Coronation Street: Bill Roache opens up on final visit to Anne Kirkbride before her death

Anne famously played Bill’s wife on the ITV soap, which she starred on for 42 years before she lost her battle with breast cancer in 2015.

Bill spoke out about his emotional last visit to her bedside in an interview with this week’s OK! Magazine, recalling: “She was unconscious from morphine but she had a glow about her.

“I held her hand and felt a little tremor,” he said.

“I hoped that was a sign she knew I was with her.”

Bill, who has played Ken Barlow on Coronation Street since it first aired in 1960, also spoke fondly about his co-star, saying: “I really loved Anne.

“We were married, split up and then got married again,” he continued, referring to their characters. “We got on so well.

“Acting-wise we were just the same,” he added.“She was great company, a laugh was never far away.

“She was a delight and I was very fortunate to work with somebody like her for so long.”

Bill previously claimed Anne had battled alcoholism for decades and said she would hold up filming because she was “weepy and wailing” on set, which he thought was a reaction to antidepressant drugs.

Her husband David Beckett subsequently insisted Anne had not drunk alcohol “for 30 years” before her death.

Speaking about the criticism he faced following his comments, Bill told the publication: “Annie was open.

“I was just talking about what was already in the public domain, but some people got upset.

“That’s okay, that happens,” he added.

The Deidre Barlow star left the entirety of her estate of £103,000 to her husband when she died.

The pair had been married for 22 years after first meeting on Coronation Street when he appeared as her on-screen boyfriend Dave.

Probate records revealed the Corrie actress left a gross personal estate of £186,651 in the UK which was reduced to a net figure of £103,942 after liabilities, such as loans and debts, were subtracted.

Her will was written four years before her death, with a separate will dating aback to 2003 covering assets she held in Spain.

Anne made her debut on the cobbles in 1972 at the tender age of 18, playing Deidre Hunt in what was scripted to be a one-off appearance.

Prior to her passing, the actress took a leave of absence from Weatherfield after being diagnosed with breast cancer, which she kept secret.

Read the full interview with Bill Roache in this week’s OK Magazine — out now.