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Ken Barlow gives emotional goodbye to Coronation Street after 59 YEARS - Daily Mail

Fans break down in tears as Ken Barlow bids an emotional goodbye to Coronation Street after 59 YEARS to move into a retirement home

  • Ken Barlow finally left his home No 1 Coronation Street home in Friday's episode
  • But his departure left fans baffled, as actor William Roache, 87, confirmed he's not leaving the soap - just the street
  • The character is moving into a retirement complex with girlfriend Claudia Colby (Rula Lenska) after selling the home to his daughter
  • An hour-long 10,000th episode saw Barlow and other street residents head to Blackpool on a special day trip to scatter Dennis Tanner's ashes
  • As he walked his beloved dog Eccles at the end of the night, he fondly said the words: '80 years too late but finally it's time to go. Goodbye old friend'
  • Bill, who won the British Soap Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, was 28 when he first played Barlow in 1960, then an 18-year-old student
  • His storylines have been dominated by his many love interests. Barlow has been married four times: to Valerie Tatlock, Janet Reid and twice to Deirdre Hunt
  • One of his biggest storylines was when he found out that Deirdre had been having an affair with factory owner Mike Baldwin in 1983 

Ken Barlow gave an emotion farewell to Coronation Street in Friday's heart-wrenching episode.

The retired teacher, 80 - who has been played by actor Bill Roache for the last 59 years - had viewers in tears as he left the cobbles to move into a retirement home.

He tugged at heartstrings when - surrounded by family - he had to say goodbye to his home - which he lived in with Deirdre (played by the late Anne Kirkbride) since the 1980s.

Goodbye: Ken Barlow gave an emotion farewell to Coronation Street in Friday's heart-wrenching episode

Goodbye: Ken Barlow gave an emotion farewell to Coronation Street in Friday's heart-wrenching episode

In tearful scenes, his partner Claudia Colby (Rula Lenska) leans over to Ken sitting at his kitchen table and says: 'I'll give you a moment to say goodbye to the old place,' before walking out.

Ken is then left alone in his now-empty living room as his family depart with the last few boxes to take to the car.

The soap veteran stands up, walked around the quiet and darkened room before shakily saying, 'goodbye number one Coronation Street' and then walking out.

End of an era: The retired teacher, 80 - who has been played by actor Bill Roache for the last 59 years - had viewers in tears as he left the cobbles to move into a retirement home

End of an era: The retired teacher, 80 - who has been played by actor Bill Roache for the last 59 years - had viewers in tears as he left the cobbles to move into a retirement home

The camera then panned to the cabinet, which was lined with old framed photos of Ken and Deirdre, in an emotional tribute to Anne and her iconic character.

Viewers were left teary-eyed at the emotional scenes, and flooded Twitter with their heartbreak.

One devoted viewer penned: 'You know you're feeling emotional when you cry at Ken Barlow saying goodbye to his house on Corrie. I am actually sobbing at him leaving Number 1 what is wrong with me #Corrie.'

Tribute: The camera then panned to the cabinet, which was lined with old framed photos of Ken and late wife Deirdre

Tribute: The camera then panned to the cabinet, which was lined with old framed photos of Ken and late wife Deirdre

Heartbreaking: Corrie fans have also vented their fury on social media, after it was revealed that Ken Barlow is planning to leave his beloved dog Eccles.

Heartbreaking: Corrie fans have also vented their fury on social media, after it was revealed that Ken Barlow is planning to leave his beloved dog Eccles.

Another added: 'Forget the floods, fires, Corona virus...Ken Barlow leaving No.1 Coronation Street is going to upset the balance of The World Face screaming in fear. Thought he'd live there until he was carried out #Corrie #KenBarlow #Legend #PartOfTheCobbles.'

A third wrote: 'Nah. I can’t deal with Ken Barlow not living at No. 1 Coronation Street #Corrie.'

Ken - who will continue to appear in episodes of Coronation Street - made the move after agreeing to sell the house to daughter Tracy and her husband Steve.

Legend: William Roache has played Ken Barlow (right) for 59 years, appearing in the long-running soap's first ever episode

Legend: William Roache has played Ken Barlow (right) for 59 years, appearing in the long-running soap's first ever episode

In an interview, Bill admitted it was very emotional filming his goodbye scenes.

'Filming that final scene of the episode was very poignant, just Ken and Eccles and the cobbles,' he said. 

But Corrie fans have also vented their fury on social media, after it was revealed that Ken Barlow is planning to leave his beloved dog Eccles.

