Seventies film star Robin Askwith joins Coronation Street

Seventies film star Robin Askwith is joining the cast of Coronation Street.

The comic actor - star of the 1970s Confessions sex comedies – will play rocker Ritchie in the soap.

Ritchie is an old friend of Dennis Tanner's, who used to represent him in his hey-day.

The rocker's arrival on the cobbles will spark Dennis's old love for the music industry and he decides to become Ritchie's manager again, much to wife Rita's disapproval.

Robin, 62, has just started filming and his first scenes will screen on Coronation Street in the autumn.

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.