57 years on since this Corrie bus trip to Blackpool, actor laments how soap cast has changed

"The cast of Coronation Street get ready for their outing to Blackpool. " "Violet Carson and the rest of the cast of the Granada serial will switch on Blackpool's Â£500,000 Illuminations tonight." "Some of the cast are seen here with the specially decorated bus they will travel in to Blackpool" L-r William Roache (Ken Barlow), Betty Alberge (Florrie Lindley), Daphne Oxenford (Esther Hayes), Anne Reid (Valerie Tatlock), Ivan Beavis (Harry Hewitt), Margot Bryant ( Minnie Caldwell), Frank Pemberton (Frank Barlow), Arthur Leslie (Jack Walker ) Doreen Keogh (Concepta Riley), Philip Lowrie (Dennis Tanner) Christine Hargreaves (Christine Hardman) . On the steps Ernst Walder (Ivan Cheveski), Peter Adamson (Len Fairclough). Published EG 01/09/1961

Legendary Coronation Street actor Bill Roache has lamented the demise of days out to Blackpool after saying he “hardly” knows the names of some of his castmates.

The actor, 86, has played Ken Barlow on the cobbles since the ITV soap’s launch in 1960.

Here he is pictured with other cast members ahead of the Illuminations Switch-On in Blackpool in 1961.

He travelled on a specially decorated bus with other cast members for the big night, where Violet Carson – who played battleaxe Ena Sharples - pulled the famous switch.

He told Channel 4 show Sunday Brunch: “When we started there were only 15 cast members and we were all in every episode.

“That’s when you had that lovely community feel. You could all go off in a bus to Blackpool. You couldn’t do that now. It’s too big.”

He said of some of the other cast: “There are some. I hardly know their names.

“You go in and you work with your family, my wonderful, dysfunctional family....You do your scenes and you go home.”

“Some of the others, you might meet them in the green room for a cup of tea but you might not see them for weeks.”