Ken Barlow
Encyclopedia
Kenneth "Ken" Barlow is a long-standing fictional character
from the ITV
soap opera
Coronation Street
, played by William Roache
, and created by Tony Warren
. He is currently the world's longest-serving soap opera character, having appeared continuously from the programme's inception in December 1960.
Ken was introduced as the educated son of a working-class family. Moralistic, political and an activist, Ken differed from his neighbouring peers with their working-class values. Ken developed a reputation as a ladies' man, having been married four times, fathering numerous children and dating a plethora of women. Of the many women Ken has been involved with, his relationship with Deirdre Barlow
is the most enduring. The characters have been married twice, once in 1981 and again in 2005. Despite his somewhat antagonistic role in the show's early years, Ken developed a reputation among critics for representing an archetypal "boring man". This is an allegation denied by Roache, who has cited Ken's evolution over the years, his chaotic love life and dysfunctional family as evidence to the contrary.
Roache has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the British Soap Awards
for his portrayal as Ken. December 2010 marked Ken's 50th anniversary on-screen, making him the longest-running character in a televised soap opera. Roache was honoured at the 2010 Guinness World Records
ceremony for the achievement, when he surpassed actor Don Hastings
from US soap As The World Turns
, who had previously held the title. Roache stated in 2010 that he has no plans to leave the role and will remain in Coronation Street for as long as they will have him.
(Frank Pemberton) and Ida Barlow
(Noel Dyson). An intelligent pupil, Ken is bright enough to go to Manchester University; he lives with his parents and brother David (Alan Rothwell
) in Weatherfield
while studying, gaining a second class honours degree in History and English. Being educated and politically-minded, Ken differs from his family and neighbours. 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. When Ken writes a scathing article about his uneducated neighbours in Weatherfield, Frank and the community are outraged. In 1961 Ken's mother dies in a motor accident, and he turns down a teaching post to support his father. Ken and Frank continue to clash until Frank's departure in 1964. David's death in 1968 and Frank's in 1971 leave Ken as the sole surviving Barlow.
Ken begins teaching, and marries Valerie Tatlock (Anne Reid
) in July 1962. Two years later, he has a fling with exotic dancer Pip Mistral (Elaine Stevens), but his marriage survives. Twins Peter
(Robert Heanue) and Susan
(Katie Heanneau) are born on 15 April 1965. In January 1966, Ken has another affair with reporter Jackie Marsh (Pamela Craig). Valerie leaves when she finds out, but is later persuaded to return. Ken continues to stand up for his political beliefs, and spends seven days in prison in March 1967, after being arrested for protesting. Ken is left a single-parent following Valerie's untimely death; she perishes after being electrocuted in January 1971, and Ken is left heartbroken. Ken is supported by Valerie's uncle Albert Tatlock
(Jack Howarth), with whom he shares a close relationship, but caring for the twins proves too difficult and they are sent to live with their grandparents in Glasgow
.
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. Janet refuses to do this, and in 1974 they separate. 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.
When Ray Langton
(Neville Buswell
) leaves his wife Deirdre
(Anne Kirkbride
) in 1978, Ken supports her. In 1981 they marry, with Ken becoming stepfather to Deirdre's four-year-old daughter Tracy
(Christabel Finch). However, by 1983, Deirdre grows bored with Ken and has an affair with his rival, Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs
). Ken and Deirdre's marriage suffers; the couple separates in 1990, and eventually divorce following Ken's affair with Wendy Crozier (Roberta Kerr), his colleague at the local newspaper, The Weatherfield Recorder. Ken takes the separation badly and attempts suicide by overdose, but is stopped by his friend Bet Lynch
(Julie Goodyear
).
Ken and Mike, who are the moral opposites of each other, remain enemies; Ken is incensed when his daughter, Susan, falls in love and has a short-lived marriage with Mike. In 1991 Ken and Mike compete for the same woman, Alma Sedgewick (Amanda Barrie
). When she is dumped by Mike in favour of Jackie Ingram (Shirin Taylor), she starts seeing Ken. On Christmas Day 1991, Mike lures Alma back into his bed to get back at Ken. Later in 1992, Ken falls for one of his pupil's mothers – Maggie Redman (Jill Kerman). The Baldwin/Barlow feud erupts again, as Mike is the father of Maggie's son, Mark
(Christopher Oakswood). Mike hates the thought of Ken spending Christmas Day with his son, but Ken's pride gets the better of him. He cannot handle the situation, and he and Maggie split.
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. Denise agrees to marry Ken, but is having an affair with her brother-in-law Brian Dunkley (Benny Young
) at the same time. She leaves Weatherfield in 1996, leaving Daniel with Ken. It is a short-lived custody as, later that year, Denise returns and snatches Daniel; Ken's attempts to reclaim his son fail.
Ken and Deirdre remain close, despite their other relationships. They reunite in 1999, following encouragement from Deidre's mother Blanche
(Maggie Jones
). They eventually remarry on 8 April 2005; although Ken discovers that Deirdre slept with Dev Alahan
(Jimmi Harkishin
) in 2001, he forgives her and they remain together. Deirdre supports Ken in 2002 when he loses his teaching post for assaulting a pupil, Aidan Critchley (Dean Ashton), who has been terrorising him. Marital problems arise in 2006 when, following Mike's death from Alzheimer's, Ken grows jealous of Deirdre's grief reaction; he leaves home and tries to rebuild a relationship with his estranged son Daniel. Daniel's mother Denise, now single, gets the wrong idea and attempts to rekindle a romance with Ken; Ken rebuffs her advances and returns to Deirdre. Ken does stray in 2009, after meeting Martha Fraser (Stephanie Beacham
). Ken falls in love with Martha, and in May 2009, plans to leave with her. He cannot go through with it, and he jilts her, returning to Deirdre. Eventually he admits to the infidelity. Although Deirdre is angry, she forgives him as he had forgiven her fling with Dev; however, Deirdre later cheats on Ken again, kissing Lewis Archer
(Nigel Havers
). Relations are once again strained between Ken and Deirdre. The couple acknowledge their mutual unhappiness with their marriage, but remain together.
In late August 2010 Norris Cole
(Malcolm Hebden
) discovers an unopened letter addressed to Ken, dating back to the 1960s. The letter is written by Ken's first girlfriend, Susan Cunningham (Patricia Shakesby
), whom Ken had dated in 1960. Susan has a son named Lawrence (Linus Roache
), who turns out to be Ken's child. Ken and Lawrence bond, which temporarily threatens Ken's relationship with his other son Peter. When Ken discovers that Lawrence is intolerant of the homosexuality of his own son, James (James Roache
), Ken severs contact. Realising that he has been unappreciative and neglectful of Peter over the years, he makes an effort to bond, supporting him through his relationship and health problems that follow.
. He made his debut in the soap's first episode, broadcast on 9 December 1960. 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. Roache almost declined the invitation to audition: "I wasn't interested. I had my flat in London, I was getting acting parts and it all looked very rosy." 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. Roache believes that his indifference towards being cast had a positive impact on his audition, as it enabled him to relax. Two pilot episodes were filmed, with Ken played by Roache in one, and by actor Philip Lowrie
in the other. Lowrie was later cast in the role of another original character, Dennis Tanner
.
Roache was initially offered the role of Ken on a thirteen-episode, six-week contract. His agent convinced him to take it, as it would enhance his exposure around the broadcast of Marking Time. Coronation Street was a hit with viewers and its contract was extended. Roache was given a six-month contract in early 1961, followed by a one-year contract in June of that year, which he deemed amazing security at a time when he had been "leading a hand-to-mouth existence". The series became a long-running soap opera, airing multiple times weekly, and Roache continued in the role, though gradually ceased to affect a Lancashire accent. Roache originally earned ₤10 per episode, compared to the ₤3,000 per episode that he earned in 2010. He stated in 2010 that although he initially only intended to feature in Coronation Street for a short time, once he had filmed it and it was transmitted with "such colossal impact", he realised it was something special. At the time Roache needed to be sure it wasn't a mistake to sign up; later he said, "If I had known it would turn out to be my life's work, I would have run a mile."
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. The soap was originally titled Florizel Street when it was commissioned. Roache reportedly could not pronounce Florizel, so the name of the street was changed to Coronation Street.
), and Ken was one of the characters he wished to axe: "He had a kind of hit list of characters. 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. It was appalling," recalls Roache. A potential storyline was devised in which Ken and his then wife Valerie would move to Australia. However, Ken was given a reprieve, as before he could be axed, Aspinall himself was sacked from his position.
Spiritual enlightenment and a desire for self-improvement led Roache to consider quitting the series in the early 1970s, as he struggled with being in "the most ego-driven profession there is". He ultimately decided to stay—a decision he is happy with in retrospect, as his qualms were never with the series itself, but the way he felt personally. In 2010 Roache pledged to stay with Coronation Street: "I'm not even thinking about retiring. It isn't an option and I don't want to even consider it [...] I love the Street and while they want me and while I can do it I want to carry on. I don't care if I'm 120, I'll still be there." 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. He’s been married three times, had 24 girlfriends and is head of a totally dysfunctional family. He has a son [Peter] who's an alcoholic bigamist and a daughter [Tracy] who's a convicted murderer. How many actors get the chance to perform scenes with meaty content like that?"
" of modern times in 1960, and it has been suggested that Ken is a "prism through which to read the political and cultural history of the last half century". 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. Roache concurs that Ken obviously had higher aspirations than "being stuck in Coronation Street", but notes that "he was also portrayed as a nice young guy who was happy to help out if he could." Roache considers himself "the guardian of Ken", responsible for ensuring that his actions and dialogue remain true to the character. This responsibility lead to a two-year quarrel with his co-star Pat Phoenix
, when she insisted that her character, Elsie Tanner
, undermine Ken in an argument. Annoyed at Ken being belittled and the scene stripped of its "dramatic impact", Roache rowed with Phoenix, who did not speak to him again—outside of their scenes together—for two years.
An article in the Daily Mail
in 2010 stated, "in the beginning Ken was an angry young man who, as a student, was representative of the millions who had benefited from post-war reforms, such as free education for the gifted." The Guardian Joe Moran likened Ken to Richard Hoggart
's scholarship boy "the 'uprooted and anxious' figure whose education had alienated him from his working-class origins." Moran suggested that Ken has led "what Hoggart once called a 'carousel life', a life not of the upward trajectory of the professional career but of living from year to year and taking whatever job turns up." Moran added that Ken "refused to go along with the last half century's stress on consumer aspiration and meritocratic elitism", but added that by modern standards, "Ken has wasted his education and his life. He has played little part in 'wealth creation' [...] and is still stuck in the same house he lived in when he was a student, leading his carousel life, stoically and decently."
Ken's political stance is left
-liberal
. He has been described as the most famous fictional reader of The Guardian
, a newspaper that attracts readers of the mainstream left of British political opinion. 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. A scathing article he wrote for a newspaper in which he labelled his neighbours as "lazy-minded, politically ignorant, starved of a real culture and prejudiced against any advance in human insight and scientific progress" led to clashes with his father and a fistfight at the Rovers
with Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson
). Although Ken has occasionally espoused socialist ideology, Roache suggests that he is really more of a "liberal, fair-minded guy [...] always looking to right the wrongs of society", and "a man of integrity who fights for what he thinks is right".
Author Graeme Kay discussed Ken's evolution within the show: "He began as a bit of a prig, in the eyes of working-class father Frank, but matured into a sound family man, only to go astray. He changed from teacher to newspaper owner, through various jobs, but threw that away too. He has always liked to see himself as a big fish in a small pond, with his steely, domineering manner and feeling of superior intellect." 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. Little dubbed Ken Coronation Street's elder statesman and lynch-pin, a one-man Greek tragedy, and the greatest survivor in Weatherfield.
The character has a reputation amongst critics as boring and a man of morals; Moran dubbed him the archetypal boring man. 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." Popular perception of Ken as being boring originated, in Roache's view, around the time of the Ken–Deirdre–Mike love triangle storyline. He refutes the label, particularly as Ken has had numerous romantic dalliances during his tenure. Karen Price of the Western Mail called him the Street's resident intellectual, who has never quite managed to break free from his roots.
