Bill Roache’s late co-star warned alleged sex victim about his behaviour, court hears

A woman who has accused veteran British soap star Bill Roache of sexual assault was warned about the Coronation Street actor’s alleged behaviour by one of his TV castmates, a court has heard. Roache, who has played Ken Barlow on Coronation Street for more than 53 years, is currently on trial following allegations relating to a series of sex attacks dating back to the 1960s.
One of the alleged victims took the witness stand at Preston Crown Court in England last week (ends17Jan14), and testified that she was 14 when Roache groped her after arranging for her and her sister to visit the soap opera set at Granada Studios in Manchester.
During cross-examination on Monday (20Jan14), she claimed that his one-time co-star, the late Peter Adamson, had called the 81 year old a “cockroach” and made a telling comment about the actor.
Referring to Adamson’s onscreen character, she recalled, “It was Len Fairclough (Adamson) that made the (cockroach) comment. Because when he said it, he looked directly at him (Roache) and he looked at us and said, ‘You want to keep your eye on him, he will lead you astray’ and he called him ‘cockroach’. Len Fairclough said that he would lead us astray…”
Adamson starred on Coronation Street from 1961 to 1983, and died in 2002.
Roache has denied two counts of rape and five charges of indecent assault.
His TV co-stars Anne Kirkbride, who plays his character’s longtime partner Deirdre Barlow on the soap, Chris Gascoyne and Helen Worth are all expected to be called as witnesses for the defence.
The trial continues.