CORONATION Street fans were left stunned this evening when it was revealed that Ken Barlow's house was on the market for "just" £120,000. "[67] Ken also chooses not to mention Martha to Deirdre; Roache believed that she would be angry if she found out. He realized that he had wasted his time being with Deirdre, and wishes that he had not married her, but truly loved her more than his other wives, despite her affair with men like Adam's father Mike in 1983. He accuses Peter of drinking and after their argument, Ken suffers a stroke and he is hospitalised. [9], Roache was initially offered the role of Ken on a thirteen-episode, six-week contract. "[101] It was suggested in an ITV documentary in 2006 that Ken and Mike's hatred was a clash of cultures: "Barlow the lefty do-gooder versus Baldwin, the cut-and-thrust money grabber. The Barlows are the first family of soap, ... Ken Barlow. On-screen, Ken was opposed to Lawrence's views and decided to embrace James' sexuality. Ken begins teaching, and marries Valerie Tatlock (Anne Reid) in July 1962. He has a son [Peter] who's an alcoholic bigamist and a daughter [Tracy] who's a convicted murderer. Mike discovered Adam's existence in 2001; Susan attempted to flee, but was killed in a motor accident. He returns in August 2014 to find his family in chaos. [78], Although the number of romances Ken was involved in declined from the 1980s onwards, Roache states that those relationships he did have "tended to be bigger and more involved". "[21] Roache considers himself "the guardian of Ken", responsible for ensuring that his actions and dialogue remain true to the character. Ken has numerous flings, including a one-night stand with Rita Littlewood (Barbara Knox), but his next serious relationship occurs in 1973, when Ken marries Janet Reid (Judith Barker), in the hope that she will mother his two children. This facilitated Black's desire to have a six-month break from the serial. Ken Barlow is the only surviving member of the characters that appeared in the very first episode of the Street. In early 2017, Ken's son Daniel is offered a place at Oxford University. He decided who he wanted out, while others including myself were put on warning that we were likely to be given the chop at a later date. I had my flat in London, I was getting acting parts and it all looked very rosy. It was a relationship that ran for many years, and although towards the end of Mike Baldwin's time on the show you might say there was a little mellowing going on, it was never a relationship that was going to be anything other than uneasy. Although he had rarely done so in the past, he voiced his concerns to the series' producer, dismayed that the character "seemed to be floating in a nebulous state". [88] Roache enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with Howarth, whom he first met as a schoolboy. Roache recalls, "Every time I looked at the words and at what was supposed to happen I knew it just didn't ring true. [13], According to writer Daran Little, Roache was partly responsible for the name of the street where the soap is set, Coronation Street, which also serves as the programme's title. A spokesperson for the show defended the opinions expressed by Ken in the scripts, saying, "Coronation Street is a soap opera set in modern society and therefore represents views from all side of the religious spectrum". [107], The feud came to an end on-screen in 2006, when Briggs quit the role of Mike. Both Ken and Mike will miss the bust-ups. This frustrated Susan, who actually liked Coronation Street. [70] Following the conclusion to Ken's relationship with Martha, Roache expressed an interest in having more girlfriends for Ken introduced in the future. We take a look at the moment we met the great Ken Barlow. [104], Ken and Mike were forced to work together in 2000, when they were featured in a storyline dubbed the "Freshco siege". According to Roache, the line offers insight into Ken's psyche, evidencing that he truly belongs on Coronation Street, despite his desires to the contrary. ", was included on Harry Hill's debut album, Funny Times. it soon became clear that the marriage was not going to be a happy one, and Janet was no Val. [111], In September 2010, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Coronation Street, BBC Four aired a drama film titled The Road to Coronation Street, which depicted Tony Warren's struggle to get his soap opera commissioned, and the filming of its pilot. Liz announces Deirdre's death in The Rovers Return. It rarely pays to be too clever or too rich in soapland as the majority of plotlines rely upon tragic Shakespearian falls from grace which everyone laughs their socks off at. "[7] Roache said in 2010, "When people ask me why I've played the same role for 50 years I try to explain that I haven't because like all human beings, and thanks to clever script-writers, Ken's evolved. While auditionees for the other twenty-one original roles were drawn from casting director Margaret Morris' contacts in the north of England, Warren spotted William Roache performing in the Granada Television play Marking Time, and knew that he was the right actor to play Ken. ", "Janet clearly saw Ken as someone who might