Ken's many relationships have been marred by infidelities. Despite being generally "well-meaning", Roache assessed that for the first two decades of Coronation Street, Ken had a ruthless streak where women were involved. While he has since mellowed somewhat, he was initially a "sensitive, thinking chauvinist who liked the idea of having a wife who was always there for him, but at the same time [...] found nothing wrong with flirting or going off with another woman." ITV publicity noted how many 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." Between the periods of 1960 and 2007, Ken married four times and dated 27 women, including a character played by the then unknown actress Joanna Lumley
, who played headmaster's daughter Elaine Perkins in 1973.
was aware of their popularity, and requested that Granada Television's evening duty officer be made available on the night of broadcast, in order to take phone calls of congratulations from viewers. Although no calls were made, 20 million viewers watched the wedding episode. Reid was "thrilled" with the reaction to the wedding. Roache was initially skeptical about the impact marriage would have on Ken's development. Roache said: "I was a sort of young semi-heartthrob in those days and thought getting married was going to finish all that." He felt that, given Ken's aspirations of upward social mobility and desire to leave Weatherfield, marriage conflicted with his characterisation, but realised it was necessary for the writers to anchor him in the area.
Valerie gave birth to twins, Peter and Susan, and became a housewife to look after them. All scenes involving the child actors were filmed separately from episodic shoots, to avoid unwanted noise ruining Roache and Reid's scenes. In one storyline, Ken had to start looking after the children more frequently, but he grew bored and would often leave them unattended. Valerie accused him of attempted murder on one occasion when a small house fire occurred – with the twins trapped inside. His boredom with his marriage caused him to have an affair with Jackie Marsh (Pamela Craig). There were only "kissing scenes" written into scripts, but the production team made it clear they were having a sexual relationship. The storyline "horrified" viewers, and Craig received abusive letters from angry fans. Craig knew nothing more than a short affair could occur between the pair. On-screen Elsie Tanner convinced him to end the affair; Valerie found out, but forgave him. Roache enjoyed the aftermath, as it added a new dimension to Ken, whereby "He was a married man with kids, and had all of those good intentions, but he was also liable to stray and clearly had trouble resisting the temptation of another woman."
Ken and Valerie's marriage came to an untimely end in 1971. Following Reid's decision to leave the role – having grown bored of playing the character – the producers opted to kill Valerie off. Reid and Roache were briefly concerned that her departure would result in Ken being written out, and Roache recalls that Ken emigrating with the twins was a scenario under consideration. To his relief, he was kept on. Valerie died after being electrocuted while trying to mend a faulty hair dryer. After the fatal shock, she knocked over an electric heater, setting the Barlow's house on fire; it has been dubbed one of the most sensational soap departures. A then-record audience tuned in for Valerie's death, scripted by Leslie Duxbury
. The following episode ended with Ken walking through the burned remains of their home, in a scene that Roache has deemed one of his "most enjoyable and satisfying moments in Coronation Street."
Janet and Ken split up in 1974. Barker was included in the series on and off for a few years, as Janet would occasionally return to be with Ken. In late 1976 Barker was asked to reprise the role for a final time. Janet returned on-screen in 1977 and asked Ken for another chance, claiming she had changed. When he rejects her, she commits suicide by taking an overdose. Barker recalled the "exhausting" scenes she and Roache filmed, and said there was substantial "dramatic tracking
" scenes as Ken discovered her dead in bed. Ken was described as "shattered" and "remoseful" by the death of Janet, and felt guilty over the fact he did not try to help her more. To worsen his situation, he was initially suspected of murdering her.
Roache inferred that the writers no longer knew how to utilise Ken. 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". He believes that Ken was thereafter included in "much stronger stuff" as a result, including a storyline in which Deirdre had an affair with his rival, Mike Baldwin (Briggs). The storyline was devised in 1982. Then producer Mervyn Watson recalls: "It was normal story conference and we looked at the Ken/Deirdre marriage and had the idea of her having an affair with somebody in the Street. It was extremely passionately debated because there were categorical and opposite view points expressed." Watson believes that actors often feel "disturbed and uncomfortable" at the prospect of what their character will experience. In turn, he thought the scenario generated some of the best performances in the actors' careers. He concluded that Roache proved his theory correct, and praised his performance.
A now infamous scene, in which Ken comes face-to-face with Mike following the discovery of the affair and a showdown ensues, was originally scripted differently. Ken was intended to stand and meekly watch Mike and Deirdre chatting on his doorstep. Roache disliked this version, as he believed Ken's response lacked realism. Partly fuelled by his previous frustration with Ken's "lame" characterisation, Roache approached the episode's director, Brian Mills
, and requested that Ken be allowed to hit Mike. Though the filming set-up planned for the scene did not allow for this, it was agreed that Ken would attempt to hit Mike, and that Deirdre would intervene. In the transmitted scene, Deirdre did intervene, resulting in Ken attempting to manhandle her. Roache recalls, "Every time I looked at the words and at what was supposed to happen I knew it just didn't ring true. Poor Annie wasn't prepared for what happened to her next and actually burst into tears because of the ferocity of my performance. She was shaken up by it, and when it came to the moment for Mike Baldwin to knock at the door she got an even bigger shock. After Baldwin asked why Deirdre had put the phone down when he'd called earlier, I slammed the door shut with my left hand and then slammed poor Annie against the door itself, leaving her shaken and shocked. She then made her way into the Barlows' living room, sobbing her heart out, and Brian left the cameras rolling, capturing [Anne's] genuine distress."
The storyline was described as the most volatile and explosive in the programme's history. Roache recalls viewers taking it very seriously, to the point that he received letters reading: "Dear Ken, I though you should know that Mike Baldwin is seeing your wife!" 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!" 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
(Jean Alexander
) in 1987.
Ken and Deidre have been described as soap opera's version of Richard Burton
and Elizabeth Taylor
. Their relationship has featured various affairs, break-ups and reunions over the years. The couple's first marriage eventually disintegrated in the early 1990s, this time when Ken had an affair with colleague Wendy Crozier, a dalliance which ended in divorce for the Barlows. Ken was kicked out of home on New Year's Day 1990. Their on/off relationship continued, with each having various other liaisons, until producers decided to reunite Ken and Deidre in 1999. Roache said, "I was pleased. It seemed to fit perfectly with the lives that had been created for them throughout their time in Coronation Street. 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." Ken and Deirdre's second marriage in 2005 was watched by an estimated 13 million viewers, compared to the nine million who watched the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles the following day. 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.
Roache has been complementary about Ken and Deirdre, as well as Kirkbride—who, he states, he loves as much as Ken loves Deirdre—with this love explaining why Ken always ends up returning to her. Roache said, "We have been together on screen for pretty much 30 years now and so much of what we do on camera is instinctive. We really are like an old married couple who have had their ups and downs, lived through them and come out the other side."
) in 1994, the romance scuppering the chances of a reconciliation between recent divorcees Ken and Deirdre. Scriptwriters had actually been planning to reunite Ken and Deirdre, but when Deirdre's actress fell ill and had to be written out, the scripts were changed and Ken was paired with Denise instead. Black has suggested that the romance came out of nowhere.
The Official Coronation Street Annual 1997 has described Ken and Denise as a "mis-matched pair" who were never destined to spend their lives together. In the storyline, Ken fathered Denise's son Daniel. They had an on/off relationship and a wedding was planned in 1996; however, in a plot twist, it was revealed to Ken that Denise, unable to "hold her primitive lusts in check", was having an affair with her brother-in-law, Brian. Upon the discovery, Ken's happiness was snatched away in what has been described by Sunday Mail
as "harrowing circumstances", and one of the character's worst moments. Denise Black has discussed her character's ambivalence towards her relationship with Ken, revealing why she believed Denise engaged in infidelity: "The thing is that she's in love with both men. When she's with Brian she loves him. And she's completely in love with Ken when he's with her. So she has two loves and all the guilt that goes along with that scenario. Denise doesn't mean to cause so much pain. Her problem is that she just doesn't know whether she's coming or going." When Ken discovered the truth the wedding was called off, with Ken telling Denise to "get out before I kill you".
Following the revelation and amidst the fallout, Denise absconded, leaving her son in Ken's custody. This facilitated Black's desire to have a six-month break from the serial. The character returned in the winter of 1996, for the last part of her storyline, Black having decided to quit the role. Denise's return storyline was scripted to coincide with Coronation Streets increase to four weekly episodes. It focused upon a custody battle for Daniel between Ken and Denise after Denise snatched Daniel. A source at the time discussed the storyline and Ken's reaction to losing his son: "Ken is devastated when he returns home the week before Christmas and finds his son gone. He simply can't believe he's been snatched by the woman who dumped them. He immediately starts a custody battle. Denise plays heavily on the fact that she is the mother, while Ken [claims] that he is back in a relationship with his ex-wife Deirdre. Deirdre actually goes to court with him for support, but she gets angry when she finds out he tries to use their friendship as a lever to get Daniel back." When Denise was awarded custody, she left Coronation Street, and Ken lost contact with his son.
Denise was reintroduced for several months in 2007, over a decade after she had last appeared. Ken tracked down his son following marital unease with Dierdre, which led to interactions with Denise when he turned up unannounced for a visit. Black was pleased to be invited back, saying "I don’t think that you can have Ken Barlow’s baby and forget about it, can you?" Denise's return was used as a catalyst to cause further problems in Ken and Deirdre's marriage, Ken having grown discontented. It was only a brief return; once Denise's advances towards Ken were rejected, Denise was written out again.
), a new love interest for Ken, was introduced to the show. Ken meets Martha by the canal while he is walking his dog, Eccles. Martha reveals that she is a theatre actress who travels to performances on her barge. Ken seeks Martha out again, and he helps her go through her lines. Roache told What's on TV
that Ken is happy to find a "like-minded person" who is easy to talk to. He enjoys telling Martha about his problems, his son and his grandchildren, as she is not judgmental. When asked if Ken mentions Deirdre, Roache said "Er... no. Martha asks him about Peter's mum and Ken tells her that she's dead, which is the truth, so Martha automatically assumes he's a widower and he doesn't put her right." Ken also chooses not to mention Martha to Deirdre; Roache believed that she would be angry if she found out. 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. During the storyline, Roache's wife, Sara, died. Roache was given compassionate leave from the soap, and writers were forced to rework Ken's storyline. Ken and Martha eventually consummate their relationship, and Ken considers leaving Deirdre and Weatherfield. He changes his mind at the last minute and Martha leaves, alone.
Alison Graham of the Radio Times
said Martha was Ken's soulmate, because "she's the most perfectly bourgeois bit-on-the-side." Graham said that Martha allowed Ken's "middle-class heart" to sing after the pair bonded over a love of BBC Radio 4
, books and plays. Comparing Ken's relationships with Martha and Deirdre to a prison sentence, Graham said Martha offered Ken a deserving parole from the "years of breaking rocks in the prison yard of his marriage to Deirdre." She hoped that Ken and Martha were "soon in the throes of ecstasy", because Ken deserved it. Following the conclusion to Ken's relationship with Martha, Roache expressed an interest in having more girlfriends for Ken introduced in the future. The actor said, "I thought it was great last year having a girlfriend, especially at my age. A few more would be great. I've lost count of romances I've had in the show, not to mention the four weddings." Ken and Martha's romance was later depicted in the Coronation Street musical, Corrie!
. Ben East of The Stage
said the romance was "genuinely funny."
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". His later love interests included Wendy Crozier (Kerr), Alma Sedgewick (Barrie) and Maggie Redman (Kerman).
