bill|date=10 March 1998|work=The Independent|access-date=7 February 2014|location=London}}</ref>
Roache is a supporter of the Conservative Party, in stark contrast to his character Ken Barlow, who has been stereotyped as a Labour supporter. In 2007, as a guest for ''Daily Politics'', he championed John Major as Britain's greatest post-war prime minister.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/6242715.stm|title=Your Favourite Prime Minister|publisher=BBC News|date=13 June 2007}}</ref> He backed Conservative MP Neil Hamilton in the 1997 election against Martin Bell.<ref>{{cite news|title=Talking Politics: Springing to Neil Hamilton's defence|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/194174.stm|access-date=7 February 2014|publisher=BBC News|date=19 October 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Bill Roache: His strange life and times|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9145323/William-Roache-His-strange-life-and-times.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9145323/William-Roache-His-strange-life-and-times.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=7 February 2014|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=15 March 2012|location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Roache opposed instant-runoff voting in favour of first-past-the-post voting during the 2011 referendum on the issue.<ref>{{cite web |title=William Roache says 'no' to AV |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCOnYqpXZp4 |website=officialNO2AV | date=11 April 2011 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=23 September 2021}}</ref>
Roache became patron of the Ilkeston-based production company Sustained Magic Ltd in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sustainedmagic.com/aboutUs.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213204819/http://www.sustainedmagic.com/aboutUs.php|archivedate=13 February 2009|title=About Us|access-date=19 March 2013|publisher=Sustained Magic}}</ref>
Roache dated weather reporter Emma Jesson from 2010 to 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a408093/corries-bill-roache-cools-romance-with-weather-girl-emma-jesson.html|title=Corrie's Bill Roache cools romance with weather girl Emma Jesson?|publisher=Digital Spy|date=25 September 2012|access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref>
Roache wrote about his interest in astrology in his biography, which he learned by taking a correspondence course from the Faculty of Astrological Studies. He said he had impressed members of the ''Coronation Street'' cast by the accuracy with which he read their astrological charts for them.<ref>William Roach, ''Soul on the Street'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=rK2BxUxMNhoC&dq=faculty+of+astrological+studies&pg=PA165 pp.165–168]. (Hay House, Inc, 2008) {{ISBN|9781848500150}}.</ref>
==Legal issues== On 1 May 2013, Roache was arrested by Lancashire Police on suspicion of having raped a 15-year-old girl in 1967, an allegation he denied.<ref name="MEN">{{cite news| title=Coronation Street actor Bill Roache arrested on suspicion of historic sex assault| url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/coronation-street-actor-bill-roache-3311641|newspaper=Manchester Evening News |access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/coronation-street-star-bill-roache-strenuously-denies-allegations-he-raped-underage-girl-in-1967-8598734.html| title=Coronation Street star Bill Roache strenuously denies allegations he raped underage girl in 1967 |date=1 May 2013 |access-date=7 February 2014 |newspaper=The Independent|location=London |first=Rob |last=Williams}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22378146|title=Coronation Street star William Roache denies rape|publisher=BBC News|date=2 May 2013|access-date=13 May 2013}}</ref> The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently announced that he was to be charged with two counts of rape.<ref name="BBC-May-1">{{cite news|title=Coronation Street star William Roache to face rape charges|date=1 May 2013|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22374518|access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref> There was a preliminary hearing in a Magistrates' court on 14 May 2013<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/01/bill-roache-charged-rape-1967 |title=Coronation Street's Bill Roache charged with rape of 15-year-old in 1967| newspaper=The Guardian| location=London|first=Josh|last=Halliday|date=1 May 2013}}</ref> and a Crown Court hearing took place on 10 June 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22520755|title=Coronation Street's William Roache appears in court on rape charge|date=14 May 2013|access-date=22 February 2017|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> On 6 June 2013, Roache was charged with a further five counts of indecent assault against girls aged between 12 and 16.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1100361/bill-roache-corrie-actor-faces-more-charges|title=Bill Roache: Corrie Actor Faces More Charges|publisher=Sky News|access-date=6 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="BBC 6Jun13">{{cite news|title=Roache charged with indecent assault|date=6 June 2013|publisher=BBC News| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22806885|access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref> Roache appeared at Preston Crown Court on 2 September and pleaded not guilty to all charges. The full trial started on 14 January 2014 at Preston Crown Court, before Judge Anthony Russell QC.<ref>{{cite news |title=Coronation Street's William Roache in court on sex charges |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-22838552 |publisher=BBC News |date=10 June 2013 |access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref> During the trial, one charge was dismissed by the judge citing a lack of evidence. Some details in two witnesses' accounts changed in the course of the trial.<ref name="verdict"/>
