Coronation Street star Bill Roache's girlfriend has warned him not to return to his womanising ways after the revelations about his love life.

Emma Jesson, who is 37 years younger than the soap veteran, said they were "kindred spirits".

She told Hello! Magazine: "He did sleep with a lot of girls, but that was back in the 1960s.

"If he was like that now, I wouldn't be with him. And if he did resort to his old behaviour, I'd cut it off."

The 79-year-old actor, who has played strait-laced Ken Barlow in the show for more than half a century, recently told Piers Morgan he had slept with hundreds of

women and said his wild behaviour led fellow stars to dub him Cock Roache.

But Jesson said the couple's life now was a far cry from those days, saying: "Our lives are so busy that relaxing at home is our ultimate treat. While Bill learns his lines or listens to the cricket, I read a book or prepare a meal. We feel completely at ease with each other. He doesn't look or behave like an 80-year-old. To me, he's still young."

Roache said his children's approval of Jesson was essential.

He said: "I would do nothing, nothing that would ever harm or upset my children.

"Emma understood all that."