Coronation Street's Bill Roache has been reunited with his former screen wife Anne Reid after 50 years since they last filmed together.
Anne played his first on-screen wife Valerie before she was written out of the ITV soap due to dying after using a faulty hairdryer. In the soap, Bill, who plays Ken Barlow, has since gone on to be married a further three times to two other women - Janet Reid in 1972, Deirdre Hunt in 1981 and again in 2005.
The legendary soap star is set to be celebrated in an ITV documentary ahead of his 90th birthday. He is the longest-serving actor on the soap as he has appeared on it since its creation back in 1960.
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On the ITV special show, Bill is set to be seen reuniting with his former on-screen wife. When asked what was the highlight of the programme, Bill said: “Without a doubt meeting up with Anne Reid again after all those years. She played my wife in Coronation Street for eight years and I was very sad when she chose to leave.
“When Valerie died she was due to meet Ken at the Rovers so when she walked through the doors finally 52 years later it was a lovely moment, we both just started laughing. It was beautiful to see her again, to me she looks no different.”
Bill spilled a secret as he said that Anne once admitted having a crush on him while they worked together. He said: "She told me that she used to dream about me and I laughed and said don’t you mean nightmares? And then she told me that she had a crush on me, but she never told me at the time!
“She had also given me a silver cup when she left that she had engraved with 'we must do it again some time' so it was nice that we finally got that chance.”
Nearly 19 million viewers watched the death of Valerie on the soap. After leaving Corrie, the actress went on to enjoy a stellar career starring as Jean in the sitcom Dinnerladies and Celia Dawson in Last Tango in Halifax for which she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. She has also starred in Doctor Who, Peak Practice and films such as Hot Fuzz.
Happy Birthday Bill is on ITV, Tuesday at 8pm. Coronation Street airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm.
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