Street star Ken owes £600,000, say creditors

Bankrupt Coronation Street star Bill Roache has debts of around £600,000, the firm acting for his creditors said today.

An application that Roache, 69, who plays Ken Barlow, should pay more to clear the money owed was adjourned until next Thursday at the end of the second day of a hearing at Crewe County Court in Cheshire.

A spokesman for PricewaterhouseCoopers, who are acting for the actor’s creditors, said that they had applied for an income payment order against him.

Roache was declared bankrupt in 1999 with debts of around £300,000. Eight years earlier he had been forced to pay legal costs of £120,000 despite winning a libel claim against The Sun newspaper for calling him "boring".

He accumulated further debts when he unsuccessfully tried to sue the firm of lawyers who had advised him in his action.

Roache earns more than £160,000 as the only surviving member of the original Coronation Street cast of 40 years ago.

But he is among the actors on the soap fighting a move by Granada TV to cut their wages.

PricewaterhouseCoopers would not disclose how much the actor is currently paying to clear his debts, but a partner in the firm said: "Mr Roache owes about £600,000 and he is bankrupt.

"We have made an application for an income payment order to see whether Mr Roache can make further payments from his income."

Roache’s creditors are understood to include the Inland Revenue.