Coronation Street’s Bill Roache admits two year long feud with show legend

Coronation Street legend William Roache has admitted to not talking to an iconic co-star for two years after a disagreement on-set, and has shared all the juicy details.

The Ken Barlow actor appeared in the legend’s slot of the An Audience with Coronation Street tour in Salford this weekend, where he joined fellow Corrie stars in sharing stories from behind the scenes.

The legend’s slot was filled by Rita Tanner actress Barbara Knox in London, who also shared tales from her time on the show.

After almost 65 years on the cobbles, Bill Roache certainly has a lot of stories, and one of them involved the legendary actress Pat Phoenix.

Pat Phoenix was a staple of the ITV soap, playing the formidable Elsie Tanner for two stints between 1960 and 1984.

However, for two of those years, she and Bill refused to speak to each other, after falling out on set.

‘Once I had a scene where she said something unkind to [Valerie Barlow], my wife,’ Bill told the audience at the live event, Manchester Evening News reports.

He went on to explain how he had been looking forward to the scene, and being able to stand up to the notoriously strong character.

‘In this scene, I told her off and when it came to the rehearsal she said to the director, “I don’t think she’d take this from this young man”.

‘She wanted to do something at the end and said to me, “Can you pause with all these things you say at the end and I am going to threaten to throw this ashtray at you”.

‘I said “No Pat I won’t”. I said “As far as I am concerned it is unprofessional” and we did not talk for two years.

Eventually, the pair started speaking again, with Bill sharing the moment that they decided to let bygones be bygones.

‘Two years later we were waiting to go in for a scene and it was her birthday coming up.

‘She was throwing a party and she said “Oh well, I suppose you better come to my party if you want to”.

‘I said, “I would love to, Pat”, and we became really great friends.’

Nearly 65 years on from the first episode, Ken is still a mainstay on the street, and he’s had some big storylines in the last year.

We have seen him hire Cassie Plummer (Claire Sweeney) as a carer, only to discover that she had been drugging him to make him reliant on her.

The truth came out after Ken suffered a heart attack, and Cassie was promptly fired from her duties.

Just last week, Ken appeared on screen when Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard) wanted payback against Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford).

Tracy had been blackmailing him over his affair with Abi Webster (Sally Carman), threatening to expose their secret to Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell).

When she refused to back down, Carl organised for Dylan Wilson (Liam McCheyne) to trash the flower shop, before sharing a beer with Ken and facetiming Tracy.

She rushed home and was horrified when Carl made a thinly veiled threat against the pensioner, which instantly encouraged her to drop the blackmail plot.

Coronation Street is set to celebrate its 65th anniversary in December, with executive producer for continuing drama at ITV Iain MacLeod promising the death of a major character.

‘The soap gods demand a sacrifice when you have an event of this kind,’ he told The Mirror.

He continued to tease the 65th anniversary episodes by saying: ‘It’s going to be shocking. There will be lots of trauma, lots of drama, lots of twists.

‘Sometimes the biggest and best exits are for characters that you care the most about…’

Will Ken be safe as the axe swings for Coronation Street’s birthday?