William James Roache (born 29 December 1985) is an English actor who is perhaps best known for his roles in connection with his father

William Roache William Patrick Roache (born 25 April 1932) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' since it was first broadcast on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the ''Guinness World Records ...

. In ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'' he played James, the long-lost grandson of

Ken Barlow Ken Barlow is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by William Roache. He was created by Tony Warren as one of ''Coronation Street''s original characters and December 2020 marked Ken's 60th annive ...

(played by his father). He also played the role of his own father William as a young man in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

drama ''

The Road to Coronation Street ''The Road to Coronation Street'' is a 2010 British drama first broadcast on BBC Four. It is a dramatisation of the creation of '' Coronation Street'', the UK's longest-running television soap opera, from conception to its first transmission in ...

''.

Personal life

Roache was educated at

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

. He is the son of William Roache and the late Sarah Roache and the half-brother of actor

Linus Roache Linus William Roache (born 1 February 1964) is a British actor. He is known for playing Executive ADA Michael Cutter in the NBC dramas ''Law & Order'' (2008–2010) and '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2011–2012). More recently, Roach ...

Career

Roache has appeared on popular television shows such as '' Cold Blood'' and ''Four Seasons'' before going on to join the cast of ''

'' alongside his father and older brother as part of a storyline surrounding

and his long-lost son, played by his real-life son Linus. The characters were introduced as part of the soap's fiftieth anniversary.

played Roache's father Laurence on Coronation Street which saw the pair's relationship strained by Laurence's attitudes towards James' homosexuality. The storyline was left open, and both executive producer

Phil Collinson Philip Collinson (born 26 August 1970) is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as ''Springhill'' and ''Emmerda ...

and

have expressed interest in revisiting the story in the future. He then appeared in ''

'', playing a younger version of his father William Roache during the time ''

'' creator

Tony Warren Anthony McVay Simpson (8 July 1936 – 1 March 2016) publishing under pen name Tony Warren, was an English television screenwriter and actor, best known for creating the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. He created other television dramas a ...

was attempting to bring the soap to television. It was announced on 20 December 2010 that Roache would be joining the cast of ''Coronation Street'' full-time in 2011 reprising the role of James Cunningham. He returned on 29 April 2011 and departed in July 2011.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roache, James 1985 births Living people 21st-century English male actors English male television actors Alumni of Oxford Brookes University Place of birth missing (living people)