Ken was bored with looking after the children, Peter and Susan, before Valerie's death. Afterwards, further problems occurred and Ken was no longer able to cope. The writers were initially uncertain whether to continue with Ken as a single father, or dispatch the children and pursue a less-encumbered lifestyle. Roache said, "Ken tried to bring up the kids on his own, but he wasn't doing so good. So he sent them up to Glasgow to live with his mother-in-law." Ken still remained in contact; Roache recalled Ken often saying: "Right, I'm off to Scotland.'" Roache has suggested that the subsequent problems in his children's adulthood were Ken's fault: "I blame Ken for how they've all turned out. He shoved his kids up in Scotland, didn't really look after them. But you don't want a happy family in the Street. You want a wonderful dysfunctional one like the one I've got, they're great and Deirdre is wonderful." The animosity between Ken and his children has been explored throughout the programme's duration. Chris Gascoyne, who took on the role of Peter in the 2000s, has suggested that there is a lot of tension between Ken and Peter due to the dysfunctional nature of the Barlow family. Guilt over the twins' upbringing led Ken to dote on his youngest son, Daniel, as he was keen to avoid repeating his past mistakes. Their close relationship resulted in Roache challenging the series producers when a script required Ken to allow Daniel to be taken away by his mother. The actor felt that Ken would not accept this; he would fight. The scriptwriters apologised, but it was too late to re-write the plot.
After Valerie's death, Ken became responsible for looking after her uncle, Albert, and he later became known as Ken's "Uncle Albert". Albert would often make attempts to interfere in Ken's life, as he had no one else. At one stage, Ken was making plans to leave Weatherfield. When Albert revealed he could not pay his bills on his pension, Ken opted to stay. The storyline has been called a turning point for Ken—when he realised he belonged in Coronation Street and had to help the community and Albert alike. Ken moved in with him and Albert gradually saw Ken as "the son he never had". Roache enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with Howarth, whom he first met as a schoolboy. He characterised Ken and Albert's relationship as "often a little bumpy and uncomfortable, but underlying all of that was an affection the two had for each other."
Ken had a slight antagonistic relationship with his "acid-tongued" mother-in-law Blanche. She has been described as a "thorn in Ken's side". A favourite subject matter for Blanche's wit, Ken has been described as "long-suffering" as he bore the brunt of her "catty remarks". She would criticise his looks, and on one occasion she accused him of being homosexual. When Ken's affair with Martha was exposed, Blanche took her comments too far: she tormented Deirdre for staying with him, which resulted in her being thrown out of the Barlow household and forced to live with Peter. However, she was seen as "the glue" of the Barlow family in the modern era, holding them together. Blanche was willing to put her wit aside and fight to ensure Ken and Deirdre stayed together, although most of the time, she interfered in his life. Even upon death, Blanche managed to make a final remark aimed at Ken, through her will. The storyline was described as giving her the chance to have "the last laugh".
In 2010 it was announced that Roache's own children, Linus and James, would be joining the cast. They played his long-lost son and grandson, respectively. In the storyline, Ken finds a letter which discloses he had a secret son with a short-term girlfriend. Roache said he looked forward "immensely" to working with his children during the fiftieth-anniversary year. The reunion was short-lived due to a rift between Lawrence and James. Lawrence was a bigot who could not accept that the fact James was homosexual. The producers decided to run the storyline to highlight the fact homophobia still exists. Gay rights activists approved of the storyline because the producers showed both sides of the issue. On-screen, Ken was opposed to Lawrence's views and decided to embrace James' sexuality. He urged him to be true to himself and ignore his father's bigoted views. Lawrence does not agree with Ken's liberal stance. In 2011 James returns to stay with Ken. Ken was grateful for the chance to get to know him better. Ken sees James as his "intellectual match", and has a lot of respect for him because he is a "well-educated, erudite young man". He became carried away and moved him in because Ken has always "longed for intelligent conversation".
Ken's feud with Mike—spanning over 20 years—began in 1983, when Ken discovered that his wife, Deirdre, was having an affair with Baldwin. His dislike for Mike pre-dated the affair, however, and Roache has stated:
Of the love triangle storyline, Briggs has said, "the way it captured the nation was amazing. Everyone was talking about it and the pubs were empty. Men were shouting out: 'Go on Mike, give her one.' People were disappointed when she went back to Ken". The storyline had significant cultural impact, with the press claiming that the country was divided between those who thought Deirdre should remain with Ken, and those who thought she should leave with Mike. 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.
Scriptwriters capitalised on the rivalry between the characters when, in 1986, Mike married Ken's daughter Susan, a union that Ken strongly opposed. Numerous fights between Ken and Mike were featured, and Briggs has suggested that they became famous for their brawls. The first fight between the pair occurred in 1986, when Ken confronted Mike in his factory about Mike's maltreatment of his daughter. Of the confrontation, Briggs has said, "It was a classic – Baldwin getting it in his own territory, the factory. It took a lot to get Ken angry but after the way Mike had treated his daughter, he was furious. He marched into the office and let him have it. This was one of those rare times he caught Mike off-guard." Mike was shown to get revenge on Ken, though it took a further four years before he could do so on-screen. In a scene which aired in 1990, Mike punched Ken, knocking him over a table in the Rovers Return public house. Briggs has suggested that he and Roache became old hands at doing on-screen fistfights, and that both really enjoyed doing the stunts. According to Briggs, no choreographers were ever used. In 1998 one incident left Briggs with an injury after he fell backwards.
Ken and Mike were forced to work together in 2000, when they were featured in a storyline dubbed the "Freshco siege". Ken and Mike were among several series regulars held up at gunpoint in the soap's local supermarket, where Ken had been working as a trolley pusher. The episode was broadcast after the 9 pm watershed due to its depiction of violence. Ken and Mike were bound together by armed robbers, which facilitated an end to their feud; Ken helped Mike to combat a panic attack
. The pair resolved to put the past behind them; it was a temporary reprieve. Mike had unknowingly fathered a son, Adam, during his brief marriage to Susan Barlow; she kept the baby a secret from him. Mike discovered Adam's existence in 2001; Susan attempted to flee, but was killed in a motor accident. Then followed a battle between Mike and Ken for custody of Adam, with Ken adamant that Mike should not look after his grandson. The storyline lead to the fifth fistfight between Ken and Mike in the soap's history, with the pair brawling at the funeral of Susan.
The feud came to an end on-screen in 2006, when Briggs quit the role of Mike. Mike was killed off, dying of Alzheimer's disease
; he died in Ken's arms. In the final scenes, a disorientated and dying Mike was found wandering the streets by Ken, and as Ken cradled Mike in his arms, the rivals talked about old times before Mike died, signifying the end of their 20-year feud. To promote Mike's final scenes, Radio Times
released a series of photographs with Ken and Mike re-enacting Arthur Devis
's (1807) painting
of the death of Horatio Nelson—Baldwin was shown surrounded by his nearest and dearest during his final moments, with Ken prominently positioned next to him, taking on the role of Captain Hardy, Nelson's trusted colleague to whom Nelson famously uttered "Kiss me" before he died. Producer Maire Tracey said, "The fact that Mike dies in Ken's arms says it all. For most of Mike's life, it was his battles with Ken that kept him going. Like two cowboys, they spent their lives sizing each other up. Behind the scenes Bill Roache has even suggested to Johnny Briggs that they should make a version of Brokeback Mountain
for the two elderly cowboys. Both Ken and Mike will miss the bust-ups."
Reflecting on the feud in 2006, Roache gave reasons why he thinks Ken and Mike clashed so often: "Ken felt threatened when Mike arrived on the street, but it made the part more exciting for Bill. Ken is a nice guy, a loyal guy, a reliable guy. But he isn't terribly exciting. So the exciting guy [Mike] comes along and he's a bit flash, isn't he? But I've always liked the physical side of acting, so my punch-ups with Johnny were probably the best bits. I shall miss those terribly."
aired a drama film entitled The Road to Coronation Street
, which depicted Tony Warren's struggle to get his soap opera commissioned, and the filming of its pilot. Ken Barlow appeared in the film and was played by Roache's son, James.
In 2011 ITV filmed a spin-off, web-based series featuring Ken and Deirdre, entitled Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories
. Created by Coronation Street writer Jonathan Harvey, the webisodes featured Ken and Deirdre mulling over the events of their day while in bed. Roache said, "Each episode has been carefully crafted and injected with humour, warmth and drama. The content takes Coronation Street into new and exciting territory which, for me personally, is thoroughly exciting to be a part of."
In 2010 a comedy play about Coronation Street was released entitled Corrie!
, penned by scriptwriter Jonathan Harvey
. Ken Barlow was played by Simon Chadwick in the production. Harvey has suggested that when he researched the play, in the top five storylines for each of the 50 years of Coronation Street, three characters regularly featured—Ken, Deirdre and Gail Platt
. Harvey therefore tried to shape the play around their journeys over the years.
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. The black-and-white shots were taken by photographer Rob Evans, and raised £8,600 for charity. The highest bid on a photograph was for a shot of Ken, standing amongst rubble after the Weatherfield tram crash in 2010, a storyline marking the show's 50th anniversary. In 2010 ITV began selling Coronation Street merchandise featuring Ken, including gift wrap and novelty congratulations cards.
A parody song written about the character, entitled "Ken!", was included on Harry Hill
's debut album, Funny Times
. The track features vocals from Hill and Roache. Ken has been spoofed by Jon Culshaw
in The Impressions Show, where he is having a secret affair with Pat Evans
from EastEnders
, spoofed by Debra Stephenson
. Culshaw wanted to include his impression of Ken in the show, saying "We were just looking for an excuse to get him in", so he decided that Ken and Pat would have a "secret romantic tryst at a motorway service station" somewhere between Weatherfield and the EastEnders setting of Walford
.
in 1999. In November 2010, Ken surpassed Bob Hughes
(Don Hastings
) from US soap opera As the World Turns
to become the longest-running soap opera character. Roache was honoured at a Guinness World Records
ceremony in New York. In 1983, Roache, Kirkbride and Briggs were named TV Personalities of the Year at the Pye Colour Television Awards, for their performances in the Ken–Deirdre–Mike love triangle storyline. Reporter Brian Viner has suggested that Roache has not been given the accolades he has deserved as a performer because of his longevity in the role of Ken. 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". He added, "although the bouquets tend to go to actors who repeatedly display their versatility, it is in many ways even harder to inhabit one role for five decades. That said, for sheer staying power Ken and Bill are clearly indivisible: one has lived in the same street practically all his life, the other in the same role [...]. That we have been able to watch the evolution of that young man into the Ken Barlow we know today, no less self-righteous but with 50 years of experiences behind him, is frankly one of the wonders of British television."
Ken has a reputation for being boring. The British band Half Man Half Biscuit
highlighted this point in their 2001 song "Lark Descending", comparing Ken Barlow infavourably with a member of the US underground music scene, with the lyric: "I could have been like Lou Barlow
, but I'm more like Ken Barlow". Despite Ken being fictional, critic Jim Shelley
writing for the Daily Mirror in 2009 labelled Ken "the most boring man you could ever meet". 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. Roache said to the jury at the court case, "I felt extremely distressed. I could not believe those words had been written, that they had raked into my past. I broke out in a sweat. [...] They were saying that I was not doing my job, that I was a joke to the storyline writers, which is not true". Roache added in regard to Ken, "If people find someone who has had 23 girlfriends and three wives boring, that's fine by me." Roache won the case and was awarded £50,000; however, he was forced to pay legal costs, which bankrupted him. Brian Viner of The Independent
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. 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. After all, he usually opens it only to drink halves of bitter, or to say something sensible or worthy. 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."
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. In a Radio Times
poll of over 5,000 people in 2004, 15% chose Ken as the soap character they would most like to see retired. He came second in the poll, behind EastEnders Den Watts
(17%).
Television personality Paul O'Grady
penned the foreword to Roache's 2010 autobiography, 50 Years on the Street. In it, he hailed Ken as "one of the iconic British soap characters", an all-time great who has been integral to Coronation Street. In 2005 Grace Dent
of The Guardian
has suggested that Coronation Street archetypes have influenced latter soap opera characters. 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. Just like poor hangdog-faced Ken, brainy people in soapland (Dr Truman [from EastEnders
], Roy Cropper
, Todd Grimshaw
[both from Coronation Street], Emmerdale
's Ethan the curate) are always miserable and brooding, due to the terrible burden of their mighty intellect in the face of so many simpletons. 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."
