The Corrie legend has had a storied life as part of the Cobbles cast

Ken Barlow is Coronation Street’s most iconic character. The Cobbles legend has been played by actor William Roache since the very first episode broadcast in 1960.

The actor remains as prominent as ever in the show as he is at the centre of one of Weatherfield’s major storylines. Ken is unknowingly being poisoned by his carer, Cassandra Plummer, who wants to keep him vulnerable so he will continue to employ her.

However, the character played by Claire Sweeney was shown to get greedy this week as she was seen to manipulate Ken when she took delivery of two air fryers. Cassie hid one in the hallway and later auctioned it off to make money.

Ken’s prominence on the Cobbles is showing no signs of waning as William has signed a year extension on the show. The 92-year-old has previously spoken of his hopes to become the first soap actor to reach 100 years old.

He said: “Someone said to me, ‘Look, Bill, you’re in the Guinness Book of Records, you’ve got the MBE, you’ve been in Coronation Street for over 60 years, what else is there?’ I said to him, ‘I would like to be the first centenarian who is still cast in an ongoing drama’. That’s my aim, to be 100 and still working on ­Coronation Street. While they want me and while I can do it I’ll continue to do it.”

William has enjoyed a storied time on Corrie as he was aged just 28 when the show started and has spent the majority of his life as part of the Cobbles cast. The soap star married TV actress, Anne Cropper, in 1961 when he was 29 years old and the couple shared two children together named Linus and Vanya before they divorced in 1974.

The actor has spoken candidly about how he regrets his life choices at this time as he revealed he was never faithful to his first wife and once claimed he slept with over 1,000 women. He told the Mirror: “Looking back, I didn’t know any better.

“But what I did find out is it does not bring you happiness and it is not the way to be. I had the opportunity, I indulged it and I can tell you this: it’s not worth it. The pain that it caused, and there’s all sorts of dangers.”

He added: “I had the opportunity, but that doesn’t mean I should do it. I had rehearsals up in Manchester from Monday to Friday. The opportunity was there.

“There were plenty of girls around. I shouldn’t have done it. I didn’t have any control over my own sex drive. I didn’t have the strength to control it. It depressed me. I’m so sorry for the things that I did. The hurt was the children. I’ll always regret that. Every morning I woke up regretting and hurting.”

William has previously revealed one of the people he had an affair with was Corrie co-star, Pat Phoenix, who played Elsie Tanner on the show. However, the actor said it was just a fling and the two “weren’t right for each other”.

He added: “It was just something that happened one night when we were together. She invited me round to her flat and we had a few drinks, then one thing led to another. At that time, she had a reputation and I had a reputation, and she felt we should meet, as it were. It just happened.”

William married his second wife, Sara Mottram, in 1978 and the two had three children together named Verity, Edwina and James. However, the family were hit with tragedy in 1984 when Edwina died aged 18 months old after contracting pneumonia.

William has since been rocked by two more personal tragedies as his second wife suddenly died aged 58 in 2008 – and his daughter, Vanya, died from a liver condition in 2018 at the age of 50. The Corrie actor crashed his car in snow on the way to the hospital, which meant he was unable to say “goodbye” to Vanya – and he described the pain of losing a child as “unbearable”.

He told the Mirror: “To not be able to say goodbye to Vanya was awful. But I take some comfort in now knowing she is in a better place and at peace. I like to think about the happier times we had. And when I say ‘I love you Vanya’ I know she hears it.”

Corrie fans are delighted whenever Ken is on scene and regularly praise his age defying appearance. He lifted the lid on the secrets of his long life in an interview with Radio 4.

He said: “We take a lot of things too seriously. Looking through life through the prism of humour is a very good philosophy to live by. If you can enjoy yourself and be happy, that is the key to it. We are meant to enjoy ourselves. We should be happy and celebrate things.”