provide the sort of lifestyle she wanted if he was pushed and manoeuvred in the right direction. Aware that the characters had become popular, executive producer H. V. Kershaw requested that Granada Television's evening duty officer be made available on the night of broadcast, in order to take viewers' congratulatory phone calls. All these years and Ken still doesn't realise it's not Deirdre who's the dead weight in his life, it's he himself. [128] Brian Viner has suggested that it is remarkable that Ken has been labelled boring in spite of the many plots he has been involved with over the years. [57] Coincidentally, Ken and Deirdre's first wedding in 1981 was screened within 48 hours of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding, and just as in 2005, the Barlow wedding attracted more viewers than the royal wedding. Peter is found guilty of the murder and sentenced to life in prison. [8] Lowrie was later cast in the role of another original character, Dennis Tanner. Ben East of The Stage said the romance was "genuinely funny". Ken has a relationship with hairdresser Denise Osbourne (Denise Black) in 1994 and fathers her child; their son Daniel (Lewis Harney) is born in 1995. Janet flits in and out of Ken's life until 1977, when she kills herself by taking an overdose when Ken turns down a reconciliation. Roache reportedly could not pronounce 'Florizel', so the name of the street was changed to Coronation Street. The storyline led to the fifth fistfight between Ken and Mike in the soap's history, with the pair brawling at the funeral of Susan. [104] Briggs has suggested that he and Roache became old hands at doing on-screen fistfights, and that both really enjoyed doing the stunts. Roache almost declined the invitation to audition: "I wa… "[7], The storyline was described as the most volatile and explosive in the programme's history. This is a source of friction between Ken and his father Frank, who believes Ken is trying to distance himself from his working-class roots. They had both gone off and done very silly things and had had affairs with people, and yet their overriding need as they got older was for each other. Everyone was talking about it and the pubs were empty. Following Reid's decision to leave the role – having grown bored of playing the character – the producers opted to kill Valerie off. [36], Valerie gave birth to twins, Peter and Susan, and became a housewife to look after them. He explained: "[Ken] was the sort who wanted to have a wife who would stay at home, look after the kids and make sure the house was run smoothly, while he went off to work to pursue a career. Ken is not seriously hurt, though. [52], — Roache recalls his favourite Coronation Street scene. Now that's a surprise", "Holland's Pies create Coronation Street-themed products", "Maggie Jones: 'I don't find Blanche funny, "Coronation Street: Blanche Hunt has a last laugh with her will", "Bill Roache lauds "handsome" Corrie sons", "Coronation Street's most controversial scenes ever", "CUSTODY STREET; Ken and Mike fight for orphan Adam", "Drama: Bald truth as Street's stars reveal all", "The main suspects after shock attack on Ken Barlow in Corrie", "The Road to Coronation Street, BBC Four, review", "Former Thamesmead teacher writes ultimate Corrie experience", "Coronation Street writer Jonathan Harvey on new play Corrie", "Coronation Street Character Gift Wrap – ITV Store", "Ken & Deidre' Congratulations Novelty Card – Coronation Street – ITV Store", "Stage set for Coronation St musical Street of Dreams", "Boring Barlow's pulling power is beyond our Ken", "Ken Barlow – Cast – Coronation Street – Holy Soap", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ken_Barlow&oldid=999117332, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 8 January 2021, at 15:47. On Ken, she stated: "another heavily plagiarised Corrie stalwart is Ken Barlow, who as 'resident intellectual' has been looking down his nose at the proletariat since 1960. "[19], Ken's political stance is left-liberal. In being portrayed as both moralistic and a political activist, he differed from the other characters in the soap opera, predominantly working-class like himself. [19] Ken has had several forays into journalism for left-wing publications over the years, and was occasionally shown to be frustrated that his political views were not shared by others. The character developed a reputation as a ladies' man; plots saw Ken dating numerous women, marrying four times to three women (Valerie Tatlock in 1962, Janet Reid in 1972, Deirdre Hunt in 1981 and again in 2005), fathering four children with three different women (Lawrence Cunningham in 1961 from Ken's affair with Susan Cunningham – though he never knew about Lawrence until 2010 – twins Susan Barlow and Peter Barlow in 1965 from Ken's marriage to Valerie Tatlock, and in 1995 Daniel Osbourne from Ken's affair with Denise Osbourne), as well as later adopting Deirdre's daughter Tracy Barlow. In that house, Elsie Tanner confronts her son, Dennis, about 2/- missing from her purse. [19] Chronicling the history of Coronation Street in 2007, Virgin Media stated, "Perhaps unfairly dubbed boring, Ken is ultimately an intelligent man, frustrated by