In 2009, viewers complained to ITV as well as the media regulator Ofcom
after Coronation Street broadcast scenes in which Ken made derogatory comments about Christianity
. 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." The Guardian columnist Nancy Banks-Smith
spoke highly of Ken's affair with Martha Fraser in 2009, calling it "a muted ingenious storyline." Gareth McLean of the Radio Times
was critical of the storyline: "When it comes to self-delusion, Ken takes the biscuit, claims the cake and wolfs down the éclair. 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. 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." The BBC has said: "During his record-breaking time on the hit soap, Roache's character has led a life full of incident." Holy Soap
describe Ken's most memorable moment as being when he was labelled a gigolo in the local newspaper after his client, Babs, died halfway through eating her meal. Jaci Stephen, writing for the Daily Mail
,said that soap operas are mostly a "cultural wasteland". She exempt Ken from her generalisation, because she observed him reading broadsheets and books. In her book Soap Opera, Hobson said Ken and his brother David initially represented the younger males of society. She noted that although Ken had many relationships, "he could hardly be described as an early 'Dirty Den'", a character notable for his womanising in the soap opera, EastEnders.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, played by William Roache
William Roache
William Patrick Harry Roache MBE is a British actor, best known for his role as Ken Barlow in the soap opera Coronation Street...
, and created by Tony Warren
Tony Warren
Anthony McVay Simpson MBE , better known by his stage name Tony Warren, is an award-winning English television scriptwriter, best known for creating the soap opera Coronation Street...
. He is currently the world's longest-serving soap opera character, having appeared continuously from the programme's inception in December 1960.
Ken was introduced as the educated son of a working-class family. Moralistic, political and an activist, Ken differed from his neighbouring peers with their working-class values. Ken developed a reputation as a ladies' man, having been married four times, fathering numerous children and dating a plethora of women. Of the many women Ken has been involved with, his relationship with Deirdre Barlow
Deirdre Barlow
Deirdre Anne Barlow is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV Granada soap opera, Coronation Street...
is the most enduring. The characters have been married twice, once in 1981 and again in 2005. Despite his somewhat antagonistic role in the show's early years, Ken developed a reputation among critics for representing an archetypal "boring man". This is an allegation denied by Roache, who has cited Ken's evolution over the years, his chaotic love life and dysfunctional family as evidence to the contrary.
Roache has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the British Soap Awards
British Soap Awards
The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to...
for his portrayal as Ken. December 2010 marked Ken's 50th anniversary on-screen, making him the longest-running character in a televised soap opera. Roache was honoured at the 2010 Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
ceremony for the achievement, when he surpassed actor Don Hastings
Don Hastings
Donald Francis Hastings is a longtime American actor, singer, and writer best known for his 50-year role as Dr. Robert "Bob" Hughes" on the soap opera As the World Turns...
from US soap As The World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
, who had previously held the title. Roache stated in 2010 that he has no plans to leave the role and will remain in Coronation Street for as long as they will have him.
Storylines
Ken is the eldest son born to FrankFrank Barlow (Coronation Street)
Francis "Frank" Barlow is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Frank Pemberton. As the head of the show's core Barlow family, Frank was one of the original twenty-one characters upon the show's inception in 1960, along with wife Ida and sons Ken and David .In...
(Frank Pemberton) and Ida Barlow
Ida Barlow
Ida Barlow is a fictional character from the UK television ITV soap opera Coronation Street, she was played by actress Noel Dyson between 1960 and 1961.-Casting:...
(Noel Dyson). An intelligent pupil, Ken is bright enough to go to Manchester University; he lives with his parents and brother David (Alan Rothwell
Alan Rothwell
Alan Rothwell is a British actor and television presenter. He was born in Oldham, Lancashire. He first came to fame in 1960, playing the character David Barlow in the then new ITV soap opera Coronation Street. He remained in this role in 1968, and the character was killed off two years later...
) in Weatherfield
Weatherfield
Weatherfield is a fictional town, based on Salford in North West England, which serves as the setting for the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street...
while studying, gaining a second class honours degree in History and English. Being educated and politically-minded, Ken differs from his family and neighbours. 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. When Ken writes a scathing article about his uneducated neighbours in Weatherfield, Frank and the community are outraged. In 1961 Ken's mother dies in a motor accident, and he turns down a teaching post to support his father. Ken and Frank continue to clash until Frank's departure in 1964. David's death in 1968 and Frank's in 1971 leave Ken as the sole surviving Barlow.
Ken begins teaching, and marries Valerie Tatlock (Anne Reid
Anne Reid
Anne Reid, MBE is a BAFTA Award-nominated English film and television actress from Newcastle upon Tyne, best known for her roles as Valerie Tatlock in Coronation Street and Jean in dinnerladies....
) in July 1962. Two years later, he has a fling with exotic dancer Pip Mistral (Elaine Stevens), but his marriage survives. Twins Peter
Peter Barlow (Coronation Street)
Peter Francis Barlow is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The character first appeared onscreen during the episode aired on 15 April 1965...
(Robert Heanue) and Susan
Susan Barlow
Susan Ida Barlow , is a fictional character in the British soap opera Coronation Street. She has been portrayed by four actresses. Wendy Jane Walker played her from 1970 to 1971 and Suzy Patterson from 1979 to 1981...
(Katie Heanneau) are born on 15 April 1965. In January 1966, Ken has another affair with reporter Jackie Marsh (Pamela Craig). Valerie leaves when she finds out, but is later persuaded to return. Ken continues to stand up for his political beliefs, and spends seven days in prison in March 1967, after being arrested for protesting. Ken is left a single-parent following Valerie's untimely death; she perishes after being electrocuted in January 1971, and Ken is left heartbroken. Ken is supported by Valerie's uncle Albert Tatlock
Albert Tatlock
Albert Tatlock is a fictional character on the British television soap opera Coronation Street. Albert was played by actor Jack Howarth from 1960 to 1984...
(Jack Howarth), with whom he shares a close relationship, but caring for the twins proves too difficult and they are sent to live with their grandparents in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
Ken has numerous flings, including a one-night stand with Rita Littlewood (Barbara Knox
Barbara Knox
Barbara Knox, MBE , is an English actress, best known for playing Rita Sullivan in the television soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:Knox was born in Oldham, Lancashire...
), but his next serious relationship occurs in 1973, when Ken marries Janet Reid (Judith Barker
Judith Barker
Judith Barker is an English actress, best known for her role as the upwardly mobile homewrecker Janet Reid on the soap opera Coronation Street, which she played from 1969 to 1977....
), in the hope that she will mother his two children. Janet refuses to do this, and in 1974 they separate. 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.
When Ray Langton
Ray Langton
Raymond Anthony "Ray" Langton was a major character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street. He was played by Neville Buswell. An ex-borstal boy, Ray built up a reputation as a troublemaker. He first appeared in the Street in 1966 but was forced out by Len after he threatened Lucille...
(Neville Buswell
Neville Buswell
Neville Buswell is a British actor, best known for his role as Ray Langton in Coronation Street.Neville Buswell attended Belmont Abbey School near Hereford from 1955-1960...
) leaves his wife Deirdre
Deirdre Barlow
Deirdre Anne Barlow is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV Granada soap opera, Coronation Street...
(Anne Kirkbride
Anne Kirkbride
Anne Kirkbride is an English actress, best known for her long-running role as Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street which she has played for thirty-nine years.-Coronation Street:...
) in 1978, Ken supports her. In 1981 they marry, with Ken becoming stepfather to Deirdre's four-year-old daughter Tracy
Tracy Barlow
Tracy Lynette Barlow is a fictional character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street. She is currently portrayed, since 2002, by Kate Ford, the latest in a series of actresses who have played Tracy at various ages...
(Christabel Finch). However, by 1983, Deirdre grows bored with Ken and has an affair with his rival, Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs
Johnny Briggs (actor)
Johnny Briggs, MBE is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Mike Baldwin in the soap opera Coronation Street, in which he appeared from 1976 to 2006...
). Ken and Deirdre's marriage suffers; the couple separates in 1990, and eventually divorce following Ken's affair with Wendy Crozier (Roberta Kerr), his colleague at the local newspaper, The Weatherfield Recorder. Ken takes the separation badly and attempts suicide by overdose, but is stopped by his friend Bet Lynch
Bet Lynch
Elizabeth Theresa "Bet" Lynch is a fictional character from the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. The character is no longer part of current storylines. Portrayed by actress Julie Goodyear the character first appears onscreen during the episode airing on 23 May 1966. The character...
(Julie Goodyear
Julie Goodyear
Julie Goodyear, MBE is an English television actress and media personality, best known for playing the long-running role of pub landlady Bet Lynch on British soap opera Coronation Street.-Biography:...
).
Ken and Mike, who are the moral opposites of each other, remain enemies; Ken is incensed when his daughter, Susan, falls in love and has a short-lived marriage with Mike. In 1991 Ken and Mike compete for the same woman, Alma Sedgewick (Amanda Barrie
Amanda Barrie
Amanda Barrie is an English actress.-Career:Born as Shirley Anne Broadbent, Barrie attended St Anne's College, St Anne's on Sea. She then trained at the Arts Educational School in London and later at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School...
). When she is dumped by Mike in favour of Jackie Ingram (Shirin Taylor), she starts seeing Ken. On Christmas Day 1991, Mike lures Alma back into his bed to get back at Ken. Later in 1992, Ken falls for one of his pupil's mothers – Maggie Redman (Jill Kerman). The Baldwin/Barlow feud erupts again, as Mike is the father of Maggie's son, Mark
Mark Redman (Coronation Street)
Mark Redman is Mike Baldwin's son by Maggie Dunlop. He was played by Christopher Oakswood from 1983 till 1992 and then by Christopher Cook from 1992 till 1994 and then most recently Paul Fox from 1999 till 2006...
(Christopher Oakswood). Mike hates the thought of Ken spending Christmas Day with his son, but Ken's pride gets the better of him. He cannot handle the situation, and he and Maggie split.
Ken has a relationship with hairdresser Denise Osbourne (Denise Black
Denise Black
Denise Black is an English actress, best known for playing Denise Osbourne in the ITV1 soap Coronation Street and Hazel Tyler in Channel 4 TV's Queer As Folk in 1999 and 2000, written by Russell T Davies. After attending Portsmouth's Girls Public Day School, she studied Psychology at London...
) in 1994 and fathers her child; their son Daniel (Lewis Harney) is born in 1995. Denise agrees to marry Ken, but is having an affair with her brother-in-law Brian Dunkley (Benny Young
Benny Young
Robert "Benny" Young is a Scottish film, television and stage actor.He was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Young trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow....
) at the same time. She leaves Weatherfield in 1996, leaving Daniel with Ken. It is a short-lived custody as, later that year, Denise returns and snatches Daniel; Ken's attempts to reclaim his son fail.
Ken and Deirdre remain close, despite their other relationships. They reunite in 1999, following encouragement from Deidre's mother Blanche
Blanche Hunt
Blanche Hunt is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She was originally played by Patricia Cutts; however, the actress committed suicide after appearing in just two episodes in 1974. Maggie Jones took over the role, playing Blanche in over 830 episodes between 1974 and...
(Maggie Jones
Maggie Jones (actress)
Margaret "Maggie" Jones was an English actress, best known for playing Blanche Hunt in the British soap opera Coronation Street, a role which she first portrayed in 1974 and played regularly from the late 1990s until shortly before her death.-Career:Jones graduated from the drama school RADA and...
). They eventually remarry on 8 April 2005; although Ken discovers that Deirdre slept with Dev Alahan
Dev Alahan
Devendra 'Dev' Alahan is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Jimmi Harkishin, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 10 November 1999.-Character development:...
(Jimmi Harkishin
Jimmi Harkishin
James "Jimmi" Harkishin is an actor best known for his role as shop owner Dev Alahan in Coronation Street. He also featured in the film East is East and also Bhaji on the Beach....
) in 2001, he forgives her and they remain together. Deirdre supports Ken in 2002 when he loses his teaching post for assaulting a pupil, Aidan Critchley (Dean Ashton), who has been terrorising him. Marital problems arise in 2006 when, following Mike's death from Alzheimer's, Ken grows jealous of Deirdre's grief reaction; he leaves home and tries to rebuild a relationship with his estranged son Daniel. Daniel's mother Denise, now single, gets the wrong idea and attempts to rekindle a romance with Ken; Ken rebuffs her advances and returns to Deirdre. Ken does stray in 2009, after meeting Martha Fraser (Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...
