Corrie icon Bill Roache's relationship with real-life sons who've played Barlow stars

dailystar.co.uk:

Coronation Street icon William Roache turns 90 years old today (April 25). The actor is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera since it was first broadcast on December 9 1960.He's listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-serving television star in a continuous role.Bill has been married twice and has had five children, two of them have tragically passed away.He married TV and stage actress Anna Cropper in 1961 but the pair parted divorce in 1974.

She died in 2007 aged 69.The pair had two children together actor Linus and Vanya, who died aged 51 in 2018.William then married actress Sarah Roache in 1978 and they stayed together until her death aged 59 in 2009.The couple had three children together – James and Verity and Edwina, who sadly died when she was just 18 months in 1984.Bill's eldest child Linus was lucky enough to work with his dad on Coronation Street on more than one occasion.He kicked off his career by playing Peter Barlow, the son of his father's character Ken, back in 1975.Linus was the fourth actor to play the role, which is currently played by Chris Gascoyne.The actor who has appeared in Batman Begins and Law and Order, previously revealed that he didn't realise how big Corrie was when he played Peter aged nine.He previously told the Mirror. "I was having a ball, just a kid pretending to be Peter, with my dad, it was just great fun."Suddenly one day someone on set came up to me and said 'What does it feel like that so many million people are going to see you on screen?'Linus said it wasn't until he went with his dad to judge an Isle of Man beauty contest that he truly realised how famous the Street and Bill were.He explained: "It was like one of the Beatles had arrived.