He's romanced nearly 30 women and notched up four marriages during his time on the cobbles.
And despite nudging 80, Coronation Street legend Ken Barlow is not quite ready to say goodbye to his lothario image just yet.
Incredibly, actor William Roache, who has been in our living rooms for 50 years playing Ken, is begging scriptwriters to sex up his storylines even more.
Bill, the only remaining character from the first episode in 1960, wants a racy romance to celebrate the soap’s 50th anniversary this autumn.
And despite his age Bill is quite the charmer. Huddling up on the sofa, placing a re-assuring hand on my knee, the bubbly star grinned: “A few more gorgeous girlfriends would be lovely. How are you fixed, darling? You’d be great as my on-screen girlfriend.”
But don’t dust down the wedding hat just yet because there’s only one true love in Ken’s life.
Of his on-screen wife Deirdre (Anne *Kirkbride), Bill says: “We’re like a married couple in a way off-screen as well.
“We’re really fond of each other. We’ve done so much together. I’m lucky to have someone to work with like her. If she ever left I’d be very upset, just as Bill Tarmey (Jack Duckworth) was when Vera went.”
But first and foremost Bill is desperate for the racy plot lines to continue – including more “hot barmaids” to get his teeth in to. “I thought it was great last year having a girlfriend, *especially at my age. A few more would be great.
“I’ve lost count of romances I’ve had in the show not to mention the four weddings.
“The lovely Joanna Lumley being one of my girlfriends was a particular highlight. Not a bad life is it?”
He added: “Ken did *misbehave last year with Stephanie Beacham. I’m pleased about that too.”
As we chat over tea, fruit scones and clotted cream at the posh Hilton hotel in Manchester, a gaggle of grannies swoon over the surprisingly youthful MBE. He waves over cheerfully and smiles.
Then a group of lads in their 30s *recognise him and pat him on the back, offering to buy him a drink. Unfazed by his popularity, Bill says: “I love my job.
“I don’t want to retire. While they want me, while I’m useful – I’d love to stay.
“With my dysfunctional family I’m still useful to the show. An alcoholic son, a murderess daughter... It’s good drama.”
Incredibly, he will be the world’s longest-serving soap character this winter.
“There’s a guy in New York in As The World Turns who beats me by two months, but his show is not being commissioned this year. So I’ll be in the Guinness Book of Records as longest-serving TV actor.”
And the dad-of-four says of staying young: “I’m 78 this month. I don’t exercise but I don’t smoke or drink much. It’s in the genes. However, I do like champagne. I’ll celebrate my birthday with a glass or two and have dinner with my children.”
It is surprising how upbeat he is, *considering the tragedy he suffered last year. His wife Sara died suddenly at their home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, aged 58.
Bill admitted he cannot contemplate romance. Speaking softly he said: “I’m just looking after the family, dealing with things, taking life as it comes. We’re coping and life is going forward. I’m trying to get my two children settled in London.
“The fans are wonderful. People are very caring, I’d like to thank them all as I didn’t manage to answer all the letters as there were a tremendous amount.”
Despite playing Ken for so long, Bill says he is nothing like the character and is fed up of his weedy image. “People always say Ken and I are interchangeable,” he says, “but that’s not true. Over 50 years, there have been moments where I’ve had a problem with that.
“The scriptwriters are brilliant, but they can be very naughty sometimes with little things I might not like. “One example was in the Ken-Mike-Deirdre scenes. Ken was being made out to be a sort of wimp.
“Imagine when your wife has had an affair with somebody you’re having an argument with your wife in your hall.
“There’s a knock on the door, the guy she’s having an affair with is standing there smug. You stand there while he has a long dialogue at the door saying, ‘Are you all right Deirdre? Is there anything I can do,’ and Ken just stood there. So I said to the director, ‘Sorry, as an actor I cannot do this’.
“The director said: ‘What do you want to do?’ I said ‘I want to hit him’.
“He said we couldn’t do that because it’s not in the story. I said well let me go to hit him and then he can shut the door. So I really went for it. However by mistake I caught Deirdre and it made her cry.
“We stopped and she said, ‘I didn’t know it was gonna be like that.’ I said, ‘Well it is.’ I went too quickly so I caught her. She was really staggered at the ferocity.
“We set up again and I thought Anne isn’t going to move quick enough so I slammed her against the wall. And that was the scene we got lots of awards for.
“People said it was brilliant. Anne was brilliant. She was crying but carried on.”
Once the cameras stop rolling Bill gives his all for causes he believes in.
Despite being partially deaf from a mortar bomb on National Service in 1953, he doesn’t let that hinder him on set.
Bill, who is fronting the 2010 Specsavers Sound Barrier Awards, said: “My hearing affected me socially. Charity balls, pubs were a nightmare, anywhere where there’s noisy background and on set when people whisper. It went off at full blast in my ear. I was deaf for about three weeks. It was a tremendous ringing.
“In those days I thought I’d get over it but I didn’t realise the extent of the damage. Sometimes it’s a nightmare. I avoided pubs, noisy places. I would often miss out. If someone’s talking and I miss an important word they think I’m daft.
“I never regarded it as a major thing until I had tests done and virtually 50% of my hearing was obliterated.
“Youngsters are exposed to so much stuff – nightclubs and turning the volume up at home on computer games. Terribly important to get this message over.”
But he is over the moon with a digital hearing aid he had fitted. He said: “You can hardly tell it’s there. I’m very pleased with it. Now I can come clubbing with you.” What would Deirdre say?
* Bill is encouraging people to get free *hearing tests at Specsavers and to enter the Sound Barrier Awards recognising the achievements of those with hearing difficulties at specsavers.co.uk/hearing by July 1.
Mirror
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