Corrie's William Roache fights with real-life son

Coronation Street star William Roache had to fight with his real-life son James in upcoming scenes for the soap.

The actor, who plays Ken Barlow, was offered a stuntman for the scenes, but declined on the basis that he wanted the scenes to be as realistic as possible. Stunt coordinator Richard Hammatt supervised the fight.

The altercation occurs on Thursday, when Ken discovers that grandson James - played by James - has taken out loans against his home. As he tries to call the police, James hits him, leaving Ken semi-conscious on the floor.

"If you are going to do a fight you've got to go for it," he told The People. "And if James is pulling me back it makes it better if I fight back properly - you get a much more ­realistic scene.

"And so he really did grapple with me. In fact I actually told him to go in harder and be a bit rougher with me. I can't bear fight scenes where ­people hold back.

"I may be 79, but what's an age? It's how you feel that counts. I'm still fit. The stunt coordinator made it very safe. There was padding in the area where I was going to be thrown and I was falling onto boxes covered in rubber ­matting, so I had no worries about ­throwing myself into it completely."

James added: "I was shocked when I first heard about the storyline. The fact that you are being very ­antagonistic to your own father does make you feel a bit uncomfortable."

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