). Ken falls in love with Martha, and in May 2009, plans to leave with her. He cannot go through with it, and he jilts her, returning to Deirdre. Eventually he admits to the infidelity. Although Deirdre is angry, she forgives him as he had forgiven her fling with Dev; however, Deirdre later cheats on Ken again, kissing Lewis Archer
Lewis Archer
Lewis Archer is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by Nigel Havers. He made his first on-screen appearance on 18 December 2009. Lewis is a male escort hired by Audrey Roberts, after she sees him accompanying her rival, Claudia Colby, to a Christmas party...
(Nigel Havers
Nigel Havers
Nigel Allan Havers is an English actor. He is probably best known for his BAFTA-nominated role as Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film Chariots of Fire, and for his role as Dr. Tom Latimer in the British TV comedy series Don't Wait Up...
). Relations are once again strained between Ken and Deirdre. The couple acknowledge their mutual unhappiness with their marriage, but remain together.
In late August 2010 Norris Cole
Norris Cole
Norris Benjamin Cole is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Malcolm Hebden, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 11 March 1994 and remained until his departure on 14 April 1997, only to return on 1 December...
(Malcolm Hebden
Malcolm Hebden
Malcolm Hebden is an English television and stage actor best known for his role as Norris Cole in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:...
) discovers an unopened letter addressed to Ken, dating back to the 1960s. The letter is written by Ken's first girlfriend, Susan Cunningham (Patricia Shakesby
Patricia Shakesby
Patricia Shakesby is an English actress, best known for her role as Polly Urquhart in Howards' Way....
), whom Ken had dated in 1960. Susan has a son named Lawrence (Linus Roache
Linus Roache
Linus William Roache is an English actor.-Early life:Roache was born in Manchester, the son of Coronation Street actor William Roache and actress Anna Cropper. Roache was educated at Bishop Luffa Church of England School in Chichester, West Sussex and at the independent Rydal School in Colwyn Bay,...
), who turns out to be Ken's child. Ken and Lawrence bond, which temporarily threatens Ken's relationship with his other son Peter. When Ken discovers that Lawrence is intolerant of the homosexuality of his own son, James (James Roache
James Roache
James Roache is a British actor and is perhaps best known for his roles in Coronation Street as Ken Barlow's long-lost grandson James, or as his father William Roache in BBC drama The Road to Coronation Street....
), Ken severs contact. Realising that he has been unappreciative and neglectful of Peter over the years, he makes an effort to bond, supporting him through his relationship and health problems that follow.
Casting
Ken Barlow is one of the twenty-two original Coronation Street characters devised by series creator Tony WarrenTony Warren
Anthony McVay Simpson MBE , better known by his stage name Tony Warren, is an award-winning English television scriptwriter, best known for creating the soap opera Coronation Street...
. He made his debut in the soap's first episode, broadcast on 9 December 1960. 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
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
play Marking Time, and knew that he was the right actor to play Ken. Roache almost declined the invitation to audition: "I wasn't interested. I had my flat in London, I was getting acting parts and it all looked very rosy." He changed his mind at the insistence of his agent, and attended the audition, at which he was asked to read The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
newspaper in a Lancashire accent. Roache believes that his indifference towards being cast had a positive impact on his audition, as it enabled him to relax. Two pilot episodes were filmed, with Ken played by Roache in one, and by actor Philip Lowrie
Philip Lowrie
Colin Philip Lowrie is an English television actor. He played Dennis Tanner, the son of Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street, from 1960 until 1968. On 25 January 2011, it was announced that he would return to the role, reappearing on screen later in the year...
in the other. Lowrie was later cast in the role of another original character, Dennis Tanner
Dennis Tanner
Dennis Tanner is a fictional character in British soap opera Coronation Street. He is played by Philip Lowrie. The character was created by writer Tony Warren and was introduced in the very first episode on 9 December 1960...
.
Roache was initially offered the role of Ken on a thirteen-episode, six-week contract. His agent convinced him to take it, as it would enhance his exposure around the broadcast of Marking Time. Coronation Street was a hit with viewers and its contract was extended. Roache was given a six-month contract in early 1961, followed by a one-year contract in June of that year, which he deemed amazing security at a time when he had been "leading a hand-to-mouth existence". The series became a long-running soap opera, airing multiple times weekly, and Roache continued in the role, though gradually ceased to affect a Lancashire accent. Roache originally earned ₤10 per episode, compared to the ₤3,000 per episode that he earned in 2010. He stated in 2010 that although he initially only intended to feature in Coronation Street for a short time, once he had filmed it and it was transmitted with "such colossal impact", he realised it was something special. At the time Roache needed to be sure it wasn't a mistake to sign up; later he said, "If I had known it would turn out to be my life's work, I would have run a mile."
According to writer Daran Little
Daran Little
Daran Little is a BAFTA Award-winning British television writer, most notable for his work on Coronation Street from 2000 until 2010.-Career:...
, 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. The soap was originally titled Florizel Street when it was commissioned. Roache reportedly could not pronounce Florizel, so the name of the street was changed to Coronation Street.
Longevity
By 1984, Ken was the only character from the original cast who remained in the serial. He became the only original character to remain with the show continuously into 2010, its 50th year. 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. Aspinall culled a variety of characters from the serial, including fan favourite Martha Longhurst (Lynne CarolLynne Carol
Lynne Carol was an English actress made famous by playing busybody Martha Longhurst in the soap opera Coronation Street from the second episode in 1960 until the character was killed off in 1964....
), and Ken was one of the characters he wished to axe: "He had a kind of hit list of characters. 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. It was appalling," recalls Roache. A potential storyline was devised in which Ken and his then wife Valerie would move to Australia. However, Ken was given a reprieve, as before he could be axed, Aspinall himself was sacked from his position.
Spiritual enlightenment and a desire for self-improvement led Roache to consider quitting the series in the early 1970s, as he struggled with being in "the most ego-driven profession there is". He ultimately decided to stay—a decision he is happy with in retrospect, as his qualms were never with the series itself, but the way he felt personally. In 2010 Roache pledged to stay with Coronation Street: "I'm not even thinking about retiring. It isn't an option and I don't want to even consider it [...] I love the Street and while they want me and while I can do it I want to carry on. I don't care if I'm 120, I'll still be there." 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. He’s been married three times, had 24 girlfriends and is head of a totally dysfunctional family. He has a son [Peter] who's an alcoholic bigamist and a daughter [Tracy] who's a convicted murderer. How many actors get the chance to perform scenes with meaty content like that?"
Characterisation
Tony Warren created Ken as a "zeitgeistZeitgeist
Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The...
" of modern times in 1960, and it has been suggested that Ken is a "prism through which to read the political and cultural history of the last half century". 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. Roache concurs that Ken obviously had higher aspirations than "being stuck in Coronation Street", but notes that "he was also portrayed as a nice young guy who was happy to help out if he could." Roache considers himself "the guardian of Ken", responsible for ensuring that his actions and dialogue remain true to the character. This responsibility lead to a two-year quarrel with his co-star Pat Phoenix
Pat Phoenix
Patricia "Pat" Frederica Phoenix was an English actress who became one of the first sex symbols of British television through her role of Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street.-Early life and career:Born in Ireland to Anna Maria Josephine Noonan and Tom Manfield, but moved to Manchester before...
, when she insisted that her character, Elsie Tanner
Elsie Tanner
Elsie Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Patricia Phoenix from 1960 to 1973 and from 1976 until 1984. Elsie Tanner was one of the original core characters on Coronation Street and appeared in the very first episode...
, undermine Ken in an argument. Annoyed at Ken being belittled and the scene stripped of its "dramatic impact", Roache rowed with Phoenix, who did not speak to him again—outside of their scenes together—for two years.
An article in the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
in 2010 stated, "in the beginning Ken was an angry young man who, as a student, was representative of the millions who had benefited from post-war reforms, such as free education for the gifted." The Guardian Joe Moran likened Ken to Richard Hoggart
Richard Hoggart
Herbert Richard Hoggart is a British academic and public figure, whose career has covered the fields of sociology, English literature and cultural studies, with a special concern for British popular culture.-Career:...
's scholarship boy "the 'uprooted and anxious' figure whose education had alienated him from his working-class origins." Moran suggested that Ken has led "what Hoggart once called a 'carousel life', a life not of the upward trajectory of the professional career but of living from year to year and taking whatever job turns up." Moran added that Ken "refused to go along with the last half century's stress on consumer aspiration and meritocratic elitism", but added that by modern standards, "Ken has wasted his education and his life. He has played little part in 'wealth creation' [...] and is still stuck in the same house he lived in when he was a student, leading his carousel life, stoically and decently."
Ken's political stance is left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
-liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
. He has been described as the most famous fictional reader of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, a newspaper that attracts readers of the mainstream left of British political opinion. 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. A scathing article he wrote for a newspaper in which he labelled his neighbours as "lazy-minded, politically ignorant, starved of a real culture and prejudiced against any advance in human insight and scientific progress" led to clashes with his father and a fistfight at the Rovers
Rovers Return Inn
The Rovers Return Inn is a fictional public house on the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street. The Rovers Return occupies the corner of Coronation Street and Rosamund Street. Since the first episode it has been the principal setting in the show and many of its most memorable moments...
with Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson
Peter Adamson
Peter Adamson was a British stage and television actor. He is best known for playing the character of Len Fairclough in the long-running television series Coronation Street from 1961 to 1983.-Life and career:...
). Although Ken has occasionally espoused socialist ideology, Roache suggests that he is really more of a "liberal, fair-minded guy [...] always looking to right the wrongs of society", and "a man of integrity who fights for what he thinks is right".
Author Graeme Kay discussed Ken's evolution within the show: "He began as a bit of a prig, in the eyes of working-class father Frank, but matured into a sound family man, only to go astray. He changed from teacher to newspaper owner, through various jobs, but threw that away too. He has always liked to see himself as a big fish in a small pond, with his steely, domineering manner and feeling of superior intellect." 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. Little dubbed Ken Coronation Street's elder statesman and lynch-pin, a one-man Greek tragedy, and the greatest survivor in Weatherfield.
The character has a reputation amongst critics as boring and a man of morals; Moran dubbed him the archetypal boring man. Chronicling the history of Coronation Street in 2007, Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
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." Popular perception of Ken as being boring originated, in Roache's view, around the time of the Ken–Deirdre–Mike love triangle storyline. He refutes the label, particularly as Ken has had numerous romantic dalliances during his tenure. Karen Price of the Western Mail called him the Street's resident intellectual, who has never quite managed to break free from his roots.
Relationships
Ken is renowned for having had multiple relationships with women during his time in Coronation Street. Discussing this, author Hobson has suggested that Ken's numerous relationships could give the impression that the character is a lothario or a great romantic; however, Hobson noted that this would be inaccurate as Ken is "neither a great romantic nor someone with whom you would be wise to trust your romantic or emotional future. In fact, he is one of the characters about whom audiences would tend to want to warn any female characters to 'stay away, it'll end in tears'. Roache feels that Ken's approach to romance early in his tenure belied his educated, intellectual affectations, and revealed him to be a typical "northern working-class man at heart." 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. 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."Ken's many relationships have been marred by infidelities. Despite being generally "well-meaning", Roache assessed that for the first two decades of Coronation Street, Ken had a ruthless streak where women were involved. While he has since mellowed somewhat, he was initially a "sensitive, thinking chauvinist who liked the idea of having a wife who was always there for him, but at the same time [...] found nothing wrong with flirting or going off with another woman." ITV publicity noted how many 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." Between the periods of 1960 and 2007, Ken married four times and dated 27 women, including a character played by the then unknown actress Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS is a British actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive...
, who played headmaster's daughter Elaine Perkins in 1973.
