William Roache

I’ve wrapped, packed and warmed up me liberty bodice before heading up north this weekend for Christmas. While I’m away the lovely Karen Jankel will be writing the weekly updates for the next two weeks so spare a thought for Karen, locked here in the weekly update office as you’re all tucking into your turkey and sprouts. And so, without any further ado, here we go with this week’s Coronation Street update. Deirdre doesn’t know which way to turn when she’s caught in the battle of the Barlows as Ken goes head to head with Peter over him opening the bar. Ken meets with ... Read Full Story

William Roache (Ken Barlow) and Bev Callard (Liz McDonald) will be putting in an appearance on the final Paul O'Grady show on Friday December 18th. Paul's final show will be shown at 5pm on Channel 4. He'll be much missed. Paul's pictured here with Sir Ian McKellen, who played Coronation Street con-man Mel Hutchwright. Read Full Story

Reprinted with permission from the fab TV blog PauseLiveAction Poor Ken. All he was trying to do was to earn a bit of money to get his little grandson Simon a decent Christmas present. By “decent,” it had to have the equivalent or greater monetary value than the present Simon is due to receive from his other granddad, George, aka Anthony Valentine from Colditz. He’s got a bob or two, has granddad George. Ken, a man who acts like he has a superiority complex but who spends his whole futile life feeling thwarted and inferior, finds George very hard to take. Particularly as George ... Read Full Story

American daytime soap, As The World Turns (ATWT) has been on the air since 1956, four and a half years longer than Coronation Street has. While it's always been said that our William Roache has set the record for the longest continuous portrayal of a character, this is, in fact, wrong. The man in this picture that is not Bill Roache is Don Hastings . He has been portraying Dr. Bob Hughes on ATWT for a mere two months longer than Bill Roache has been playing Ken Barlow. The two men have apparently spoken once, with Mr. Roache jokingly suggesting that Mr. Hastings retire. ... Read Full Story

  LONDON - Maggie Jones, the British actress who played the sharp-tongued Blanche Hunt on Coronation Street, has died at the age of 75. Jones had been recovering from an operation she had in October, when she died in her sleep on Wednesday, according to ITV, maker of the long-running British soap. Jones was a favourite among Coronation Street fans for her withering one-liners and meddlesome ways as the mother of Deirdre and mother-in-law of Ken Barlow, played by Anne Kirkbride and William Roache. Roache recalled her Wednesday as a "brilliant actress" and a "tower of strength ... mentally strong as an ox." Jones' ... Read Full Story