BILL
ROACH (Ken Barlow)
Did you know
that Bill Roach who played Ken Barlow in Coronation Street studies astrology
and is a practising Druid!
The sudden
tragic death of his baby daughter Edwina in 1985 made him reassess his
life and he began a spiritual search. He now believes that there is
an afterlife.
When interviewed
in 1993 by Dr Anthony Clare on Radio 4's 'In the Psychiatrist's Chair'
he said "The manner of death is frightening, but death itself is
not- because I know it's not the end"
Bill Roach
said how he awakened on the day 18 month old Edwina's funeral to see
her face "glowing and smiling" in front of him "I got
a sense of peace, freedom and release- and I knew all was well.
"I couldn't
have got through the funeral without that. I carried her coffin. It
still hurts, but I know she came down and went back and that there's
an existence beyond. Knowing about reincarnation
helped."
Psychic Bill
Roach has experienced other things as well: He was unnerved one night
when his mother-in-law, who was living with him, saw the ghost
of a Russian soldier. Half-an-hour later, after checking she was comfortable
in bed, he returned to find that she had fallen from the window and
was dead in the flowerbed.
Afterwards
he discovered that the house had an unusual history and that a previous
owner had murdered his wife and a farm hand had hung himself there.
Later he saw the unmistakable figure of his mother-in-law at an upstairs
window.
SARAH
LANCASHIRE (Raquel)
Actress Sarah
Lancashire, who played sexy barmaid Raquel, hears things that go bump
in the night. A ghost of a Victorian woman caring a baby has appeared
at the bottom of her bed at her Manchester home.
"I have
two sons of my own" says Sarah, "but I have never heard sounds
like that baby screaming."
PAT
PHOENIX (Elsie Tanner)
Even the
set of Coronation Street is believed to be haunted. Its creator Tony
Warren believes he saw Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) after she died of
lung cancer in 1986 aged 62. "I would smell this great gale of
perfume and one of my dogs, who would always go bananas when Pat came
to the house, suddenly started to behave as if she was there again.
"It
was really very odd, but I was not afraid. Pat is welcome at my place
anytime, dead or alive."
When a party
was held to celebrate the Street's 30th birthday in 1990 Pat was seen
again. Her close friend and acting colleague Lynne Perrie, who played
the deeply religious Ivy Brennan, was in tears as they showed the clips
from the early shows featuring Pat. She'd been given a cocktail bag
by Pat some years before she died and took it with her to the party.
"It was a memory of Pat which I can still hold. Had she been alive
she wouldn't have missed that party for the world, so I took the bag
with me, making sure 'she' was there."
Lynne Perry
has had an interest in Spiritualism and had visited a church some time
before to contact her murdered son, Brian. Lynne felt Pat's presence
with her as Doris Speed took the stage. "At that moment I felt
very strongly that she was sitting there with me and the cast"
she said "Only Julie Goodyear and I knew that Pat was there in
spirit, enjoying it too."
Like many
film sets Coronation Street is riddled with superstition. As a farewell
present Noel Dyson, who played the part of Ken Barlow's mum, gave an
ivy plant to the cast. The stars nicknamed it 'Dear Quatermass' and
believe it protects the soap's success.
SHERRIE
HEWSON (Maureen Naylor)
Actress Sherrie
Hewson, who played 'Bettabuys' checkout girl Maureen Naylor, says that
as an eight year old she had a "frightening confrontation"
with a ghost.
"We
lived in a house in Nottinghamshire. I was lying in bed when, suddenly,
I noticed a mist coming from behind the wardrobe. I shook with fear
as the mist came closer. Then, a woman dressed in red with a scar across
her face materialised in the mist and just stood there. Moments later,
the spirit vanished.
"The
funny thing was the next night my brother was lying in his bedroom,
when he saw the same ghostly figure walk from my bedroom into his. She
came up to him, then disappeared the same way."
BILL
WADDINTON (Percy Sugden)
Bill Waddington,
who played the character Percy Sugden has a fascinating psychic
gift of healing and can contact his wife Lillian who passed over into
the spirit world with cancer. Bill says he can feel Lillian around him
and has guidance from her.
Through his
own personal grief of losing his beloved wife Lillian, Bill would look
at her photograph and ask for help when he felt her presence near him.
To blot out his grief he would turn to whiskey to numb his feelings
of loss as they were married for 32 years. Caring Bill nursed his wife
till her passing.
One night
he lay grieving on the double bed they shared and "Suddenly Lillian
walked into the bedroom and kissed me on the forehead and said 'God bless you darling'. It was no ghost or my imagination - her message
was of love.
"Within
48 hours, out of the blue, I was offered the part of Percy Sugden in
Coronation Street. Over the years I have found that I had psychic powers which I sense when people are upset or ill.
"Incidentally,
I sensed that Bill Roach, who plays Ken Barlow, had a problem with his
health. I told him he should go to his GP and have a check-up as I was
getting tingling sensations telling me to help Bill
"I felt
that I was being told by my inner voice that there was something wrong.
Luckily Bill took my advice- it turned out that he had a perforated
ulcer and was rushed into hospital and given four pints of blood and
saved."
JULIE
GOODYEAR (Bet Gilroy)
Julie Goodyear,
who plays Bet Gilroy, nursed and cared for her mother Alice until she
died of cancer in 1987. In the hope of speaking to her beyond the grave
she contacted the world famous medium Doris Stokes. These two Lancashire
lasses had a long standing friendship, mainly by telephone, and met
whenever the two stars busy schedules permitted.
Julie could
identify with Doris, who also suffered from cancer, and feels for others
who have been down this road of suffering. Doris Stokes would contact
Bet's mother from the spirit side together with her grandmother who
died tragically by suicide.