Valerie Tatlock
Ken's first notable relationship in the serial was with the character Valerie Tatlock (Anne Reid) in 1961. Roache and Reid had been to neighbouring schools, which gave them common ground and a relaxed attitude to working together. Ken's relationship with Valerie became popular with viewers. Roache once attributed their success to his own rapport with Reid, citing it as a helpful element in their on-screen chemistry. Ken and Valerie married on 4 August 1962. Executive producer H. V. KershawH. V. Kershaw
H. V. Kershaw, also known as Harry Kershaw, from Manchester was a British television scriptwriter and dramatist best known for his long association with the top rating soap opera, Coronation Street, a programme he continued to pen scripts for until the mid-1980s...
was aware of their popularity, and requested that Granada Television's evening duty officer be made available on the night of broadcast, in order to take phone calls of congratulations from viewers. Although no calls were made, 20 million viewers watched the wedding episode. Reid was "thrilled" with the reaction to the wedding. Roache was initially skeptical about the impact marriage would have on Ken's development. Roache said: "I was a sort of young semi-heartthrob in those days and thought getting married was going to finish all that." He felt that, given Ken's aspirations of upward social mobility and desire to leave Weatherfield, marriage conflicted with his characterisation, but realised it was necessary for the writers to anchor him in the area.
Valerie gave birth to twins, Peter and Susan, and became a housewife to look after them. All scenes involving the child actors were filmed separately from episodic shoots, to avoid unwanted noise ruining Roache and Reid's scenes. In one storyline, Ken had to start looking after the children more frequently, but he grew bored and would often leave them unattended. Valerie accused him of attempted murder on one occasion when a small house fire occurred – with the twins trapped inside. His boredom with his marriage caused him to have an affair with Jackie Marsh (Pamela Craig). There were only "kissing scenes" written into scripts, but the production team made it clear they were having a sexual relationship. The storyline "horrified" viewers, and Craig received abusive letters from angry fans. Craig knew nothing more than a short affair could occur between the pair. On-screen Elsie Tanner convinced him to end the affair; Valerie found out, but forgave him. Roache enjoyed the aftermath, as it added a new dimension to Ken, whereby "He was a married man with kids, and had all of those good intentions, but he was also liable to stray and clearly had trouble resisting the temptation of another woman."
Ken and Valerie's marriage came to an untimely end in 1971. Following Reid's decision to leave the role – having grown bored of playing the character – the producers opted to kill Valerie off. Reid and Roache were briefly concerned that her departure would result in Ken being written out, and Roache recalls that Ken emigrating with the twins was a scenario under consideration. To his relief, he was kept on. Valerie died after being electrocuted while trying to mend a faulty hair dryer. After the fatal shock, she knocked over an electric heater, setting the Barlow's house on fire; it has been dubbed one of the most sensational soap departures. A then-record audience tuned in for Valerie's death, scripted by Leslie Duxbury
Leslie Duxbury
Leslie Duxbury was a British newspaper sports writer and columnist born in Great Harwood, Lancashire. He turned his attention to television and became a prolific writer on the top rated ITV1 soap opera, Coronation Street, finally retiring from the series in 1990....
. The following episode ended with Ken walking through the burned remains of their home, in a scene that Roache has deemed one of his "most enjoyable and satisfying moments in Coronation Street."
Janet Reid
Ken's second marriage in the serial was to a character named Janet Reid (Judith Barker) in 1973; their relationship was short-lived. There was no buildup to their marriage; Ken returned from Scotland and introduced Janet as his wife. The storyline's fast pace angered Roache; he once stressed: "I was very cross about the whole thing. There was no wedding, she just arrived, no build-up to it. It was just like an idea that was shoved in. I wasn't happy." The storyline was unpopular with viewers, who did not approve of the wedding. Janet was already an unpopular character by then, because of her previous affairs with two other Coronation Street males. Barker said Janet was often perceived as treating Ken unfairly. She openly showed her dislike for his children and sent them to boarding school. The situation saw Ken realise he was in a "loveless marriage" – a match made whilst feeling lonely and under the presumption that she was his last chance of happiness. The breakdown of their marriage was accompanied by what Little dubbed "a series of spectacular rows", which saw Ken become violent towards Janet. One such row, which followed Ken's discovery of Janet's plans to send the twins to boarding school, was later used as an exercise in drama schools, which Roache deemed "a nice compliment to everyone involved in creating the moment."Janet and Ken split up in 1974. Barker was included in the series on and off for a few years, as Janet would occasionally return to be with Ken. In late 1976 Barker was asked to reprise the role for a final time. Janet returned on-screen in 1977 and asked Ken for another chance, claiming she had changed. When he rejects her, she commits suicide by taking an overdose. Barker recalled the "exhausting" scenes she and Roache filmed, and said there was substantial "dramatic tracking
Tracking shot
In motion picture terminology, a tracking shot is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken...
" scenes as Ken discovered her dead in bed. Ken was described as "shattered" and "remoseful" by the death of Janet, and felt guilty over the fact he did not try to help her more. To worsen his situation, he was initially suspected of murdering her.
Deirdre Hunt
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. A combined audience of 24 million viewers tuned in to see the nuptials. Their wedding coincided with professional unease for actor Roache, who feared that Ken was becoming boring, to the detriment of his own self-confidence. 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 went through a time where I was really scared of 'drying', which is not being able to remember your lines. You start to wonder about your own ability to remember lines and act in the way you had, which can be very damaging."Roache inferred that the writers no longer knew how to utilise Ken. 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". He believes that Ken was thereafter included in "much stronger stuff" as a result, including a storyline in which Deirdre had an affair with his rival, Mike Baldwin (Briggs). The storyline was devised in 1982. Then producer Mervyn Watson recalls: "It was normal story conference and we looked at the Ken/Deirdre marriage and had the idea of her having an affair with somebody in the Street. It was extremely passionately debated because there were categorical and opposite view points expressed." Watson believes that actors often feel "disturbed and uncomfortable" at the prospect of what their character will experience. In turn, he thought the scenario generated some of the best performances in the actors' careers. He concluded that Roache proved his theory correct, and praised his performance.
A now infamous scene, in which Ken comes face-to-face with Mike following the discovery of the affair and a showdown ensues, was originally scripted differently. Ken was intended to stand and meekly watch Mike and Deirdre chatting on his doorstep. Roache disliked this version, as he believed Ken's response lacked realism. Partly fuelled by his previous frustration with Ken's "lame" characterisation, Roache approached the episode's director, Brian Mills
Brian Mills
Brian Mills was a British television director, mainly for Granada TV. His credits include Strangers, Bulman, First Among Equals and Coronation Street and the Sherlock Holmes series. He was married to the stage and TV actress Brigit Forsyth. He died on 3 June 2006 aged 72.-External links:...
, and requested that Ken be allowed to hit Mike. Though the filming set-up planned for the scene did not allow for this, it was agreed that Ken would attempt to hit Mike, and that Deirdre would intervene. In the transmitted scene, Deirdre did intervene, resulting in Ken attempting to manhandle her. Roache recalls, "Every time I looked at the words and at what was supposed to happen I knew it just didn't ring true. Poor Annie wasn't prepared for what happened to her next and actually burst into tears because of the ferocity of my performance. She was shaken up by it, and when it came to the moment for Mike Baldwin to knock at the door she got an even bigger shock. After Baldwin asked why Deirdre had put the phone down when he'd called earlier, I slammed the door shut with my left hand and then slammed poor Annie against the door itself, leaving her shaken and shocked. She then made her way into the Barlows' living room, sobbing her heart out, and Brian left the cameras rolling, capturing [Anne's] genuine distress."
The storyline was described as the most volatile and explosive in the programme's history. Roache recalls viewers taking it very seriously, to the point that he received letters reading: "Dear Ken, I though you should know that Mike Baldwin is seeing your wife!" He related that, "When Deirdre decided to stop seeing Mike and stay with Ken, the scoreboard at Old Trafford
Old Trafford
Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...
on the night flashed the message that the couple were not splitting up to 56,000 football fans, amid thunderous cheers from the crowd!" 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
Hilda Ogden
Hilda Alice Ogden is a fictional character from the television series Coronation Street, one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the soap opera, whose name became synonymous with a certain type of working-class woman...
(Jean Alexander
Jean Alexander
Jean Alexander is a BAFTA Nominated English television actress. She is best known to British television viewers as Hilda Ogden on the soap opera Coronation Street, a role she played from 1964–1987 and also as Auntie Wainwright on the longest running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine from 1988 to 2010...
) in 1987.
Ken and Deidre have been described as soap opera's version of Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
and Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
. Their relationship has featured various affairs, break-ups and reunions over the years. The couple's first marriage eventually disintegrated in the early 1990s, this time when Ken had an affair with colleague Wendy Crozier, a dalliance which ended in divorce for the Barlows. Ken was kicked out of home on New Year's Day 1990. Their on/off relationship continued, with each having various other liaisons, until producers decided to reunite Ken and Deidre in 1999. Roache said, "I was pleased. It seemed to fit perfectly with the lives that had been created for them throughout their time in Coronation Street. 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." Ken and Deirdre's second marriage in 2005 was watched by an estimated 13 million viewers, compared to the nine million who watched the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles the following day. 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.
Roache has been complementary about Ken and Deirdre, as well as Kirkbride—who, he states, he loves as much as Ken loves Deirdre—with this love explaining why Ken always ends up returning to her. Roache said, "We have been together on screen for pretty much 30 years now and so much of what we do on camera is instinctive. We really are like an old married couple who have had their ups and downs, lived through them and come out the other side."
Denise Osbourne
Ken was paired romantically with hairdresser Denise Osbourne (Denise BlackDenise Black
Denise Black is an English actress, best known for playing Denise Osbourne in the ITV1 soap Coronation Street and Hazel Tyler in Channel 4 TV's Queer As Folk in 1999 and 2000, written by Russell T Davies. After attending Portsmouth's Girls Public Day School, she studied Psychology at London...
) in 1994, the romance scuppering the chances of a reconciliation between recent divorcees Ken and Deirdre. Scriptwriters had actually been planning to reunite Ken and Deirdre, but when Deirdre's actress fell ill and had to be written out, the scripts were changed and Ken was paired with Denise instead. Black has suggested that the romance came out of nowhere.
The Official Coronation Street Annual 1997 has described Ken and Denise as a "mis-matched pair" who were never destined to spend their lives together. In the storyline, Ken fathered Denise's son Daniel. They had an on/off relationship and a wedding was planned in 1996; however, in a plot twist, it was revealed to Ken that Denise, unable to "hold her primitive lusts in check", was having an affair with her brother-in-law, Brian. Upon the discovery, Ken's happiness was snatched away in what has been described by Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail (Scotland)
The Sunday Mail is a Scottish tabloid newspaper published every Sunday. It is the sister paper of the Daily Record and is owned by Trinity Mirror and as such has a left-wing outlook which in turn tends to guide Scottish political debate in that direction.The Sunday Mail is read by over one million...
as "harrowing circumstances", and one of the character's worst moments. Denise Black has discussed her character's ambivalence towards her relationship with Ken, revealing why she believed Denise engaged in infidelity: "The thing is that she's in love with both men. When she's with Brian she loves him. And she's completely in love with Ken when he's with her. So she has two loves and all the guilt that goes along with that scenario. Denise doesn't mean to cause so much pain. Her problem is that she just doesn't know whether she's coming or going." When Ken discovered the truth the wedding was called off, with Ken telling Denise to "get out before I kill you".
Following the revelation and amidst the fallout, Denise absconded, leaving her son in Ken's custody. This facilitated Black's desire to have a six-month break from the serial. The character returned in the winter of 1996, for the last part of her storyline, Black having decided to quit the role. Denise's return storyline was scripted to coincide with Coronation Streets increase to four weekly episodes. It focused upon a custody battle for Daniel between Ken and Denise after Denise snatched Daniel. A source at the time discussed the storyline and Ken's reaction to losing his son: "Ken is devastated when he returns home the week before Christmas and finds his son gone. He simply can't believe he's been snatched by the woman who dumped them. He immediately starts a custody battle. Denise plays heavily on the fact that she is the mother, while Ken [claims] that he is back in a relationship with his ex-wife Deirdre. Deirdre actually goes to court with him for support, but she gets angry when she finds out he tries to use their friendship as a lever to get Daniel back." When Denise was awarded custody, she left Coronation Street, and Ken lost contact with his son.
