Coronation Street Elsie and Bet. Other recurring archetypes include the war veteran such as Albert Tatlock (Jack Howarth), Percy Sugden (Bill Waddington) and Gary Windass (Mikey North), the bumbling retail manager like Leonard Swindley (Arthur Lowe), Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley), Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden), quick-tempered, tough tradesmen like Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson), Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson), Tommy Harris (Thomas Craig) and Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies), and the perennial losers such as Stan and Hilda, Jack and Vera, Les Battersby (Bruce Jones), Beth Tinker (Lisa George) and Kirk Sutherland (Andrew Whyment). Villains are also common character types such as Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford),
Ken Barlow Ken Barlow Kenneth Barlow is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera "Coronation Street", played by William Roache. Ken was created by Tony Warren as one of "Coronation Street's" original characters. He debuted in the soap's first episode on 9 December 1960. Having appeared continuously since, December 2010 marked Ken's 50th anniversary on-screen, making Roache the longest-serving actor in a televised soap opera. Roache was honoured at the 2010 Guinness World Records ceremony for the achievement, when he surpassed actor Don Hastings from the American soap opera "As the World Turns", who previously held this title. Roache stated