the cards life has dealt him – although the hair, clothes and strong morals haven't helped. Two pilot episodes were filmed, with Ken played by Roache in one, and by actor Philip Lowrie in the other. ", "The now famous 'love triangle showdown' scene on the doorstep on No.1 will always be my favourite. [116], In February 2011 Ken was among various Coronation Street characters to have his portrait auctioned for charity in the exhibition 'Behind the Street' at Manchester's Generation Pop Gallery. [137] In her book Soap Opera, Hobson said Ken and his brother David initially represented the younger males of society. The producers decided to run the storyline to highlight the fact homophobia still exists. [48], In 1972, Deirdre Hunt, played by Anne Kirkbride, was introduced into Coronation Street; the character would become synonymous with Ken's narrative when, in the early 1980s, Deirdre became Ken's third wife. Poor Annie wasn't prepared for what happened to her next and actually burst into tears because of the ferocity of my performance. He felt that it may be a common assumption that Roache is merely playing himself on-screen; this notion diminishes a "rather remarkable acting performance". The episode was broadcast after the 9 pm watershed due to its depiction of violence. [49][58], During Anne Kirkbride's lifetime, Roache was complimentary about Ken and Deirdre, as well as about Kirkbride—whom, he stated, he loved as much as Ken loved Deirdre—with this love explaining why Ken always ended up returning to her. Producer Maire Tracey said, "The fact that Mike dies in Ken's arms says it all. "[55] He related that, "When Deirdre decided to stop seeing Mike and stay with Ken, the scoreboard at Old Trafford on the night flashed the message that the couple were not splitting up to 56,000 football fans, amid thunderous cheers from the crowd! [75], Ken was disdainful of his parents, Frank (Pemberton) and Ida (Dyson). In December 2010, Peter is caught up in the Joinery Bar gas leak explosion, which results in an unforgettable tram crash as the explosion severs the tramline above. [8] Coronation Street was a hit with viewers and its contract was extended. Ken is then shocked to discover that Peter has been indicted for the murder of Frank Foster (Andrew Lancel), who had been found not guilty of raping Carla. However, by 1983, Deirdre grows bored with Ken and has an affair with his rival, Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs). (u) denotes an uncredited appearance. "[32] ITV publicity referred to the number of relationships and flings he has had, stating "This could take a while ... Ken has had more girlfriends than most of the Street's male residents put together. Roache believes that his indifference towards being cast had a positive impact on his audition, as it enabled him to relax. Ken and Valerie married on 4 August 1962. Following the revelation and amidst the fallout, Denise absconded, leaving her son in Ken's custody. Ken takes the separation badly and attempts suicide by overdose, but is prevented from doing so by his friend, Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear). Susan has a son named Lawrence (Linus Roache), who turns out to be Ken's child. [105] In her 2003 book, Hobson suggested that Ken "spent at least nineteen years unable to cope with the sense of rejection and betrayal" caused by Mike and Deirdre's affair. [133] The Guardian columnist Nancy Banks-Smith spoke highly of Ken's affair with Martha Fraser in 2009, calling it "a muted ingenious storyline". [45] The storyline's fast pace angered Roache; he once stressed: "I was very cross about the whole thing. When I introduce myself I add, ‘Ken Barlow – as in Coronation Street ’. Twins Peter (Robert Heanue) and Susan (Katie Heanneau) are born on 15 April 1965. Ken Barlow was born and raised at 3 Coronation Street, Weatherfield, Lancashire. Coronation Street's Yasmeen faces the court's verdict and furious Ken Barlow leads the protest against Ray Crosby's bulldozers in VERY dramatic teaser for show's 60th anniversary week [19] In the soap's early years, Ken was frequently presented as resenting what he saw as the anti-intellectual, repressed climate around him, and author Dorothy Hobson has suggested that Ken was ashamed of his working-class roots. He immediately starts a custody battle. ", Of the love triangle storyline, Briggs has said, "the way it captured the nation was amazing. [41] Valerie died after being electrocuted while trying to mend a faulty hair dryer. [67] Roache revealed that Ken is not thinking about having an affair with Martha, but he is "captivated" by her, and does have feelings for her. Absolutely no one was expecting to see Ken Barlow (William Roache) come to the difficult resolution that his time on the Cobbles has come to an end. It was very old-fashioned in many ways, but he could never see it that way and it was often left to the women he had relationships with to remind him of that trait in his character. [81] Ken was originally intended to have a sister named Enid. Then followed a battle between Mike and Ken for custody of Adam, with Ken adamant that Mike should not look after his grandson. Nursing the notion that he's been thwarted by life, he