Despite reportedly being worth millions of pounds, Coronation Street star Bill Roache has had his fair share of financial issues - with him facing bankruptcy twice. The 92-year-old actor currently holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-serving male television star in a continuous role, with each episode raking him in thousands of pounds, but over the years a large chunk of his money has reportedly gone towards court fees.
Bill, who is best known for playing Ken Barlow on the ITV cobbles, previously invested in a business venture in the Cayman Islands, back in 2018, which HMRC claims was a tax avoidance scheme - with an average investment of £1.75million across 288 high-earners.
In March 2024, the soap star was ordered to pay off nearly £550,000 or be declared bankrupt by the High Court. However, Anam Razvi, for HMRC, requested the dismissal of the case on behalf of the tax body. Chief Insolvency and Companies Court judge Nicholas Briggs agreed and dismissed the case, court staff said.
It is understood that he initially owed £588,015.18, which he entered an agreement to clear, but had paid just £41,666.65 of the hefty bill up to that point. Jacquille Jarrett, representing HMRC said he was planning to sell his house to clear the remaining debt.
25 years ago, Bill was also declared bankrupt after successfully suing a newspaper that had called him “boring”. He was awarded a staggering £50,000 in damages.
This was the same amount the soap star had initially turned down in an out-of-court settlement before the case. Bill was then left liable for £120,000 in costs. The beloved actor eventually sued his law firm for negligence, but was declared bankrupt in 1999.
It is believed Roache, who has been a permanent fixture on the cobbles since 1960, is the highest-paid member of the cast, with him reportedly earning around £250,000 a year. He also rakes in a decent income from the celebrity video message site Cameo, and he charges fans £52 per personalised message.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the ITV star has a net worth of around $5 million dollars or £3.7million.
