Coronation Street legend Bill Roache has celebrated his 88th birthday in style thanks to help from his family.
The actor, who has starred as Ken Barlow on the ITV soap for 60 years, was showered with gifts by his daughter Verity, 39, and son James, 34.
Shared by the official Twitter page for Coronation Street, Bill looked delighted surrounded by the colourful balloons as he opened his presents.
In one picture Bill, who recentlyshowed off inside his Cheshire home to OK! Magazine , posed alongside his sofa in the conservatory where the presents were perfectly arranged.
Clearly enjoying the summery weather, the actor sported a pair of shorts and white t-shirt as he gestured towards his mountain of gifts where Verity and James also posed.
Coronation Street boss says soap rewrote scenes at last minute before set closed
Inside Coronation Street star Bill Roache's charming Cheshire home
A second snap shows his adult children holding up confetti poppers ready to send them over their father who laughed and clung on to an opened giftbox.
The official Corrie page wrote a message to their longtime cast member: "Sending a massive thank you for all your warm wishes from Bill, who's celebrating his 88th birthday in lockdown at home with his family!"
Bill looked thrilled to be enjoying the lowkey celebrations at his home, where he has been following government guidelines following the coronavirus lockdown.
The soap stalwart has been keeping himself busy with a range of activities, from painting to home workouts while in lockdown since filming on Coronation Street was closed down due to COVID-19.
He told OK! exclusively how he was taking every precaution to stay safe and avoid coronavirus “When it comes to the possibility of contracting coronavirus, I find it’s best not to think about it often.
“My family, like many, are taking all the sensible precautions that we can. The vast majority of people come through this successfully.”
Discussing his charming home, Bill added: “My house is particularly cut off from the outside here in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The days are going quickly and we’re really enjoying ourselves together.”
He continued: “I have my two children, Verity and Will, with me currently. I have a nice house with a garden where we are self-contained.
“My daughter is an artist so we’ve been doing paintings, I’ve been doing some writing and we have sections of the house to ourselves in the morning before we get together. In the evening, we get together again and watch TV.”
The soap star has been playing his role for a whopping 60 years, first appearing on 9 December 1960, and is certain that the soap will never go off air despite some concerns that episodes will run out while in lockdown.
He said during an interview on Good Morning Britain: "I gather we have quite a while. It was going out six times a week and now rationed to three. I think we had about two months [already filmed]. So I think about four months of new stuff."
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It was previously revealed that show bosses had re-written storylines at the last minute before the lockdown was announced.
Lindsay Williams, a story producer on the ITV soap, said that just before filming was halted to reduce the spread of COVID-19, writers who normally plan out storylines six months in advance had to work fast to change scripts and the crew and cast were all hands on deck for filming.
After realising what may happen as the reports about the spread of the virus and how it was affecting the UK, she said it was "all hands to the pump" at the studio as the team worked at "a moments notice" to make sure the soap could stay on air as long as possible.
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