Roache hopes to take world soap title

Britain’s longest-serving soap actor, William Roache, has said that after 48 years as Ken Barlow in Coronation Street he still hopes to take the world title.

The 76-year-old is the only remaining cast member from the first episode, which aired in December 1960. This makes him the world’s second longest-serving male soap actor – beaten by only around two months by an American.

Speaking on the BBC Breakfast programme, he joked: "I spoke to him on the phone. He’s in a daytime soap, and I said to him ‘Can’t you be ill for two months?’"

He added: "I hope I will overtake him one day – but we are streets ahead of anyone else."

However, the title for longest-serving female soap actor is held by US actress Helen Wagner, who made her first appearance as Nancy Hughes on the American soap As The World Turns in the show's first episode in 1956. Some 52 years later, she is still a regular cast member.

Earlier, talking about Violet Carson - who played the iconic Ena Sharples for 20 years from 1960 to 1980 - Roache revealed that she often sorted out any problems with the soap's senior management.

He said: "She had this great face – a face you could break rocks on. She was a very fair woman, a very strong woman, and you didn’t mess with her."

He added: "If we had a problem, she would go up and sort the management out – but she was lovely."

Violet Carson, who Roache explained was the only cast member with a well-known name at that time, was also known as the pianist, ‘Aunty Vi’, on the Wilfred Pickles radio series, Have a Go. She died on Boxing Day, 1983, aged 85.