BRITISH POLICE WILL charge “Coronation Street” star William Roache – the longest-serving star in the world’s longest-running soap opera – with two counts of rape, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.
Roache, 81, has played lothario Ken Barlow in the series portraying life in a fictional northern English town since its first episode on December 9, 1960.
He was arrested at his home in northwest England over allegations of raping a 15-year-old girl twice between April and July 1967.
Prosecutor Nazir Afzal said: “We have carefully considered all the evidence gathered by Lancashire Police in relation to William Roache following allegations of rape.
Having completed our review, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr Roache to be charged with two offences of rape relating to a girl, aged 15, in 1967.
Lancashire police earlier announced they had detained an 81-year-old man from Wilmslow in Cheshire.
Broadcaster ITV, which makes Coronation Street, said it was not in a position to comment, but reports said Roache would not appear in the soap while investigations continue.
Roache issued an apology in March after appearing to suggest that sex abuse victims were being punished for past sins, and calling for anonymity for those accused of child sex offences.
In another interview last year, Roache claimed to have slept with 1,000 women.
Guinness World Records lists “Coronation Street” as the world’s longest-running soap opera following the cancellation in September 2010 of the US show “As the World Turns”, which ran from 1956 on CBS.
It also lists Roache as the longest-serving soap actor.
British police have arrested a series of celebrities since sex abuse allegations against the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile emerged last year, although the allegations against Roache are unrelated to Savile.
Top British publicist Max Clifford was charged on Friday with 11 counts of indecent assault, while former glam rocker and convicted paedophile Gary Glitter, comedian Freddie Starr and radio presenter Dave Lee Travis have been arrested and bailed.
Veteran Australian-born entertainer Rolf Harris has been named by the British media as another of the men interviewed as part of the investigation, although police have never named him.
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