Coronation Street legend William Roache made a rare red carpet appearance as he joined a whole host of his current and former co-stars for a night out at the theatre. The actor, who has played Ken Barlow in the ITV soap since its inception in 1960, headed to The Lowry in Salford to see Mother Goose.
The smash-hit production is starring acting royalist Ian McKellen as Mother Goose and comedian and actor John Bishop as Vic Goose, and is playing in Greater Manchester this Easter until Sunday (April 9). It has been written by Jonathan Harvey, who also writes on Corrie, and sees Mother Goose and her husband Vic run an Animal Sanctuary for waifs and strays.
They live a wholesome life inside an abandoned Debenhams but when a goose flies in, will fame and fortune get the better of them? Will Ma’s feathers be seriously ruffled? And Will Pa tell everyone to get stuffed? And is their fair life about to turn fowl?
And the Corrie stars were out in force to support Jonathan as well as Lord of the Rings star Ian, who grew up in Wigan and Bolton, as he also has a soap credit to his name after guest starred in the Salford-based soap as con artist Mel Hutchinson in 2005.
Hitting the red carpet, Bill, who celebrated his 90th birthday last year, was all smiles and looked worlds away from his on-screen character as he sported a more casual look in a pair of jeans and white shirt. He was joined by Tony Maudsley and Jodie Prenger who cuddled up for the waiting camera.
West End star Jodie, who is currently playing Glenda Shuttleworth in Corrie, looked gorgeous in a red polka dot dress which she sported with a black leather jacket while George Shuttleworth actor Tony wrapped up warm from the drizzly Greater Manchester weather in a smart black coat and skinny trousers.
Another Corrie icon Sally Dynevor also headed out to see the show and was reunited with her friend and former co-star Angela Lonsdale. Angela played police sergeant Emma Taylor in the ITV soap. She arrived on the cobbles back in 2000 and ended up being was second wife of Curly Watts who actually starred in the soap from 1983.
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They met when she arrived to investigate crimes in the area and they married on Christmas Eve 2000 before Emma gave birth to their son Ben on Boxing Day 2001. But in 2003 the couple put number 7 Coronation Street on the market and moved to Newcastle. But when Curly made a comeback for the 2010 spin-off DVD movie A Knight's Tale, when he revealed that his marriage to Emma had since ended.
But Angela and her former on-screen husband Kevin Kennedy sparked comeback calls last month when they reunited 20 years after they were last seen on-screen together. Angela headed to see Kevin in action at Manchester Opera House where he was starring in the ongoing "farewell" tour of the rock n roll musical Rock of Ages.
Sharing a fabulous picture of the pair on Instagram, the actress penned: "Reunited with my corrie hubby @realkevinkennedy Break a leg pet! @rockofagesmusicaluk." She later added in the comments: "Smashed it KK."
But back to Mother Goose and Daniel Brockleback (Billy Mayhew), Harriet Bibby (Summer Spellman), Julia Goulding (Shona Platt), Sair Khan (Alya Nazir), Antony Cotton (Sean Tully), Cherylee Houston (Izzy Armstrong), Georgia Taylor (Toyah Habeeb) and Jimmi Harkishin (Dev Alahan) were all also spotted getting ready to take their seats at the show and wasted no time in raving about it on social media.
Former Corrie stars Jack James Ryan, who played Jacob Hay until his exit earlier this year, and Eva Price actress Catherine Tyldesley, were also among the showbiz guests at the show's opening night. And in a break from soap star, England cricketer James Anderson also joined the audience.
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