William Roache set for 'hilarious' Coronation Street return

The 82-year-old is to return to the soap after being cleared of sexual offences

British actor William Roache, who plays the character of Ken Barlow in the soap opera Coronation Street, speaks to media after being cleared of all sexual offence charges at Preston Crown Court in Preston (Getty Images)

William Roache is set to return to Coronation Street next month in a comic camping-based storyline.

The English actor, 82, was cleared of sexual offences earlier this year after playing Ken Barlow on the long-running ITV soap since it began in 1960.

Since the high profile trial, Roache has been absent from our screens, but he is due to start shooting in the next fortnight for scenes to air in August.

Roache’s character was written out of the script when he was arrested last May, with viewers told that he was visiting his sick grandson in Canada

“Ken raises the idea of going on holiday and she’s busy scanning the papers for places in Monaco or Barbados, something like that,” he said, according to the BBC. “Then he pulls up in a hired caravan going, ‘Let’s go to North Wales!’”

Roache’s return comes in the midst of the dark storyline surrounding the murder of Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) and just after Coronation Street won a Bafta for Continuing Drama on Sunday night.