Bill Roache's son James to return to Coronation St

Bill Roache's son James to return to Coronation St
Bill Roache's son James to return to Coronation St (Image credit: Eamonn and James Clarke/EMPICS E)

William Roache's son James is returning to the cobbles to reprise the role of Ken Barlow's grandson. The 24-year-old had a brief spell in the show this year as James Cunningham, and is expected to return to filming in March. Viewers saw stalwart Ken discover, via a long-lost letter from his ex-girlfriend Susan, that he had a son called Lawrence, played by William's other son Linus. Ken tried to heal the rift between homophobic Lawrence and his son, but with little success. Actor William has previously spoken about how he would like both men to come back to finish the story off. Coronation Street bosses have yet to reveal how James will return to the cobbles. Earlier this year, actor James was seen playing his dad in a BBC drama about the birth of Coronation Street. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.