On 6 February 2014, Roache was found not guilty on all charges.<ref name="verdict">{{cite news |title=William Roache found not guilty of rape and indecent assault |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26068034 |publisher=BBC News |date=6 February 2014 |access-date=6 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10621400/Bill-Roache-found-not-guilty-of-rape-and-assault-charges.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10621400/Bill-Roache-found-not-guilty-of-rape-and-assault-charges.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Bill Roache found not guilty of rape and assault charges|date=6 February 2014|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=6 February 2014|location=London|first=Martin|last=Evans}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Following his acquittal, Roache gave a brief statement saying that there had been "no winners" and expressing his intent to "get back to work".<ref name="verdict"/> A waxwork of Ken Barlow had been removed from the Madame Tussauds waxwork exhibition in Blackpool due to fears it might be vandalised.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-22501994 |title=Blackpool Madame Tussauds removes Ken Barlow waxwork|date=12 May 2013|access-date=7 February 2014|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> The waxwork was returned to the exhibition in February 2014 following Roache's acquittal.<ref name="waxwork">{{cite news|title=William Roache waxwork is back on display at Madame Tussauds|date=18 February 2014|url=http://www.nottinghampost.com/William-Roache-waxwork-display-Madame-Tussauds/story-20648496-detail/story.html|work=Nottingham Post|access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref> Roache resumed filming on ''Coronation Street'' in June 2014, and returned to the screen on 4 August of that year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27500248|title=William Roache to resume Coronation Street role|publisher=BBC News|date=21 May 2014}}</ref>
==Awards== In 1999, Roache was awarded the British Soap Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for his role as Ken Barlow.
In March 2007, Roache was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Chester in recognition of his contribution to television.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alumni.chester.ac.uk/Pages/honorary-graduates-2007.aspx|title=Honorary Graduates 2007|publisher=chester.ac.uk|access-date=2014-08-04}}</ref>
Roache was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1092534.stm|title=Olympic heroes lead honours list|publisher=BBC News|access-date=12 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Cooper|first=Lorna|url=http://tv.uk.msn.com/features/william-roache-coronation-streets-ken-barlow-turns-80?page=14|title=William Roache, MBE - William Roache: Coronation Street's Ken Barlow turns 80|publisher=uk.msn.com|access-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808050243/http://tv.uk.msn.com/features/william-roache-coronation-streets-ken-barlow-turns-80?page=14|archive-date=8 August 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to drama and charity.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63571|supp=y|page=N15|date=1 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59809682|title=New Year Honours: Whitty, Van-Tam and Blair knighted, Lumley and Redgrave made dames| work=BBC News |date=31 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-59841561 |title=New Years Honours 2022: William Roache 'delighted' with OBE |date=31 December 2021|accessdate=3 January 2022|work=BBC News}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Show ! Role ! Note |- |1958 || ''Behind the Mask'' || Young Doctor|| Uncredited |- | 1960–present || ''Coronation Street'' || Ken Barlow || 4,935 episodes |- | rowspan="2" |1960 || ''The Bulldog Breed'' || Space Centre operator || Uncredited |- | ''Knight Errant Limited'' || Various || 2 episodes |- |1961 || ''The Queen's Guards'' || Field Radio Operator || Uncredited |- | 1969 || ''All Star Comedy Carnival'' || rowspan="4" | Ken Barlow || |- | 1999 || ''Comic Relief Special - Wetty Hainthropp Investigates'' || |- | 2005 || ''Comic Relief'' || |- | 2011 || ''Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories'' || ''Coronation Street'' spin-off series; 10 episodes |- | 2017 || ''The Missing Crown Jewels'' || Himself || Part of ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' |}
==See also== *Michael Le Vell, a fellow ''Coronation Street'' actor who was acquitted of sexual offences in a separate case
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0730075|name=William Roache}} * https://www.timesandlife.co.uk
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roache, William}} Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century British Army personnel Category:20th-century English male actors Category:21st-century English male actors Category:Actors from Wilmslow Category:Conservative Party (UK) people Category:English male soap opera actors Category:English spiritual writers Category:English spiritualists Category:Male actors from Derbyshire Category:Male actors from Nottingham Category:Military personnel from Nottingham Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People acquitted of rape Category:People educated at Rydal Penrhos Category:People from Basford, Nottinghamshire Category:People from Ilkeston Category:Royal Welch Fusiliers officers William