Coronation Street star ‘Deirdre’: Roache a ‘perfect gentleman’

Coronation Street star Anne Kirkbride has told a jury that her on-screen husband William Roache was “always a perfect gentleman” around her.

Ms Kirkbride, a stalwart of the ITV soap as Deirdre Barlow, was called as a character witness for the actor who is accused of a series of sex assaults.

Roache, 81, is accused of using his fame and popularity to exploit “starstruck” youngsters for sex in the mid- to late-1960s.