Denise was reintroduced for several months in 2007, over a decade after she had last appeared. Ken tracked down his son following marital unease with Dierdre, which led to interactions with Denise when he turned up unannounced for a visit. Black was pleased to be invited back, saying "I don’t think that you can have Ken Barlow’s baby and forget about it, can you?" Denise's return was used as a catalyst to cause further problems in Ken and Deirdre's marriage, Ken having grown discontented. It was only a brief return; once Denise's advances towards Ken were rejected, Denise was written out again.
Martha Fraser
In January 2009, Martha Fraser (played by Stephanie BeachamStephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...
), a new love interest for Ken, was introduced to the show. Ken meets Martha by the canal while he is walking his dog, Eccles. Martha reveals that she is a theatre actress who travels to performances on her barge. Ken seeks Martha out again, and he helps her go through her lines. Roache told What's on TV
What's On TV
What's on TV is a weekly television listings magazine published by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.-Overview:What's on TV is a weekly UK television magazine. It publishes features, TV listings, news and gossip from soap operas, as well as puzzles and competitions...
that Ken is happy to find a "like-minded person" who is easy to talk to. He enjoys telling Martha about his problems, his son and his grandchildren, as she is not judgmental. When asked if Ken mentions Deirdre, Roache said "Er... no. Martha asks him about Peter's mum and Ken tells her that she's dead, which is the truth, so Martha automatically assumes he's a widower and he doesn't put her right." Ken also chooses not to mention Martha to Deirdre; Roache believed that she would be angry if she found out. 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. During the storyline, Roache's wife, Sara, died. Roache was given compassionate leave from the soap, and writers were forced to rework Ken's storyline. Ken and Martha eventually consummate their relationship, and Ken considers leaving Deirdre and Weatherfield. He changes his mind at the last minute and Martha leaves, alone.
Alison Graham of the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
said Martha was Ken's soulmate, because "she's the most perfectly bourgeois bit-on-the-side." Graham said that Martha allowed Ken's "middle-class heart" to sing after the pair bonded over a love of BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, books and plays. Comparing Ken's relationships with Martha and Deirdre to a prison sentence, Graham said Martha offered Ken a deserving parole from the "years of breaking rocks in the prison yard of his marriage to Deirdre." She hoped that Ken and Martha were "soon in the throes of ecstasy", because Ken deserved it. Following the conclusion to Ken's relationship with Martha, Roache expressed an interest in having more girlfriends for Ken introduced in the future. The actor said, "I thought it was great last year having a girlfriend, especially at my age. A few more would be great. I've lost count of romances I've had in the show, not to mention the four weddings." Ken and Martha's romance was later depicted in the Coronation Street musical, Corrie!
Corrie!
Corrie! is a comedy stage play written in 2010 by award-winning playwright and Coronation Street scriptwriter Jonathan Harvey. . The play premiered at in Salford Quays in August 2010...
. Ben East of The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
said the romance was "genuinely funny."
Other relationships
Ken's first on-screen relationship was with Susan Cunningham (Shakesby), who he dated throughout the first ten episodes. Ashamed of his family and background, Ken was constantly apologising to her. This frustrated Susan, who actually liked Coronation Street. Fifty years later, it transpired that their relationship had left Susan pregnant, resulting in the birth of a son, Lawrence. 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; Wendy Nightingale (Susan Tebbs), a married woman who moved in with Ken, making them Coronation Streets first unmarried cohabiting couple; and Elaine. Roache believes that Ken was in love with Elaine, though her feelings for him were less intense. He recalls some discussion of re-introducing her to the series in 2009; however, this did not come to fruition. Upon separating from Elaine, Ken confided in his friend Rita (Knox) that, "There were other fellers more glamorous, more successful, more wealthy and more interesting than me." 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.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". His later love interests included Wendy Crozier (Kerr), Alma Sedgewick (Barrie) and Maggie Redman (Kerman).
Family
Ken was disdainful of his parents, Frank (Pemberton) and Ida (Dyson). Their strained familial relationship was apparent from his very first scene, in which conflict arose over his reluctance to eat a meal with brown sauce. Roache called it "good character-defining stuff", which established the antagonism between Ken and his father, borne from Ken's snobbery and desire to abandon his roots. The death of his mother further illuminated the father-son relationship. Roache recalls that, "although their relationship could often be stormy, with Ken's views and attitude rubbing Frank up the wrong way on a number of issues, the fact was that they had been thrown together by her death and they had to get used to living with each other without the buffer that Ida had often provided." While Dyson left the series under her own volition, Pemberton later became one of several cast members fired under Aspinall's tenure as producer. By 1984, both of Ken's parents had left the Street. Ken was originally intended to have a sister named Enid. Warren decided against her inclusion, and instead created a younger brother, professional footballer David (Rothwell), to enable the show to represent teenage males. Rothwell feels that an "underlying antagonism" existed between Ken and David, which stemmed from the fact Ken had the advantage of a university education, while his brother did not.Ken was bored with looking after the children, Peter and Susan, before Valerie's death. Afterwards, further problems occurred and Ken was no longer able to cope. The writers were initially uncertain whether to continue with Ken as a single father, or dispatch the children and pursue a less-encumbered lifestyle. Roache said, "Ken tried to bring up the kids on his own, but he wasn't doing so good. So he sent them up to Glasgow to live with his mother-in-law." Ken still remained in contact; Roache recalled Ken often saying: "Right, I'm off to Scotland.'" Roache has suggested that the subsequent problems in his children's adulthood were Ken's fault: "I blame Ken for how they've all turned out. He shoved his kids up in Scotland, didn't really look after them. But you don't want a happy family in the Street. You want a wonderful dysfunctional one like the one I've got, they're great and Deirdre is wonderful." The animosity between Ken and his children has been explored throughout the programme's duration. Chris Gascoyne, who took on the role of Peter in the 2000s, has suggested that there is a lot of tension between Ken and Peter due to the dysfunctional nature of the Barlow family. Guilt over the twins' upbringing led Ken to dote on his youngest son, Daniel, as he was keen to avoid repeating his past mistakes. Their close relationship resulted in Roache challenging the series producers when a script required Ken to allow Daniel to be taken away by his mother. The actor felt that Ken would not accept this; he would fight. The scriptwriters apologised, but it was too late to re-write the plot.
After Valerie's death, Ken became responsible for looking after her uncle, Albert, and he later became known as Ken's "Uncle Albert". Albert would often make attempts to interfere in Ken's life, as he had no one else. At one stage, Ken was making plans to leave Weatherfield. When Albert revealed he could not pay his bills on his pension, Ken opted to stay. The storyline has been called a turning point for Ken—when he realised he belonged in Coronation Street and had to help the community and Albert alike. Ken moved in with him and Albert gradually saw Ken as "the son he never had". Roache enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with Howarth, whom he first met as a schoolboy. He characterised Ken and Albert's relationship as "often a little bumpy and uncomfortable, but underlying all of that was an affection the two had for each other."
Ken had a slight antagonistic relationship with his "acid-tongued" mother-in-law Blanche. She has been described as a "thorn in Ken's side". A favourite subject matter for Blanche's wit, Ken has been described as "long-suffering" as he bore the brunt of her "catty remarks". She would criticise his looks, and on one occasion she accused him of being homosexual. When Ken's affair with Martha was exposed, Blanche took her comments too far: she tormented Deirdre for staying with him, which resulted in her being thrown out of the Barlow household and forced to live with Peter. However, she was seen as "the glue" of the Barlow family in the modern era, holding them together. Blanche was willing to put her wit aside and fight to ensure Ken and Deirdre stayed together, although most of the time, she interfered in his life. Even upon death, Blanche managed to make a final remark aimed at Ken, through her will. The storyline was described as giving her the chance to have "the last laugh".
In 2010 it was announced that Roache's own children, Linus and James, would be joining the cast. They played his long-lost son and grandson, respectively. In the storyline, Ken finds a letter which discloses he had a secret son with a short-term girlfriend. Roache said he looked forward "immensely" to working with his children during the fiftieth-anniversary year. The reunion was short-lived due to a rift between Lawrence and James. Lawrence was a bigot who could not accept that the fact James was homosexual. The producers decided to run the storyline to highlight the fact homophobia still exists. Gay rights activists approved of the storyline because the producers showed both sides of the issue. On-screen, Ken was opposed to Lawrence's views and decided to embrace James' sexuality. He urged him to be true to himself and ignore his father's bigoted views. Lawrence does not agree with Ken's liberal stance. In 2011 James returns to stay with Ken. Ken was grateful for the chance to get to know him better. Ken sees James as his "intellectual match", and has a lot of respect for him because he is a "well-educated, erudite young man". He became carried away and moved him in because Ken has always "longed for intelligent conversation".
Feud with Mike Baldwin
Television researcher Helena Robson has discussed the appeal of soap operas and suggested that "many soap stories are never finally resolved and conflicts between characters may run throughout the programme's history". She used the "undying hatred" between Ken Barlow and Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) as an example of this, suggesting that viewers "welcome the sense of stability this offers although the element of change offers as much enjoyment for viewers." 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." Briggs has claimed that Ken was jealous of Mike because he was rich and successful while Ken was not, and Roache has claimed that the reason Ken disliked Mike was because he was a self-centred and self-made individual.Of the love triangle storyline, Briggs has said, "the way it captured the nation was amazing. Everyone was talking about it and the pubs were empty. Men were shouting out: 'Go on Mike, give her one.' People were disappointed when she went back to Ken". The storyline had significant cultural impact, with the press claiming that the country was divided between those who thought Deirdre should remain with Ken, and those who thought she should leave with Mike. 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.
Scriptwriters capitalised on the rivalry between the characters when, in 1986, Mike married Ken's daughter Susan, a union that Ken strongly opposed. Numerous fights between Ken and Mike were featured, and Briggs has suggested that they became famous for their brawls. The first fight between the pair occurred in 1986, when Ken confronted Mike in his factory about Mike's maltreatment of his daughter. Of the confrontation, Briggs has said, "It was a classic – Baldwin getting it in his own territory, the factory. It took a lot to get Ken angry but after the way Mike had treated his daughter, he was furious. He marched into the office and let him have it. This was one of those rare times he caught Mike off-guard." Mike was shown to get revenge on Ken, though it took a further four years before he could do so on-screen. In a scene which aired in 1990, Mike punched Ken, knocking him over a table in the Rovers Return public house. Briggs has suggested that he and Roache became old hands at doing on-screen fistfights, and that both really enjoyed doing the stunts. According to Briggs, no choreographers were ever used. In 1998 one incident left Briggs with an injury after he fell backwards.
Ken and Mike were forced to work together in 2000, when they were featured in a storyline dubbed the "Freshco siege". Ken and Mike were among several series regulars held up at gunpoint in the soap's local supermarket, where Ken had been working as a trolley pusher. The episode was broadcast after the 9 pm watershed due to its depiction of violence. Ken and Mike were bound together by armed robbers, which facilitated an end to their feud; Ken helped Mike to combat a panic attack
Panic attack
Panic attacks are periods of intense fear or apprehension that are of sudden onset and of relatively brief duration. Panic attacks usually begin abruptly, reach a peak within 10 minutes, and subside over the next several hours...
. The pair resolved to put the past behind them; it was a temporary reprieve. Mike had unknowingly fathered a son, Adam, during his brief marriage to Susan Barlow; she kept the baby a secret from him. Mike discovered Adam's existence in 2001; Susan attempted to flee, but was killed in a motor accident. Then followed a battle between Mike and Ken for custody of Adam, with Ken adamant that Mike should not look after his grandson. The storyline lead to the fifth fistfight between Ken and Mike in the soap's history, with the pair brawling at the funeral of Susan.
The feud came to an end on-screen in 2006, when Briggs quit the role of Mike. Mike was killed off, dying of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
; he died in Ken's arms. In the final scenes, a disorientated and dying Mike was found wandering the streets by Ken, and as Ken cradled Mike in his arms, the rivals talked about old times before Mike died, signifying the end of their 20-year feud. To promote Mike's final scenes, Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
released a series of photographs with Ken and Mike re-enacting Arthur Devis
Arthur William Devis
Arthur William Devis was an English painter of history paintings and portraits. He was appointed draughtsman in a voyage projected by the East India Company in 1783, under Captain Henry Wilson, in which he was wrecked on the Pelew Islands before proceeding to Canton and thence to Bengal...