Viewers took to Twitter to vent their frustration as it was revealed that Ken wouldn't be bringing his pet pooch to the Still Waters home, where he is planning to move with partner Claudia Colby.

Earlier in the episode, cradling the dog in his lap, Ken whispered: 'Maybe I could smuggle you in in a suitcase. What do you think about that sweetheart?'

He added: 'All you ever wanted was my companionship and maybe a little bit of bacon.

'This is not goodbye, this is au revoir. Until we meet again.'

Ken will be the only remaining character from the first episode of the soap who will celebrate its 60th anniversary on December 9.

Who is Coronation Street's Bill Roache?

Born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, where Bill Roache's father was the village GP, his early schooling was near his home, at the Rudolph Steiner School run on the principles of the Austrian philosopher, sparking his lifelong interest in astrology and the paranormal.

He next went to Rydal School, a boarding school in North Wales, well away from the bombed-out towns and cities of then wartime Britain.

National Service followed with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and, in his five years in uniform he rose to the rank of captain, but suffered an accident during live ammunition training with a mortar platoon which permanently damaged his hearing.

Roache said he felt an 'obligation' to follow generations of his family who had gone into the medical profession but he was not adept at sciences.

His mother had been a keen amateur actress though he initially felt he was too shy for acting.

Following a stint in the Armed Forces which saw his hearing permanently damaged, William Roache found fame as Ken Barlow, one of only a handful of television and films roles he has ever taken

Following a stint in the Armed Forces which saw his hearing permanently damaged, William Roache found fame as Ken Barlow, one of only a handful of television and films roles he has ever taken 

But after leaving the Army aged 26 he decided to give it a go, the desire to become an actor 'burning away in me', he said.

Minor roles followed before his first big break on television when he was spotted by author Tony Warren for the role of Ken Barlow for a new TV show he was making called Coronation Street.

Depicting a typical down-to-earth Northern community, it picked up the style of social realism of kitchen sink dramas of the early 60s showing the lives of working class folk, spending their time drinking in grimy pubs, living, loving and rowing with cheek-by-jowl neighbours in corner shops, cafes and terraced homes.

Granada's bosses - and the critics, panned the show, originally commissioned for just 11 weeks, but the viewers disagreed.

The Street went into the 'stratosphere' Roache said later, becoming the most watched TV programme in Britain within six months.

Roache bridles at his life's work being called merely a 'soap' claiming the show was 'cutting edge' and 'highly prestigious.'

But as his star rose as the 'heart throb' of the Street his personal life began to falter.

Heartthrob: Ken with wife Deirdre Barlow (played by Anne Kirkbride) in 1989

Heartthrob: Ken with wife Deirdre Barlow (played by Anne Kirkbride) in 1989

He had married Anna Cropper while both were acting in Nottingham and they shared time between a flat in Primrose Hill, London, where most acting jobs came up, and a bungalow in Lancashire near his Manchester workplace.

Son Linus was born in February 1965 and daughter Vanya in 1967, but with two young children and living between London and the North the marriage failed.

The relationship was not 'fulfilling' and he admitted a series of relationships with other women from 1965 onwards.

He was later to liberally talk about his years of drinking and womanising, coyly giving no denial when the figure of 1,000 lovers was put to him in a TV interview.

He met his second wife Sara Mottram in 1971 and from then on was 'totally and absolutely faithful' he said, the couple marrying in 1978.

William toasts the soap's 30th anniversary with champagne at Granada Studios in Manchester.

William toasts the soap's 30th anniversary with champagne at Granada Studios in Manchester.

In 1981 they had a daughter, Verity but three years later their second daughter, Edwina, died aged 18 months from bronchial pneumonia, before son James born four years later.

Throughout his troubles he was never off-screen and was presented with a 'Lifetime Achievement' Award at the British Soap Awards in 2000 to mark 40 years on the Street.

The following year he was awarded the Member of the British Empire for services to TV drama.

But in 2009 tragedy struck again when his second wife Sara died suddenly from a heart condition, aged just 58.

A year later he became the world's longest-serving television actor in a continuous role and around that time began a relationship with TV weathergirl Emma Jesson, 36 years his junior.

But after three years they split, reportedly because Roache wanted to concentrate on his 'spiritual path.'

He has never made a secret of his unconventional beliefs from being photographed in flowing robes at Druid rituals in the 1970s to his current membership of the Pure Love movement.

Roache has what he calls his 'knowing - a knowing voice I know to be correct, by which I live.'

He believes in re-incarnation and an 'absolute deity, a total God,' but denies belonging to any 'cult, philosophy or religion.'

 

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