Keegan: 'Roache always touches my bum'

Michelle Keegan claims Bill Roache is a ''lothario'' on the set of 'Coronation Street'.

The 24-year-old actress - who plays Tina McIntyre in the ITV1 soap - jokes the legendary actor always ''touches'' her behind, but he is allowed to get away with it because she likes him.

She said: ''He's still a serial womaniser. I'm not joking. He always touches my bum - but because he's Ken Barlow he gets away with it. He's definitely is a lothario around the set, one of those people that walks into a room and everyone looks at him, especially the ladies. But he's lovely as well, a really good friend.''

Bill - who has played Ken Barlow on the soap since its first episode in December 1960 - has previously confessed to sleeping with 1,000 women in his lifetime.

Asked whether the number of women he had slept with was close to the figure of 1,000, the 80-year-old star said: ''Well, I'm not denying it. Looking back, I didn't know any better. But what I did find out is it does not bring you happiness and it is not the way to be.

''I had the opportunity, I indulged it and I can tell you this - it's not worth it. The pain that it caused, and there's all sorts of dangers. I regret it deeply. I had the opportunity, but that doesn't mean I should do it.

''I had rehearsals up in Manchester from Monday to Friday. The opportunity was there. There were plenty of girls around. I shouldn't have done it. I didn't have any control over my own sex drive. I didn't have the strength to control it.''