William's joy at co-starring with sons on Corrie

Coronation Street icon William Roache has told how his late wife Sara would have been delighted by his real-life sons' arrivals on the cobbles next month.

The actor, who plays Ken Barlow, will appear in the soap with the couple's 24-year-old son James and with Linus, 46, his son from his first marriage.

The family was left stunned by Sara's sudden death last year as a result of a heart condition, but the actor believes she is still with him.

William said: "She would have loved my sons being on the Street with me. I feel she is very much still with me. She is really vibrant and in my understanding she is still alive. You carry on just as actively over there as you do over here and she would have liked it."

Sara appeared in several episodes of Coronation Street herself in 2007, and William joked that a role in the show should be a condition of being in his family.

"My wife was the judge who sent Tracy down. My first wife was in Coronation Street as well. You have to be in Coronation Street, that's the criteria or I couldn't possibly marry you or be part of the family."

The brothers' short stint on the cobbles sees Ken discover he has a long-lost son, Lawrence (Linus Roache), by an ex-girlfriend. However, there is a rift between Lawrence and his own son, James (James Roache), because Lawrence cannot accept James is gay.

Linus first appears in Coronation Street as Lawrence on Sunday September 5.

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