Career
Roache is now the world's longest-serving television actor in a continuous role as of September 2010 with the cancellation of the American soap opera As the World Turns, where Don Hastings played Bob Hughes since October 1960 without a break. If he remains in the role beyond December 2014 he will surpass American actress Helen Wagner's record (also for As the World Turns) as the actor portraying the same character over the longest time span (which will be shared with Philip Lowrie if he remains in the cast). On 16 October 1985, just weeks before the 25th anniversary of his debut on Coronation Street, he appeared as the special guest on the TV guest show This Is Your Life. With the departure of Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) the previous year, he was the show's last remaining original cast member by this stage.
His autobiography is called A Soul on the Street. It focuses on many of his life experiences and contains a significant amount of philosophical content in which Roache affirms his belief in the afterlife.
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—in true Barlow style—the song "Catch a Falling Star".
In September and October 2005, Roache appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon. He was the winner of The Golden Shot remake, progressing through to Bullseye where 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.
In October 2008, he revealed on BBC Breakfast that he had a two-year feud with fellow Coronation Street actress Pat Phoenix during which they didn't speak to each other. This was over her changing of a scene involving the two of them. However, they did reconcile and became good friends.
In 2010 he made a guest appearance on Harry Hill's comedy album Funny Times on the song "Ken!" which is about his Coronation Street character.
On 13 April 2012, Piers Morgan interviewed Roache for his ITV series Piers Morgan's Life Stories
On 26 September 2012, Roache was featured on the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? researching his family history.
Read more about this topic: William Roache
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