's (1807) painting
The Death of Nelson, 21 October 1805
The Death of Nelson, 21 October 1805 is an 1807 painting by Arthur William Devis portraying the death of Horatio Nelson at 16:30 on 21 October 1805, below decks on his flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar...
of the death of Horatio Nelson—Baldwin was shown surrounded by his nearest and dearest during his final moments, with Ken prominently positioned next to him, taking on the role of Captain Hardy, Nelson's trusted colleague to whom Nelson famously uttered "Kiss me" before he died. Producer Maire Tracey said, "The fact that Mike dies in Ken's arms says it all. For most of Mike's life, it was his battles with Ken that kept him going. Like two cowboys, they spent their lives sizing each other up. Behind the scenes Bill Roache has even suggested to Johnny Briggs that they should make a version of Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
for the two elderly cowboys. Both Ken and Mike will miss the bust-ups."
Reflecting on the feud in 2006, Roache gave reasons why he thinks Ken and Mike clashed so often: "Ken felt threatened when Mike arrived on the street, but it made the part more exciting for Bill. Ken is a nice guy, a loyal guy, a reliable guy. But he isn't terribly exciting. So the exciting guy [Mike] comes along and he's a bit flash, isn't he? But I've always liked the physical side of acting, so my punch-ups with Johnny were probably the best bits. I shall miss those terribly."
Appearances in other media
In September 2010, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Coronation Street, BBC FourBBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
aired a drama film entitled The Road to Coronation Street
The Road to Coronation Street
The Road to Coronation Street is a British drama first broadcast on BBC Four documenting the journey of Coronation Street, the UK's longest-running television soap opera, from conception to its first transmission in December 1960...
, which depicted Tony Warren's struggle to get his soap opera commissioned, and the filming of its pilot. Ken Barlow appeared in the film and was played by Roache's son, James.
In 2011 ITV filmed a spin-off, web-based series featuring Ken and Deirdre, entitled Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories
Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories
Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories is an online spin off from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The episodes have been available on the Coronation Street website from 14 February 2011 and will be broadcast within ten weeks...
. Created by Coronation Street writer Jonathan Harvey, the webisodes featured Ken and Deirdre mulling over the events of their day while in bed. Roache said, "Each episode has been carefully crafted and injected with humour, warmth and drama. The content takes Coronation Street into new and exciting territory which, for me personally, is thoroughly exciting to be a part of."
In 2010 a comedy play about Coronation Street was released entitled Corrie!
Corrie!
Corrie! is a comedy stage play written in 2010 by award-winning playwright and Coronation Street scriptwriter Jonathan Harvey. . The play premiered at in Salford Quays in August 2010...
, penned by scriptwriter Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey (playwright)
Jonathan Harvey is a British playwright whose work has earned multiple awards. He is also a former secondary school English teacher.-Life and works:...
. Ken Barlow was played by Simon Chadwick in the production. Harvey has suggested that when he researched the play, in the top five storylines for each of the 50 years of Coronation Street, three characters regularly featured—Ken, Deirdre and Gail Platt
Gail Platt
Gail McIntyre is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Helen Worth, the character first appeared on screen on 12 July 1974...
. Harvey therefore tried to shape the play around their journeys over the years.
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. The black-and-white shots were taken by photographer Rob Evans, and raised £8,600 for charity. The highest bid on a photograph was for a shot of Ken, standing amongst rubble after the Weatherfield tram crash in 2010, a storyline marking the show's 50th anniversary. In 2010 ITV began selling Coronation Street merchandise featuring Ken, including gift wrap and novelty congratulations cards.
A parody song written about the character, entitled "Ken!", was included on Harry Hill
Harry Hill
Harry Hill , is a Perrier Award–winning English comedian, author and television presenter. A former medical doctor , Hill began his career in comedy with the popular radio show Harry Hill's Fruit Corner.-Personal life:Hill was born in Woking,...
's debut album, Funny Times
Funny Times (Harry Hill album)
Funny Times is the debut comic album from TV comedian Harry Hill. The album was released on November 29, 2010. The album was originally called Sergeant Peppers II, but due to copyright issues, it was later retitled...
. The track features vocals from Hill and Roache. Ken has been spoofed by Jon Culshaw
Jon Culshaw
Jonathan Peter Culshaw is an English impressionist and comedian. He was educated at St Bede's RC High School, Ormskirk and St John Rigby College, in Orrell, Wigan....
in The Impressions Show, where he is having a secret affair with Pat Evans
Pat Evans
Patricia Louise "Pat" Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She has been played by Pam St. Clement since 12 June 1986, just over a year after the show first aired...
from EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, spoofed by Debra Stephenson
Debra Stephenson
Debra Stephenson is an English actress, comedian, impressionist and singer.-Career:At the age of fourteen Stephenson appeared on BBC TV's Opportunity Knocks, winning her way through to the All-Winners' Final, broadcast live from the London Palladium...
. Culshaw wanted to include his impression of Ken in the show, saying "We were just looking for an excuse to get him in", so he decided that Ken and Pat would have a "secret romantic tryst at a motorway service station" somewhere between Weatherfield and the EastEnders setting of Walford
Walford
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix 'ford' is also found throughout East...
.
Reception
For his portrayal of Ken, Roache won the Lifetime Achievement award at the British Soap AwardsBritish Soap Awards
The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to...
in 1999. In November 2010, Ken surpassed Bob Hughes
Bob Hughes
Dr. Robert "Bob" Hughes. M.D. is a fictional character on the American soap opera, As the World Turns. Bob was played by actor Don Hastings from October 1960 until the series' final episode on September 17, 2010...
(Don Hastings
Don Hastings
Donald Francis Hastings is a longtime American actor, singer, and writer best known for his 50-year role as Dr. Robert "Bob" Hughes" on the soap opera As the World Turns...
) from US soap opera As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
to become the longest-running soap opera character. Roache was honoured at a Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
ceremony in New York. In 1983, Roache, Kirkbride and Briggs were named TV Personalities of the Year at the Pye Colour Television Awards, for their performances in the Ken–Deirdre–Mike love triangle storyline. Reporter Brian Viner has suggested that Roache has not been given the accolades he has deserved as a performer because of his longevity in the role of Ken. 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". He added, "although the bouquets tend to go to actors who repeatedly display their versatility, it is in many ways even harder to inhabit one role for five decades. That said, for sheer staying power Ken and Bill are clearly indivisible: one has lived in the same street practically all his life, the other in the same role [...]. That we have been able to watch the evolution of that young man into the Ken Barlow we know today, no less self-righteous but with 50 years of experiences behind him, is frankly one of the wonders of British television."
Ken has a reputation for being boring. The British band Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...
highlighted this point in their 2001 song "Lark Descending", comparing Ken Barlow infavourably with a member of the US underground music scene, with the lyric: "I could have been like Lou Barlow
Lou Barlow
Louis Knox Barlow is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion. Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
, but I'm more like Ken Barlow". Despite Ken being fictional, critic Jim Shelley
Jim Shelley (TV critic)
Jim Shelley is a British television critic who writes a column for the Daily Mirror each Monday titled Shelleyvision. Prior to writing for the Daily Mirror he wrote for The Guardian and his collection of reviews "Interference: Tapehead vs. Television" was published by Atlantic Books...
writing for the Daily Mirror in 2009 labelled Ken "the most boring man you could ever meet". 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. Roache said to the jury at the court case, "I felt extremely distressed. I could not believe those words had been written, that they had raked into my past. I broke out in a sweat. [...] They were saying that I was not doing my job, that I was a joke to the storyline writers, which is not true". Roache added in regard to Ken, "If people find someone who has had 23 girlfriends and three wives boring, that's fine by me." Roache won the case and was awarded £50,000; however, he was forced to pay legal costs, which bankrupted him. Brian Viner of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
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. 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. After all, he usually opens it only to drink halves of bitter, or to say something sensible or worthy. 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."
In a Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
televised poll that was broadcast in 2001, Ken Barlow was voted the third most-hated TV character of all time, coming behind Phil Mitchell
Phil Mitchell
Philip James "Phil" Mitchell is a long-running fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden.Phil first arrived in Albert Square on 20 February 1990, and was soon joined by his brother, Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy...
from EastEnders and Mr Blobby. In a Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
poll of over 5,000 people in 2004, 15% chose Ken as the soap character they would most like to see retired. He came second in the poll, behind EastEnders Den Watts
Den Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
(17%).
Television personality Paul O'Grady
Paul O'Grady
Paul James Michael O'Grady MBE is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio DJ. He is best known for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O'Grady Show and, more recently, Paul O'Grady Live, as well as his drag queen comedic alter ego, Lily Savage, as...
penned the foreword to Roache's 2010 autobiography, 50 Years on the Street. In it, he hailed Ken as "one of the iconic British soap characters", an all-time great who has been integral to Coronation Street. In 2005 Grace Dent
Grace Dent
Grace Dent is an English journalist, author, and broadcaster. Dent writes mainly for The Guardian, where she has a weekly column on television, 'Grace Dent's TV-OD'. She also writes for magazines such as Tatler and Marie Claire. She writes a restaurant review column for the London Evening...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
has suggested that Coronation Street archetypes have influenced latter soap opera characters. 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. Just like poor hangdog-faced Ken, brainy people in soapland (Dr Truman [from EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
], Roy Cropper
Roy Cropper
Royston "Roy" Cropper, is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor David Neilson, the character was introduced during the episode airing on 19 July 1995. Originally a secondary character, he was given a more prominent role in 1997, by the...
, Todd Grimshaw
Todd Grimshaw
Todd James Grimshaw is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Coronation Street, played by Bruno Langley. He originally appeared from 13 January 2001 till 22 September 2004 and returned for a brief stint in from 15 October 2007 till 7 November 2007...
[both from Coronation Street], Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
's Ethan the curate) are always miserable and brooding, due to the terrible burden of their mighty intellect in the face of so many simpletons. 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."
In 2009, viewers complained to ITV as well as the media regulator Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
after Coronation Street broadcast scenes in which Ken made derogatory comments about Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. 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." The Guardian columnist Nancy Banks-Smith
Nancy Banks-Smith
Nancy Banks-Smith is a British television critic; she began writing for The Guardian in 1969. In 1970 she was recommended for the Order of the British Empire, which she declined.*1951- 1955: Northern Daily Telegraph, reporter...
spoke highly of Ken's affair with Martha Fraser in 2009, calling it "a muted ingenious storyline." Gareth McLean of the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
was critical of the storyline: "When it comes to self-delusion, Ken takes the biscuit, claims the cake and wolfs down the éclair. 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. 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." The BBC has said: "During his record-breaking time on the hit soap, Roache's character has led a life full of incident." Holy Soap
Holy Soap
Holy Soap is a UK television and entertainment website founded in June 2009 by the British television company Channel 5. The website is the official UK home of the Australian soap operas Home and Away and Neighbours, which are broadcast on the channel...
describe Ken's most memorable moment as being when he was labelled a gigolo in the local newspaper after his client, Babs, died halfway through eating her meal. Jaci Stephen, writing for the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
,said that soap operas are mostly a "cultural wasteland". She exempt Ken from her generalisation, because she observed him reading broadsheets and books. In her book Soap Opera, Hobson said Ken and his brother David initially represented the younger males of society. She noted that although Ken had many relationships, "he could hardly be described as an early 'Dirty Den'", a character notable for his womanising in the soap opera, EastEnders.
External links
- Ken Barlow at itv.comItv.comitv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
- Ken Barlow at STV
- Ken Barlow at TVNZ
- Ken Barlow at Holy SoapHoly SoapHoly Soap is a UK television and entertainment website founded in June 2009 by the British television company Channel 5. The website is the official UK home of the Australian soap operas Home and Away and Neighbours, which are broadcast on the channel...
- Ken Barlow at What's on TVWhat's On TVWhat's on TV is a weekly television listings magazine published by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.-Overview:What's on TV is a weekly UK television magazine. It publishes features, TV listings, news and gossip from soap operas, as well as puzzles and competitions...