decides to leave Deirdre to sail off into the sunset – or possibly Runcorn – with Martha. At one stage, Ken was making plans to leave Weatherfield. [35] Roache once attributed their success to his own rapport with Reid, citing it as a helpful element in their on-screen chemistry. Dennis has been struggling to get a job since getting out of pris… For 50 years he has been the nearest thing Weatherfield, the fictional area of Greater Manchester where Coronation Street is located, has had to a social conscience. [7] In 2010, Roache said, "[Ken] was beginning to look very ordinary and quite nerdy, and that in turn had a knock-on effect for me, because I started to lose confidence as an actor. I always thought of him during that first decade as a young man who had a very stubborn streak in him when it came to his principles and what he thought was right. Little dubbed Ken Coronation Street's elder statesman and lynch-pin, a one-man Greek tragedy, and the greatest survivor in Weatherfield. [127] Roache sued for libel in 1990 when The Sun newspaper ran an article branding Ken boring and making allegations that Roache was disliked among the cast of Coronation Street. You start to wonder about your own ability to remember lines and act in the way you had, which can be very damaging. [44] Their relationship featured various affairs, break-ups and reunions over the years. How many actors get the chance to perform scenes with meaty content like that? Carla had been pregnant with Peter's baby but had a miscarriage after they separated and Deirdre has fallen apart at the prospect of dealing with all this on her own. There was no wedding, she just arrived, no build-up to it. [72], Ken's first on-screen relationship was with Susan Cunningham (Shakesby), whom he dated throughout the first ten episodes. Ken Barlow is one of the twenty-two original Coronation Street characters devised by series creator Tony Warren. However, the verdict is quickly reversed, when it is discovered that it was actually Rob who murdered Tina. [76] I broke out in a sweat. Brian Viner said, "It is easy enough to see, despite the extraordinary number of broken relationships and personal crises in his wake, why Ken tends not to make the pulse race when he opens his mouth. Coronation Street Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. Eventually, it is found that Frank's mother Anne was the real culprit. When she is dumped by Mike in favour of Jackie Ingram (Shirin Taylor), she starts seeing Ken. Meanwhile, James comes to stay with the Barlows for a while, with no-one knowing that his rôle in a soup kitchen in town is actually part of a scam. 7. [74] After Susan, Ken's early love interests included Marian Lund (Patricia Heneghan), a librarian eleven years his senior; Yvonne Chappell (Alex Marshall), a hotel receptionist he met en route to first wife Valerie's funeral; Norma Ford (Diana Davies), an impressionable young shop-assistant;[75] Wendy Nightingale (Susan Tebbs), a married woman who moved in with Ken, making them Coronation Street's first unmarried cohabiting couple;[76] and Elaine. Peter is released from prison but makes the decision to leave the street, as he has hardly anything keeping him around, which hurts Simon. Ken doesn't know where his loyalties lie when Peter is found to be having an affair with Carla Connor (Alison King), and he is estranged from his son, Simon (Alex Bain). Ken tracked down his son following marital unease with Deirdre, which led to interactions with Denise when he turned up unannounced for a visit. "[25] Little suggested that Ken has transformed from an angry young man who never fitted in and was always challenging the system, into a bore next door, eventually discovering that he couldn't change the world after all. "[7] 20 million viewers tuned in for the episode; it attained the soap's second-highest recorded overnight ratings, surpassed only by the farewell episode of Hilda Ogden (played by Jean Alexander) in 1987. "[125], In a Channel 4 televised poll that was broadcast in 2001, Ken Barlow was voted the third most-hated TV character of all time, coming behind Phil Mitchell from EastEnders and Mr Blobby. Men were shouting out: 'Go on Mike, give her one.' According to Briggs, no choreographers were ever used. [7] Roache has revealed that Ken's role in the serial was threatened in 1964, when producer Tim Aspinall, who was dubbed the "mad axe-man", took the helm of Coronation Street. You want a wonderful dysfunctional one like the one I've got, they're great and Deirdre is wonderful. "[7] He changed his mind at the insistence of his agent, and attended the audition, at which he was asked to read The Daily Telegraph newspaper in a Lancashire accent. He’s … [78] His later love interests included Wendy Crozier (Kerr), Alma Sedgewick (Barrie) and Maggie Redman (Kerman). In 1961, Ken's mother dies in a motor accident. He urged him to be true to himself and ignore his father's bigoted views. Ken is fearful that his son iss going to die, and this almost happens when Peter goes into cardiac arrest, after marrying Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) on his hospital bed; However, Peter survives. 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