Or would they be able to? I mean, I realise he is an original and a major well known character, but what would happen if a producer who dislike Ken (I mean, not everyone likes him) decided to axe him, would they even be able to do this, or would some higher management try to keep him in the show.

I wondered if a producer would axe Ken and give him a good send off on-screen, saying a proper farewell rather than an off-screen exit. I know Bill Roache would lose his job, but other characters who have been in a while have been axed. Its a risk that is taken.

Imagine all the talk about the longest serving character being axed, and the producer being known as the man or woman who had killed off Ken Barlow.

I don't think the producers would have the nerve to do it..along with Emily, Rita, Deirdre or Gail..

Bill Roache's job is the safest in British TV.

What would be the point? He's no spring chicken.

no...

Ken will leave when the Actor dies in real life.

Im sure i saw a TV documentary about Corrie, where the death of Martha Longhurst was discussed. It said something along the lines that her death came about because someone told the producer he wouldnt dare do such a controversial thing! He did.

It's no longer down to the producers, the top bigwigs at corrie would certainly have a say in the matter. If Bill was axed there would be uproar by the media.

I doubt he will ever be axed. In a way it's slightly depressing knowing that when Ken does leave, it'll be because the actor has died/is seriously ill in real life.

No way! And they should never do it for a publicity stunt! Because once the character is gone, they are never coming back. Ken needs to go when Bill passes away (which hopefully won't be a long time yet!)

But why do that, when the show has nothing to gain from it? Love him or hate him, Ken has been there since day one and the writers can still come up with new stories for him (he's got one coming up soon). That's the mark of a good character.

I always think of this quote from HV Kershaw talking about when Martha Longhurst was killed off for ratings:

"No doubt Tim Aspinall felt that by such an action he would bring the programme a great deal of publicity and in this he certainly succeeded. By killing an established character he doubtlessly gave us a few episodes of high drama and created a talking-point in the factories and laundrettes which boosted our viewing figures for a period, but when the dust settled we were simply left with a Coronation Street without Martha Longhurst. The trio had been reduced to a rather sad duet and there is little doubt that by that one action many future stories were denied us."

No one man should feel that secure, they should earn they're crust with such a high wage.

I think all soaps should be proud if they're original characters.

Ken Barlow
Tony Hutchingson
Ian Beale

This is why when the likes of Brendan Brady, Ste Hay, Anthony Cotton, Kym Marsh and Mark Chancock shouldn't be untouchable.

Question - Do you think that a new producer would be able to kill off Brendan Brady if they say liked Walker more or had they're own new bad girl or boy they wanted to promote?

Tim Aspinall wanted to axe Ken too

no way william roachewill be in corrie until he drops and everyone knows this, he will never die on screen the day he finally does pass he will go the same way betty did and blanche.

i think if we ever got a producer that wasnt affraid to raise the axe then we could see it like BK Was during his Hollyoaks days,i think most soaps have producers affraid to show the axe (ED didnt even have the bottle to kill sarah off),think all the soaps need producers that aint affraid to show the axe,if we get a few of them then we could see off ken - over the last few year he hasnt done much anyway & got abit boring

I've vague memories of reading somewhere a year or so ago after some American soap queen died that it left William Roache holding (or close to holding) the world record for the actor who's played a soap character for the longest.

If he does hold that record, then the chances are that it's not just his 'ability' or any future prospects for the character he plays that keep him in work - the producers will probably want to keep the programme associated with a record breaker for as long as possible too, especially if there's someone waiting in the wings on another soap somewhere who is capable of snatching the record away a few years down the line if Ken Barlow were to be killed off now.

I suspect he's safe from falling trams for the foreseeable

Bill Roache is the longest serving television soap actor in the world who is still in his role.

Similarly, Coronation Street is the longest currently running television soap in the world.

Helen Wagner holds the longest serving television soap actor in the world ever for her 54 years on As the World Turns. She died in 2010. Bill Roache will become the longest serving television soap actor in history on 2 June 2014 (I think)

BUT ... I don't know enough about The Archers, but I'm fairly sure that some of the cast have had nearly 60 years of service and are still part of the current cast. I don't know if they're classed as the longest serving soap stars overall. Radio soaps might be classed separately. That said, since a lot of the US soaps started out as radio soaps, I'd say that they're all viewed as soaps in one big lump

Didn't Helen Wagner leave the show As the World Turns though? She had a break for a few years during the 1980s, whereas Bill never left the programme and has been continuously running since he debuted in the first episode.

According to Wikipedia she had one year off from 1982 - 1983.

You're right though, Bill's service is continuous.

I don't know enough about the world records to know if he 'trumps' her or not though.

It's so frustrating